Mark Smith is an inveterate tinkerer who has been "soldering junk together for 30 years."Ê He was 8 years old when he built his first radio, using razor blades filched from his fathers medicine cabinet, wire, a pencil an the cardboard core of a roll of toilet paper.ÊÊ

Today, he heads Hewlett Packard Labs research team on Next Generation devices.Ê There, he and his team are working on what they call "context-aware devices"  devices that function differently according to whos using them, in what environment and for what purpose.Ê The idea is to make devices that are as painless to use as they are powerful.

Juan Enriquez is the director of the Life Sciences Project at Harvard Business School where he is building an interdisciplinary center focusing on how business will change as a result of the life sciences revolution.Ê Earlier in his career, he was the CEO of Mexico Citys Urban Development Corporation and an outspoken advocate of the need to reform Mexicos economic and political structure.

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Ê"As the Future Catches You"is the title of his terrific new book, just released by Crown Business.