At the Control Engineering Editors' Choice Awards reception, managing editor, Mark Hoske, tongue planted firmly in cheek, asked the audience, "By show of hands, how many of you think the Internet is important to your business?" No surprise, every hand in the house shot up. In classic understatement, he joked, "I think this Internet thing is really going to catch on."

A giant network of networks, the Internet is the defining technology for the close of the 20th century. From e-mail to e-commerce to e-education, it impacts how we work, play, shop, learn, and communicate.

In 1998, according to International Data Corp., 159 million of us worldwide used the Internet; by 2005 that number is predicted to reach over 1 billion. Already, over 85% of Control Engineering readers use the Internet on a regular basis.

What are all these Control Engineering readers doing online? If we want to remain the automation industry's leading information provider, we thought we better find out.

Countless research surveys, focus groups, and telephone interviews later, we now have a better idea of how, and why, our readers log on to the Internet. With this information, we've started to redefine the Control Engineering web site (www.controleng.com) and have added new features and a friendlier GUI. Web editor Laura Zurawski works closely with the magazine editors to update and populate the site with unique and fresh content.

New to the web site is our online free information card. Readers with Internet access can bypass the printed free information card found at the back of every issue and go directly to the Internet to inquire about items in the magazine. From your browser, enter www.controleng.com/freeinfo (or link from our home page), select an issue, enter the item's circle number, or search by product or company name. After you submit your choices, a list of companies to contact will appear. You can have a company send information to you, or click directly through to its web site.

Cahners Business Information, parent to Control Engineering, has used new research to launch a major redesign of its Manufacturing Marketplace web site at www.manufacturing.net. As the world's most comprehensive source of manufacturing information, it presents data and archived issues from 23 Cahners manufacturing magazines, including Control Engineering. It features a comprehensive sourcing directory, customized news feeds, and vertical industry communities.

If these reviews haven't convinced you to check out our web sites, maybe we can with our Top 10 Reasons to Go Online:

1. Search by keywords and retrieve three years of back issues of Control Engineering and Control Engineering International.
2. Stay abreast of late-breaking automation and industry news.
3. Get early notice of new product releases and search our database of thousands of additional product descriptions.
4. Visit our online Automation Integrator Guide to interactively search for system integrators by industry served, geographic area, engineering specialty, product experience, and corporate affiliation.
5. Bypass the post office and use our online free information service at www.controleng.com/freeinfo.
6. Get additional editorial information when you read our "Online Extras."
7. Use our Associations and Calendar pages to search for and hotlink to industry groups and trade shows.
8. Subscribe or renew your subscription online to Control Engineering and Control Engineering International.
9. Coming in July—search the Control &Automation Online Buyers' Guide of 3,000 product and solution providers.
10. Contact the Control Engineering editors to suggest more ideas for the site.