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INTERNET, OR ELSE!

by Tom Cantrell

Start ý Implosion ý Little Big Chip ý Fully ARMed ý Pumped ý Stay Tuned ý Pico Surfer ý More the Merrier ý SloMo ý PIC2000 ý Easy Software? ý Cup of Java ý Purple Hayes ý GOTO Web ý Sources and PDF

At the recent Embedded Internet Conference, I was struck by how quickly things are progressing. What was once a mere workshop in ý98 and ý99 has now become a conference in ý00. I hear itýs even going to move to bigger digs, the Santa Clara Convention Center, in ý01.

All the excitement is based on the premise that the Internet can and will spread to the far reaches of the myriad communication links that surround (er, strangle?) us. Note that I said can and will, not should. Does the world need an Internet toaster? Nobody knows, so the only way to find out is to build first and ask later.

Put yourself in the toaster designerýs shoes for a minute. Marketing says, "Weýve got to have it." Why, pray tell? Because they donýt want to be second, and they figure the competition must be doing it because they surely donýt want to be second either.

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