A brief history of the phone.

From 1876 to roughly 2001: an instrument for talking to people. From roughly 2001 to now: an instrument for texting and emailing, so you don’t have to talk to people.

Which brings us to the next great innovation in not-talking-to-people...

Meet Instacart, possibly the easiest way to get tequila (or potato chips... or cereal...) to your door in an hour or less, available now by invitation only.

What this is: an app. For grocery shopping. Easy enough.

Who it’s from: an ex-Amazon-supply-chain-engineer, which certainly makes it sound like he knows what he’s doing.

How you’ll use it: we’re thinking a dinner party. The conversation’s hitting a second wind. (Voicing your unorthodox position on hot-tub economics will do that.) Problem is, the beer’s running low. You fire up this thing, punch in your order (a six-pack, some tequila, maybe some lettuce or something) and... congratulations, you’re done. About an hour later, your beer will be there.

You could also use it to, like, stock up on groceries.

Anyway: a little further down the line, you’ll be able to schedule a specific delivery time, plus order stuff that you can’t typically find at a grocery store.

We’re not saying black-market Butterfingers. But we’re not not saying black-market Butterfingers.