What will the future bring?

Nielsend@shns.com

While I've been working in the Alps, my e-mail address has been my lifeline to my family in Virginia, Illinois and Kansas, my friends around the world, and my editor in Turin.

We send our stories via e-mail.

We receive updates from the U.S. Olympic Committee and International Olympic Committee via e-mail.

We get pictures and news from family and friends via e-mail.

Of course, e-mail has only been used at the Olympics for the past 10 years or so. Reporters survived and thrived for decades without it. Now it's unimaginable to be without it.

This is the first Olympics to utilize Wifi wireless technology to access the Internet. Less than two years ago in Athens we needed to hook up to a phone.

What will it be like in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics? Or in Vancouver in 2010? Or London in 2012?

I have no idea how different the technology will be at future Olympics. But I sure hope I get a chance to find out.