“What’s possible when every person,  place and thing can be connected?” Back in 1994, before the Internet went mainstream, a team in hp labs began experiment- ing with the concept—and very real probability—that the Net could significantly change the way we interact. What if, they wondered, every person, place and thing had a pres- ence on the Web? What’s possible in a world where literally everything can be connect- ed to the Internet? Where e-services are accessible no matter where you are, and can be delivered on the spot to appropriately fit the context you’re in?  This year, thousands of people got a glimpse of this world in CoolTown—hp’s vision of a world where the physical and digital worlds are intertwined in ways that simplify how we live, learn, work and play. Gene Becker, Gary Herman, Jeff Morgan and Gita Gopal are part of a larger team behind CoolTown and the technologies that make it possible for peo- ple, environments and things to effortlessly exchange information and services using the open standards of the Web.  This year, the team began working with customers to explore ways to extend CoolTown technologies to the real world in cars, watches, cell phones, PDAs, hospitals and theme parks. Now, that’s cool.  CoolTown 38