The idea: Remember the late Nineties, when you could throw together two words at random, put 'dot com' at the end, pitch them to a venture capitalist and leave with £26 million? Those days are back. Sure, 'online karaoke' sounds as much fun as 'virtual lager', but it's going to be big, big, big. Perhaps.

Pre-history: Online karaoke – people singing to each other through the internet – had a hesitant birth in 1999, when the first voice chat systems stuttered into life. Soon people set up karaoke rooms, singing Peggy Lee songs in distorted voices.

The tipping point: By 2006, the technology was in place: broadband, ubiquitous soundcards and webcams, and a second internet boom looking for new ways to burn money. Then, lipsynching videos became huge – starting with the Chinese Backstreet Boys and those teenagers miming the Pokémon Theme Tune on YouTube.

The big push: In April 2006, online karaoke site kSolo.com was bought for an undisclosed amount by FIM (owned by News Corp). kSolo is a bit like MySpace without the attitude. Its biggest star is 'Michelle ' a 33-year-old British woman who has published 101 recordings. kSolo¹s competition comes from SingShot, which just sold for $36 million to a games company.

Oh dear. Video arrives: In July 2006, Bix.com launched. Bix specialises in head-to-head video karaoke competitions. The addition of video to online karaoke really pushes it over into car-crash territory. Close up, badly-lit clips of Alabama housewives nervously singing Mariah Carey songs. Once you start watching, it's hard to stop.

The future: Sober-headed pundits are sceptical about online karaoke, but this is the internet, so anything is possible.

Extras:

You can buy a Griffin iKaraoke, which plugs a microphone into the bottom of your iPod. It strips the vocal tracks from the music, and lets you sing over the top.

OMG song is a site which specialises in online karaoke songs from Manga cartoons.

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