The smart, hungry people who made this city a mecca for finance and media, among other things, are peering beyond technology's toolmaking age. I spoke with here. Snickelways, named from a medieval word for a village's shop-lined pathways, is one of the hatcheries. Once deep into interactive television, which essentially imploded several years ago, the company retooled itself for Internet marketing. It also focused carefully.
Retailers use standard Web browsers to order items from the wholesalers.
The future is customer-centric.'' I might well have discovered Snickelways through an Internet search or other means. But I learned about it the old-fashioned way, when Janet Stites pointed out in a conversation that Silicon Alley is about much more than splashy new media. Stites also brokers information, but in a distinctly low-tech manner. She's the publisher of AlleyCat News, an expensive monthly newsletter about Silicon Alley, aimed at investors who are looking for ideas. She and a partner, Anna Wheatley, launched the publication and a parent company, AlleyCat Information Sciences, late last year.