At a time when the Internet industry is deep into Web 2.0 mode, you'd think it would have solved all the old Web 1.0 problems, like how to enable comparative shopping for consumer electronics, or how to make restaurant reservations online.

Not so, if you believe the businesses that were featured at a CEO Showcase Wednesday during the AlwaysOn Stanford Summit.

In a presentation that sounded eerily like something from 1999, Vipin Jain, CEO of comparative shopping site Retrevo, argued that although there is a multitude of sites offering pictures and prices for digital cameras, laptop computers and other consumer items, no one had yet figured out how to build a site that provided useful information to consumers without bogging them down with advertising.

"Retrevo brings together all the important product information in one place," he said.

A panel of venture capitalists on hand to review these new business pitches agreed that after all these years, there was still a need for a superior comparison shopping site. But they said Retrovo had not delivered.

"I think it's a very real problem," said George Zachary, a partner at Charles River Ventures. "But I'm not sure the Retrevo business has long-term, sustainable economics." —Andrea Orr

Tags: alwayson, alwayson07, alwayson2007, ao2007, ao07, web 2.0