New York Times writer John Markoff made a big blogosphere blunder when he wrote Sunday about the future of artificial intelligence on the Internet and dubbed it "Web 3.0." Web pundits had a field day, rejecting the new term and sniffing at Markoff's underlying premise. "I've done more than 50 interviews in the past three months and collected hundreds of business cards and I've NEVER heard anyone talking about Web 3.0," writes Robert Scoble.

And what about Markoff's claim that computers will get smarter in their ability to read users intentions? "The idea of the Semantic Web has been around since 1999," writes Valleywag. "Why is The Times treating it as new? For the same reason that the Times put Burning Man afterparties on the Styles section cover: It sells papers." Ouch.

For his part, blogger Greg Linden saw in Markoff's Web 3.0 article a dangerous trend towards over-hyping immature technology: "AI researchers, do not overpromise and underdeliver again. Cut out the 'Web 3.0' hype. Let's be realistic. Even without the chimerical Holy Grail of AI, we can help people find and discover what they need." OK, so it's been a rough Monday....After a long week at the Web 2.0 Summit, maybe the pundits aren't ready to hear spin about a threequel.