I don't think it's a new thing, though. They've always told the nerds that the jocks that beat them up today are going to be mowing their lawns tomorrow. Just World fallacy some more? I dunno.
But, yeah, I also think that's some of the "coolness" factor, now. Of course it's cool to be a geek in the information age, if it means you get to have a high-paying tech job and have money to spend on cool stuff. Money makes you cool.