ing application of 802. 11x wireless LANs or one of the myriad emerging WMAN (wireless metropolitan area network) technologies. The vision is that as automobiles cruise through the city or the country, they will be able to relay information to one another regarding road conditions, accidents, or potential rerouting that needs to be observed for maximum efficiency in travel time. So Introduction every automobile becomes a network on its own as well as a subnetwork in a large virtual internetwork of automobiles; "autonet" will no doubt emerge as a key term in the transportation lexicon. Intelligent Implants Using RFID The ultimate in embedded intelligence is intelligence that is actually implanted in the person versus being embedded in a device. Today there are tens of thousands of people who can hear the song of a bird or the whisper of romance due to cochlear implants. We now have a number of other exciting developments. For example, there's a bio-implant that can be used for many purposes, from personal location (for people wanting to protect their children or be assured of where they are) to health care (where the individual's entire medical history is contained on the chip) to financial information (so that you no longer need credit cards or wallets-you simply run your arm by a scanner). Subdermal personal verification technology is being used for security, medical, and emergency applications in many countries. In October 2004, the U.S. FDA approved an implantable microchip for use in humans, a tiny subcutaneous RFID tag. Now several U.S. companies are mass-producing RFID chips and stocking chip warehouses and implantation centers. Upper-level government officials are getting "chipped" to encourage public acceptance of the technology, and they are very quick to highlight the humanitarian uses of tracking devices in humans. Children and pets can be chipped in case they get lost. Chipping children can help locate kidnapped kids. (On the other hand, overwhelming evidence indicates that most child kidnappings are 