Wanniski says the first wave of deflation to hit the U.S. was a result of the currency crisis in Thailand that spread to the rest of Asia in 1997 and severely affected U.S. commodity producers like hog farmers and oil drillers.

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The first wave of utility computing customers, Carr says, will be small companies trying to avoid big IT investments, whose computing needs can be easily served by smaller firms.

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"Amazon has built a very strong relationship with e-book buying consumers that were the first wave of adopters of electronic readers, " says Epps.

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Tracing the green movement in America, from the first wave, led by John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt, through the second wave in the 1960s and 1970s, he says the time is right for a third wave.

ECONOMIST: The environment

"I think we're seeing right now the first wave, with virtual goods and currencies limited to a certain game or context, " says Matt Berardo, vice president of product management at social-games platform GameHouse Fusion.

FORBES: Videogames