Most strikingly, Mr Gore is interested in science: his famous concern for the chemical balance of environment is matched by similar passions for the Internet, the genome map, new research on learning.

ECONOMIST: 2001: A Gore Odyssey

In this environment, a world apart from the early frontier days of the Internet, hackers today universally exhibit a certain mercenary sensibility, cannily juggling multiple offers, playing judge in hustler beauty contests at hackathons, planning acqui-hire trajectories, and in general maximizing their value as the stewards of the new body of technical knowledge.

FORBES: Entrepreneurs are the New Labor: Part II

It may not be until more objects around us are actually "smarter, " when the Internet becomes more about things in our environment rather than caches of information that we access through special devices, that we may start to solve some of the problems QR codes are failing to address.

CNN: Why QR codes aren't catching on

Within walking distance of major office branches and shops, the hotel is a favourite of young travellers looking for free wireless internet and a trendy environment.

BBC: Business trip: Johannesburg

The Internet, after all, is a vast Big Data environment, in which millions of servers and billions of personal computers and smart devices are continuously and perpetually gathering great caches of data on every single one of its users.

FORBES: Welcome to the Real World

"There's no Firefox, no Internet Explorer - and there's not likely to be because of the development environment, " he added.

BBC: Opera iPhone app downloaded a million times in 24 hours

Nevertheless, despite much talk of an overheated venture capital environment, valuations at all stages remain well below those during the Internet bubble.

FORBES: State of the VC Industry