The net shapes up to get physical

just as many of us are getting to grips with its second stage, the mobile internet, very few are prepared - perhaps even aware - of the third and potentially most revolutionary phase of all: the internet of things

Sometime between now and 2010, the internet is poised to reach beyond virtual space and take root in the physical world. According to many futurist thinkers, almost every object you can see around you carries the possibility of being connected to the internet. This means that your domestic appliances, your clothes, the books on your shelves and your car in the driveway may one day soon be assigned a unique IP address, just as both computers and web pages are assigned them today, to enable them to talk to each other.

Whatever it happens to be, we can IP-enable it."

every human on the planet could have a personal network the size of the today's inter

Already in Japan cows

wireless RFID chips beneath their skin

Farmers can now track their livestock