I know I've written this before, but, in reading how well picture phones are selling in Asia the concept of the Webcam network for mobile device makes so much sense. The fact that I can see an image of places around the block or the earth on my mobile phone, live images, is compelling. For instance, here's Bourbon Street in New Orleans RIGHT NOW.

I thought of this about 3-4 years ago when going through MMSand installing my own web cams. That night I watched Beauty and the Beast for the, um, 125th time. If you have kids, you understand. When Belle wants to see her dad, the Beast gives her a mirror that allows her to see anything she wants. She sees her dad needing help in the mirror. Well, in speeches (as a wireless carrier CTO, which I retired from 2 months ago) I loved to present that vision. Even if you had not seen the movie, it sure would be nice to see how long the line at the car wash was, or the parking at the stadium, or (for singles) the bar cam: how many available people are at each bar. That last one I know folks would pay for.