Future of Big Tech

What's Next at Sun, Ebay and Microsoft
Online gadgetry goes a step further with futuristic projects from top tech companies.

Of all the futuristic technologies that debuted Thursday at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, California, the one that at first blush seemed out of place was the one that got the biggest audience response. In a session entitled “From The Labs,” technical leaders from Sun Microsystems, EBay and Microsoft presented some of the technologies that are emerging from their research facilities. Most of the products weren’t immediately ready or applicable to the commercial world, and instead provided a peek into the future of the Internet. Roger Meike, a senior director at Sun Labs, the research facility of Sun Microsystems, challenged the audience to think entirely differently about the Internet. The Web, he said, isn’t just people communicating with one another. It’s also about “things talking to other things.”