Editor's Note: New Media: What's The Big Idea?

It's hard to believe that I could utter these words aloud, but I really wish I'd been in Las Vegas last week. Vegas isn't a city I like to visit, though I often go for conferences, meetings, etc. The glitz, the gambling, the performers with the pasty, nearly fluorescent teeth and fake tans ... just not my thing. But, oh, do I wish my schedule would have allowed me to squeeze in a visit to the Consumer Electronics Show. No doubt it was one of the hottest tickets in town, with well-known vendors and some up-and-comers on hand to show off their latest gadgets and innovative technologies.

Fortunately, we had a number of folks on the show floor talking to the vendors about their new wares (see story, "Turn On, Plug In, Keep Up"). Why should a business technologist care about any of this gadgetry? How can this be relevant to business strategy? This is consumer stuff, right? Well, that might have been the case a few years ago, but now business technologists don't have to feel guilty for checking out the latest cool stuff. Consumer and business technologies are becoming so blended that pretty soon, the hip new smart phones, portable video units, biometric devices, interactive TVs, and other gadgets will be business as usual.

Business technologists shouldn't be worried about finding an excuse to play with these things. Instead, they should think about setting a strategy for managing them and preparing for customers to be communicating and collaborating using these new technologies. Are you ready? Remember the companies that resisted Web com- merce? Stupid mistake, right? Well, don't let the next big ideas in new media pass you by before you've had a chance to embrace them and to allow your employees and customers to use them, too.

Stephanie Stahl
Editor-in-chief
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