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Her character is also deliberately crafted to target the Web's most active demographics. Nerds geek out on the idea that this beautiful girl lists physicist Richard Feynman and poet e. e. cummings as heroes. Horny guys respond to the tame but tantalizing glimpses of her cleavage. Teenage girls sympathize with her boy troubles and her sometimes-stormy relationship with her strict parents. Early on, viewers started emailing to offer advice and sympathy. Others wanted to talk dirty and discuss mathematical equations.

As Bree, she struck up friendships with people in Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Australia, Mexico, and all over the US.

Now Beckett and Flinders had made her sign a nondisclosure agreement and, clearly pleased with themselves, told her that they wanted her to play the lead in what they billed as the future of entertainment.

The title of the video was "My Parents Suck …," and she explained that her religion prevented her from doing things that other kids did. Still, she felt that her parents had gone too far when they said she couldn't go on a hike with Daniel. It was the first time Bree was emotional on camera.

In fact, Beckett and Flinders hadn't even found an actress to play the part.

It was exactly what her acting coaches at Universal Studios' film program had warned her against: unkempt producer-types hawking shady deals.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT JESSICA ROSE that the webcam loves. Her distractingly large eyebrows and small round face are bent and stretched by the fish-eye lens into a morsel of beauty that fits perfectly in a pop-up window. That's not to say she isn't pretty off camera – she is – but every step she takes closer to the cam multiplies and enhances her looks. It's a face made for the browser screen.

As Bree, she struck up friendships with people in Sweden, Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, Australia, Mexico, and all over the US. > She never offered much information about her character. Rather, she'd research an emailer's

The previous week, one guy had offered her a part in a movie if she would use her student ID to buy him discounted film at Kodak

A day or two after that, a new user named Lonelygirl15 posted an animated scene of a dinosaur stomping on a house, intercut with Emily's original videos.

Emily's fans loved it and offered a deluge of comments, giving Lonelygirl15 instant cred. Viewers praised this funny, creative new vlogger, encouraged her to keep the videos coming, and signed up to receive her future clips.

. #15 The previous videos had gotten between 50,000 and 100,000 views after a week, but this one logged 50,000 in its first

The previous videos had gotten between 50,000 and 100,000 views after a week, but this one logged 50,000 in its first two hours.

Goodfried's advice was simple. "If anyone asks point-blank if you're real, don't answer the question," he said. "Don't lie to people. The answer is no answer. In my mind, it's the equivalent of not lying. But if people talk to Bree like she's Bree, that's fair game."

#8 The previous week, one guy had offered her a part in a movie if she would use her student ID to buy him discounted film at Kodak

It sounded a lot like porn.

they could claim false advertising and sue.

commune-raised screenwriter a green light to unleash Lonelygirl15 on the world.

(one called her an "attention whore" and another a "video slut"),

But this first clip laid the groundwork for everything that was to come.

A day or two after that, a new user named Lonelygirl15 posted an animated scene of a dinosaur stomping on a house, intercut with Emily's original videos.

9 The previous videos had gotten between 50,000 and 100,000 views after a week, but this one logged 50,000 in its first two hours.

"If anyone asks point-blank if you're real, don't answer the question," he said. "Don't lie to people. The answer is no answer. In my mind, it's the equivalent of not lying. But if people talk to Bree like she's Bree, that's fair game."

JESSICA ROSE WAS SUSPICIOUS and frankly a little pissed off. She had come to this organic-tea shop to discuss what she thought was a feature film called Children of Anchor Cove.

a hand puppet named Purple Monkey

Rather, she'd research an emailer's MySpace page and ask questions about their life. They responded enthusiastically and helped spread the word about the amazing new YouTube vlogger named Bree

Don't sell merchandise and don't use any copyrighted music without a license. If people buy Lonelygirl15 stuff thinking she is real

Teenage girls sympathize with her boy troubles and her sometimes-stormy relationship with her strict parents.

The previous videos had gotten between 50,000 and 100,000 views after a week, but this one logged 50,000 in its first two hours.

Rather, she'd research an emailer's MySpace page and ask questions about their life. They responded enthusiastically and helped spread the word about the amazing new YouTube vlogger named Bree .

For Amanda, it was a welcome departure from her day job, where she answered phones and handled the demands of high-powered stars.

Lots of people can now watch themselves on sort-of TV, which is pretty fun in itself. The bonus is that others want to watch them, too.

NBC used Yahoo to premiere Heroes and AOL to offer sneak previews of its Twenty Good Years and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. And the brand-new CW Network celebrated its debut by posting for free Runaway and Everybody Hates Chris on MSN. Counting cable, dozens of networks are now making programs available online.

He insists he can't quite recall, you know, the $1.65 billion moment.

"#2 Everyone, in the back of his mind, wants to be a star," Hurley asserts for probably the quadrillionth time, "and we provide the audience to make it happen. "

Third-millennium humanity has demonstrated an interest in sifting through millions of pieces of crap produced by total strangers to discover a few gems – some accidentally entertaining ("Boom Goes the Dynamite"), some breakout performances from the previously obscure ("Treadmill Dance"), and some explorations of a new art form crackling with genius (Ze Frank, Ask a Ninja, and the guys behind Loneygirl15.)

And what if, as a bonus, the medium were able not merely to command eyeballs for marketers but to target content especially relevant to what the marketer is selling?

Until now, advertisers have underwritten mass media to reach mass audiences. Indeed, they've paid increasing premiums for the opportunity as audiences have shrunk, because even in a fragmented media world, the largest fragment – network TV – is the most valuable. But now they realize that they are losing not only mass but critical mass.

Altogether, this stuff constitutes a bottomless reservoir of short-form video content for others to siphon off if they choose

"Broadcast Yourself."

. #7 Fragmentation has decimated audiences, viewers who do watch are skipping commercials, advertisers are therefore fleeing, the revenue for underwriting new content is therefore flatlining, program quality is therefore suffering (Dancing With the Stars. QED), which will lead to ever more viewer defection, which will lead to ever more advertiser defection, and so on.

Because, at least until recently, the Internet has lacked both the riveting content and ad space inventory to absorb it.

#4 Lots of people can now watch themselves on sort-of TV, which is pretty fun in itself. The bonus is that others want to watch them, too

The networks say these are measures to promote the broadcast versions of their shows. The overwhelming probability is that the opposite is true, which bodes poorly for those invested in the status quo. One victim is local affiliates, which get a big chunk of their revenue from selling commercial space within network programs. The Internet, needless to say, bypasses them.

a spiraling vortex of ruin.

NBC used Yahoo to premiere > Heroes > and AOL to offer sneak previews of its > Twenty Good Years > and > Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip > . > >

put fall premieres of shows like Smith and The New Adventures of Old Christine on Google Video

#14 Fragmentation has decimated audiences, viewers who do watch are skipping commercials, advertisers are therefore fleeing, the revenue for underwriting new content is therefore flatlining, program quality is therefore suffering

dozens of networks are now making programs available online

advertisers have been broadcasting themselves for decades and would very much prefer the status quo. The good news is that the status quo isn't long for this world.

Everyone, in the back of his mind, wants to be a star," Hurley asserts for probably the quadrillionth time, "and we provide the audience to make it happen. "

He insists he can't quite recall, you know, the $1.65 billion moment.

He's turning right around in a few hours; he's stuck in yet one more conference room, and his eyes

stuck in yet one more conference room, and his eyes have the vacant look of someone whose body ha

he's stuck in yet one more conference room, and his eyes

CHAD HURLEY SAYS HE DOESN'T REMEMBER. It's two weeks before the announcement of the Google acquisition, and he has just flown the red

Everyone, in the back of his mind, wants to be a star," Hurley asserts for probably the quadrillionth time, "and we provide the audience to make it happen. "

But what if there were a means to approximate the reach and mesmerizing power of television online?

Third-millennium humanity has demonstrated an interest in sifting through millions of pieces of crap produced by total strangers to discover a few gems – some accidentally entertaining ("Boom Goes the Dynamite"), some breakout performances from the previously obscure ("Treadmill Dance"), and some explorations of a new art form crackling with genius (Ze Frank, Ask a Ninja, and the guys behind Loneygirl15.)

connection to his nervous system. In a word, the dude is fried. Never mind that he's the cofounder of the Next Big Thing and poised to be a total

The Web has become the land of the free.

He sold razors in bulk to banks so they could give them away with new deposits ("shave and save" campaigns).

Milton Friedman himself reminded us time and time again that "there's no such thing as a free lunch. "But Friedman was wrong in two ways. First, a free lunch doesn't necessarily mean the food is being given away or that you'll pay for it later — it could just mean someone else is picking up the tab. Second, in the digital realm, as we've seen, the main feedstocks of the information economy — storage, processing power, and bandwidth — are getting cheaper by the day. Two of the main scarcity functions of traditional economics — the marginal costs of manufacturing and distribution — are rushing headlong to zip. It's as if the restaurant suddenly didn't have to pay any food or labor costs for that lunch. Surely economics has something to say about that?

Chris Anderson (canderson@wired.com) is the editor in chief of Wired and author of The Long Tail. His next book, FREE, will be published in 2009 by Hyperion.

Virtually everything Google does is free to consumers, from Gmail to Picasa to GOOG-411.

But tell that to the poor CIO who just shelled out six figures to buy another rack of servers. Technology sure doesn't feel free when you're buying it by the gross. Yet if you look at it from the other side of the fat pipe, the economics change. That expensive bank of hard drives (fixed costs) can serve tens of thousands of users (marginal costs). The Web is all about scale, finding ways to attract the most users for centralized resources, spreading those costs over larger and larger audiences as the technology gets more and more capable. It's not about the cost of the equipment in the racks at the data center; it's about what that equipment can do. And every year, like some sort of magic clockwork, it does more and more for less and less, bringing the marginal costs of technology in the units that we individuals consume closer to zero.

From the consumer's perspective, though, there is a huge difference between cheap and free. Give a product away and it can go viral. Charge a single cent for it and you're in an entirely different business, one of clawing and scratching for every customer. The psychology of "free" is powerful indeed, as any marketer will tell you.

this business model is now the foundation of entire industries: Give away the cell phone, sell the monthly plan; make the videogame console cheap and sell expensive games; install fancy coffeemakers in offices at no charge so you can sell managers expensive coffee sachets.

Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business

As much as we complain about how expensive things are getting, we're surrounded by forces that are making them cheaper.

What does this mean for the notion of free?