So that is where the web is up to now. Now fast forward a few years to a 3D web. I can place my avatar's feet on the relevant street on Google Maps, and walk her along until I get to the restaurant in question. Looking at the doorway, I enter the restaurant, and find myself in the restaurant's virtual world. I can look around the restaurant, see what other diners are eating and associate them with items on the menu. I can read the full menu, order and pay using my real credit card information. And the food is prepared. The only problem is that I then have to brave the real world snow to get the food in question. Until they start delivering, that is.

Of course I'm aware that many retail stores don't have a web presence (yet), much less can they develop a 3D virtual world for their customers to visit. This is especially true of the smaller restaurants that rely on local thoroughfare and word-of-mouth for their business. So how about we consider another option:

I physically walk along the street and see the restaurant that I liked the look of and would like to explore at a later time. I take out my phone and scan the Zapcode (or similar) in the window. The menu is downloaded to my phone along with the contact details of the restaurant. And synchronised over the air with my Internet Favourites and filed appropriately under "Restaurants," of course. I'd be really rather happy to settle for this in the meantime.