• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, January 4, 2006

Welcome to 2006, the year when everyone finally "gets it"! The reason I know this is because of Christmas dinner with my family just two short weeks ago. Let me set the stage for you...

We were sitting at my grandmother's house with the whole family: my dad, sister, stepmother, uncles, aunts, cousins, niece and nephew, eating our holiday dinner (which always includes lasagna in the Treffiletti household) and chatting about some of the things we'd all observed over the last few weeks (you know; small talk). After a change in topic, my father spills out, "So I was playing with Google Earth the other day to check out your new apartment in the city." The look on my face was one of surprise, but not nearly as surprised as when my uncle responds, "Yeah, I've used that before. It's a pretty great tool"!

In no less than an instant, the topic of conversation had shifted from the typical sort of small talk you associate with family around the holidays to the type of small talk I associate with conferences and chats in the kitchen of my office.

A back and forth ensued, with my uncles chatting with my father, and my cousins all chiming in to discuss the plusses and minuses of Google Earth vs. the Microsoft product of similar use. This discussion went on for 10 minutes, until a new topic took over, but the moment left an indelible mark on my psyche. For the first time ever, the topic of conversation around the extended family dinner table was one that dealt with what I did for a living and didn't involve me having to dole out an explanation how I do more than create the annoying pop-up ads for those "tiny little cameras," as my uncle once thought.

The holidays had begun to settle down, when what do I see but a story on CNN Headline News about how the FBI had been placing cookies on users' sites and leaving them on indefinitely to monitor the surfing habits of everyday users. Of course, this may not have been the whole story. I was slightly confused by the anchorman holding up a six-inch Mrs. Fields macadamia nut chocolate cookie in order to provide a visual aid for his discussion while something about "The FBI denies... blah blah blah," was going on in the background.

My point is that when the topic of conversation at family dinner revolves around a slightly obscure, yet very cool, Internet application and the top story on CNN Headline News is about cookies (not chocolate), then you know the tipping point has occurred. The coming year will likely make technology commonplace for everyone, raising the overall level of tech savviness in the general populace, which can only be a good thing for those of us who focus on ways the consumer uses technology everyday.

Welcome to the future, everyone.