Personally, I don't think we are out of ideas - perhaps we are just trapped in a local minimum for a while. Much Internet innovation is stifled by two factors:

Personally, I don't think we are out of ideas - perhaps we are just trapped in a local minimum for a while. Much Internet innovation is stifled by two factors: 1. The current economy of the Internet is paid for by advertising, which goes to two main players; Google and Facebook. A system of micropayments never successfully took off, but bitcoin or its successors may yet. 2. Few startup companies aim to IPO anymore like they did in the 1990's. This results in them being bought out and assimilated into larger, less creative established organisations. Generally, in the USA, startup company formation is now at its lowest level since 1977. In general we have fewer and fewer but larger and larger companies. This allows for less "creative destruction". RnD investment is more risky than lobbying investment.