Once the combination of letters is beyond what is in the phone's storage, the Pre shows you four options: Google, Maps, Wikipedia and Twitter. Press one, and you're searching that service. The reason this is an advancement is that the steps have been reduced to three: 1. Type query; 2. Pick search engine; and 3. Choose result. Compare this with the number of steps on an iPhone: 1. Press Safari icon; 2. Press open-book icon in browser; 3. Press Google option; 4. Press search bar; 5. Type query; 6. Press Go; and 7. Choose result. The Palm Pre requires three steps, the iPhone seven.

I know, I know. These hardly seem like giant steps toward mentally downloadable knowledge. But consider the combination of such capabilities with the coming Web 3.0.

You've probably heard the term Web 3.0, but like everyone else are not sure what it is, or even if it's some meaningless marketing term. Nearly everyone who speaks about Web 3.0 talks about what it means for developers, content providers and search engine companies. They toss around terms like the "semantic Web" and "linked data." I'm going to ignore that whole conversation and just tell you what it means for users.

In a nutshell, the Web 3.0 will function a little bit more like a human being. It will "understand" how facts and ideas are connected. And it will also "understand" what you're looking for, and take your own particular context, needs and preferences into account. Your interaction with the Web will "feel" less like the operation of a machine and more like interaction with another human being.

So, for example, you'll be able to query the Google of the Future with questions like, "where should we go for dinner?" Instead of returning a list of restaurant reviews and listings, it will consider your location, the weather, current traffic, what you had last night, your previous preferences, the opinions of your preferred restaurant critics and more. It will consider a huge variety of sources and will produce, say, three specific restaurants -- all great choices, all things considered -- literally all things considered.