San Francisco's bedouins

Working at home is getting passe. In San Francisco, there is a new trend of working in coffeehouses that has been getting very popular, especially with people who are opting out of the rat race or working with large corporations. Interestingly, these so-called nomads who roam from cafe to cafe have become known as 'bedouins'. But these are no old fashioned bedouins, they have all the accouterments to run an office and are able to work no matter where they are.

San Francisco's bedouins see themselves changing the nature of the workplace, if not the world at large. They see large companies like General Motors laying off workers, contributing to insecurity. And at the same time, they see the Internet providing the tools to start companies on the cheap. In the Bedouin lifestyle, they are free to make their own rules.

"The San Francisco coffeehouse is the new Palo Alto garage," declares Kevin Burton, 30, who runs his Internet startup Tailrank without renting offices. "It's where all the innovation is happening."