Now found widely in such products as smart air bags, such early sensors are giving way to new applications such as 'smart courier' boxes whose 'skin' contain sensors that adjust to shipping conditions, to 'smartifacts—smart materials and intelligent artifacts—materials that change shape or physical characteristics depending on the situation.

Guess what Phyllis Woodward found in Kirkland, Wash.? Trickle Down Inc., which calls itself ''A Yuppie Pawn Shop'' and offers ''Cash Instantly'' for computers, word processors, fax machines, copiers, disc players, tanning beds and other smartifacts of the ''Me'' generation.