Patricia Cohen in the Times: "There was a time when ... points of trivia might arise at dinner or over drinks and lead to a brain-racking long debate or an unsettled and angry standoff. But now... hand-held wireless devices can immediately settle disputes over points of fact."
"Kimberly Cardiel, a bartender at the ESPN Zone restaurant in Times Square, said that when she started working there more than seven years ago, bar bets or plain old disputes about sports would be decided by checking the newspaper, calling around to friends or asking someone nearby for the answer. Most of the time, the majority ruled. Sometimes the question would be left unsettled. But now, she said, those with hand-held devices or cellphones look it up on the Internet. Instant adjudication."