I am a huge fan of the Gartner Hype Cycle.  If you are not familiar with it, the Hype Cycle attempts to place in context where certain technologies and strategies exist, with the assumption that all appear, grow in popularity, mature, and decline...

Article I contributed to in RetailSpeak Magazine for the Summer issue: http://www.onwindows.com/Portals/0/images/retailspeak-issue-24.pdf