Remember the internet boom and bust of the late 90s? Remember how first there was a gold rush, then everyone became sheepish and embarrassed to talk about the web?

Well, 10 years later, business is buzzing about the internet again. Here’s some proof:

• We don’t say “dot-bomb” anymore, we say “web 1.0”
• Boo.com has been relaunched (by an Irish company, no less)
• Business.com has become the highest ever selling domain name … again

Back in 1999, I remember writing an article for the Vision.com website about how Business.com had been sold for $7.5 million US dollars. (Here’s all that’s left of the old Vision.com homepage where I posted the stories.)

A few years later, when people became embarrassed about that era of extravagant spending and wild parties, the idea of spending millions on a domain name became ludicrous.

In fact, since business.com had been bought as part of a stock deal, a later revaluation (when shares had plunged) meant that it had cost “only” $2 million dollars, according to an MSNBC interview with purchaser Jake Winebaum.

Now the domain has been sold again, for $345 mln, says the Wall Street Journal.

Who’s laughing now? But are we caught up in another cycle of hype, a.k.a. web 2.0?