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E-entreprenuers see bright future By Sara Murphy ASHLAND � Folks at the Eyeballs 2000 conference say we should look forward to "order pizza" buttons in our homes, buying soda with cell phones and a virtual takeover of all things Internet within the next five years. The two-day Internet marketing and e-commerce conference wraps up today at Southern Oregon University. About 90 business people, educators and government officials are attending to see what the future holds � and to make sure they don't get drenched when the tides of change hit reality's shore. "I would be shocked if we didn't have an 'order pizza' button in our home, with a line connected 100 percent of the time, within the next five years," says Charles Jaeger, the SOU business professor directing the conference. "The person who sells the pizza is going to make millions." Eyeballs 2000 is designed to help local people with vested interests in Internet technology form a network of shared information, Jaeger says. Participants are exploring how to market businesses on the Web, the future of Internet technologies and the regulation of Cyberspace. Wireless Internet technologies are expected to be one of the greatest influences on business of the not-so-distant future. Thomas Kuegler Jr., of RightNow Technologies, says many seemingly space-age systems are already available. In Europe, he says, people have been able to use wireless computers to communicate for more than a year. "Maybe Americans fear change more, but here there isn't a dying need to be able to walk up to a Coke machine and buy a Coke with your cell phone," he says. But, he adds, it will be possible. And that has some folks a little worried about the limits of so-called progress. "I hope that we never get to the point where I have to have a Palm Pilot to buy a soda," says Jim Teece, president of Project A in Ashland. "I hope that we never get to the point where if you don't own a cell phone, you're not a human being." Let's get real � this chat's not just about humans. Virtual beings, Jaeger predicts, are going to be handling most business transactions by 2009. "They will probably talk back to you less and give better customer service," he says. "Given all that, yes, it's scary." Still, Jaeger predicts the Internet will actually help human contact. "The Internet will help revive personal relationships," he says. "The big killer of personal relations in the past 30 years has been television. TV is a one-way medium." And the Net, after all, is nothing if not interactive. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA