People sometimes look sort of sheepish when it happens. Some won't even make eye contact. I have no shame, though.

"What was this, anyway?" I asked, picking up a metal wheel with four spokes and cogs from a neighbor's trash can, during my morning jog.

"Part of an old loom, he said. "I always meant to put it together but never did. What are you going to use if for?"

"I dunno yet," I said. He smiled approvingly.

The wheel hangs on flagstone in front of our house, a small proclamation to a love of manufacturing ingenuity...and of getting good stuff for free.

The Control Engineering team takes pride in offering manufacturing ingenuity and valuable stuff free. OK, sure, it's not exactly free...you do give up some information about what you buy and specify, but you get the prized articles, news, products, and analysis by Control Engineering editors. Control Engineering Online, at www.controleng.com, including Control Engineering Europe, daily news, tutorials, products, channels, Control Engineering e-newsletters, job listings, and researchable enhanced databases on product manufacturers in the online Automation Integrator Guide. We link to other prized information sources, such as research, news feeds, inside Cahners Business Information and Reed Elsevier, and beyond ("Other Resources" button, online).

Control Engineering Online's recently enhanced Buyer's Guide provides enhanced product and vendor searches, listings, ability to request information, download documents, view presentations or even videos, based on the level of sponsorship.

Go to www.controleng.com/buyersguide.

Access free learning via technology webcasts from the home page or directly at www.controleng.com/webcast/ default.asp. An upcoming event highlights "Open architecture for Information Integration," including end-user testimonials about the benefits of networking technology from Interkama trade fair, Sept. 28. Events also are archived for later viewing or review.

Travel and time budgets have been trimmed or slashed. So, in a huge leap ahead in interactive technology, Control Engineering, with Cahners partners, will bring you a full online conference and trade show, Oct. 17-18, SupplyChainLinkExpo. While sessions and other areas are all free for your picking, here are some that may be of particular interest:

Applying E-productivity and Six Sigma are topics of a keynote presentation—Dave Harrold, senior editor, will interview W. James McNerney Jr., ceo of 3M Corp. (18 years with GE).

In the "Make" Pavillion, Control Engineering is organizing "Ethernet and industrial networks," I'll moderate a panel discussion with experts from ControlNet International, Fieldbus Foundation, and Profibus Trade Organization. As Ethernet protocols are more widely considered for industrial use, many realize that without connections to accurate plant-floor information, the supply chain's just guessing.

Exhibitors will highlight their latest products, including controls, automation, control software, sensors, asset management, manufacturing intelligence/plant portals, flow manufacturing, manufacturing execution system software, planning, and materials handling. See an ad in this issue and register online at www.supplychainlinkexpo.com.

Taking advantage of free Control Engineering stuff is a lot more dignified than picking up free stuff curbside... and it's just as much fun.