iEverything

What is the world coming to? e-this and e-that, everywhere you turn there is something to do with the Internet. i-am.getting.a.little.tired.of.it.com, but I can't complain too much. After all, you aren't reading this on paper are you?

I remember when I sent my first email on a large mainframe computer, we called it the VAX. .com wasn't in any dictionary then, and you always capitalized the letter i. It was a little intimidating typing on that small orange CRT, and I really never thought I would spend a large part of my day in the future just reviewing emails. Now, I'm happy when I have less then 50 emails a day to deal with. Later on when you were able to get information off of the Internet, I thought it was pretty neat. I never imagined the extents that companies would eventually go just to get you to look at their Web page. I long for the days when you could surf around the 'net' without ads popping up everywhere you go.

So what is my point? Am I just reminiscing like some old man about the good old days? Well, maybe a little. But I do have something to point out. It is amazing the amount of resources that the world is putting into the Internet and the expansion of it. There are billions of dollars being made and invested in this field. So how is that important to the Product Engineer? Well, it is important to know what types of products the world needs or wants. Right now some of the hottest items being designed have to do with the Internet somehow. To be a successful engineer, you need to be ready to hop on the train when it goes by, and the Internet train is cruising right now.

Now I think that many of these Internet appliances definitely fall into the 'want' category. I mean who really wants to run their toaster from the office? But then again who were the people that wanted a 'pet rock'? It doesn't have to make sense to be successful. There is some pretty neat stuff going on though. Soon your cell phone will play MP3 files, what a beautiful blend of technologies! And the gates are wide open for more innovation.

Check out these sites for some great ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

www.e-town.com/news/

mobile.ericsson.com/spg.asp?Template=Article_Page_GPD&Combo=inc_MobPhoneCombo&ProdId=9391

www.netpliance.com/

This guy who's name I will not try to spell crammed a TCP/IP stack into a very small microcontroller. It got him on a front page of a few newspapers, and I'll bet more than one job offer.

www.rediff.com/news/1999/aug/13us2.htm

www-ccs.cs.umass.edu/~shri/iPic.html

There is some cool stuff afoot. Just remember to say to yourself. i-want.a.piece.of.the.action.com, and go get it.

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