I think this could be the sort of thing that we see a lot more of in the future. But in a more advanced form.

For most people, the bottleneck is the pipe between their premises and their ISP. Anyone can implement QoS for their outbound traffic, and can use any classification and prioritization technique they want. At my office we prioritize VoIP RTP packets and iChat video conferencing streams over (for example) ftp and http transfers. In fact we have 5 separate queues that outbound packets are filtered in to.

But inbound QoS is by and large outside the control of the individual customer. You can do a few crude things by dropping TCP packets, but that's about it. What is really needed is the ability to classify and prioritize packets at the ISP end, before they enter that slow last-mile pipe to the customer premises. Then I can select the prioritization that is right for me. To do this the customer needs their own router at the ISP, or at least the ability to define their own queues and priorities. I have not found an ISP implements such a feature at this time.

I think if the prioritization policy is under control of the paying customer, then ISP's could have an argument for metered billing - where the highest priority packets cost more than the lowest priority ones (which would be very cheap or even free of charge).

Of course QoS setup is technically too advanced for most home customers, but it doesn't really matter - they could be given the option of a few profiles to choose from or just start with a default which is no prioritization at all.

I had exactly the same problem with Time Warner Cable in SoCal. My apple tv would take 12 hours to download a film. Changed my DNS servers to level3, which resulted in a Akamai server outside TWC (but still in LA), and viola! Instant HD streaming.

It's actually a bit poor that the CDN doesn't detect this and redirect some connections to alternate servers. I always wondered if it was Akamai that couldn't handle the load or a limit within TWC..

.. is allow people to sign up for a virtual mailing address (like a PO Box number). Mail sent to that address is scanned and emailed.

Then I could choose - I can give my virtual mailing address to utilities that still insist on sending me paper bills, and keep my actual address for 'sensitive' material.

As someone who does personal business in 3 countries and moves relatively often, I'd love to have a service like this.

The second phase, of course, is to interface to the mail senders as well, offering to take PDF files and the print and send them. Or if the recipient is taking scanned bills, just forward the PDF and save a tree.