Several times a month, I set up shop in one of the coffee shops here in downtown Palo Alto, like University Cafe, or Coupa Cafe.  I’m usually one of many laptop-toting latte-drinking urban professionals working there.  Inevitably, there are several groups of people huddled around a business plan, trying to create the next Youtube.

Glenn Reynolds’ book An Army of Davids quotes the Economist in suggesting that this is a resurgence of what 18th century London coffee-houses were like:

…for the price of a cup of coffee, you could read the latest pamphlets, catch up on news and gossip, attend scientific lectures, strike business deals, or chat with like-minded people about literature or politics.

Reynolds argues that while 19th and 20th century technologies made it more efficient to do many business activities in a large office — and hence did away with many social business centers like coffee-houses — today’s technology makes it possible to do business efficiently just about anywhere there’s a wifi connection, ironically leading back to the popularity of common spaces like coffee-houses as a work place.

Makes very good sense to me!  The only tasks that I can do more efficiently in my large broker’s office than at Starbucks are those that depend on old-school technology, like photocopying.  Fortunately, with e-faxes, e-signatures, and e-mail, I hardly ever have to photocopy anyting any more!