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I’m literally sitting on a beach in Southern Greece and the reality of the new order hit me!

For context, I’ve been truly blessed to come to this slice of heaven on earth for 35+ years. The first time I came here, the people of this tiny village of Kyparissi – my ancestral home – had running water and electricity installed in their homes just two months before my arrival. TWO MONTHS!! There were 3 phones in the entire village, no newspapers and not a scent of TV. It was another world, completely disconnected from civilization, which had its benefits in hindsight.

Fast forward to today. As I sit on the beach with my MacBook Pro, iPad and iPhone, easily connected to the world around me, it fully dawns on me. The entire world has converged and it’s ALL about the relationships I have with my providers. Everyone here now has a cell phone, there is Wi-Fi, and I found myself not only able to work productively more than 7,000 miles from home but still have access to the entire world, effortlessly….a far cry from my first visit.

Through the digital merchants with whom I have relationships — SF Chronicle, The Economist, Symantec, HBO, DirectTV (both directly and through SlingBox), YouSendIt, Vimeo, WordsHD, Facebook, Sports Ilustrated, Netflix (dang, not quite, as they don’t have global coverage as yet), IM and Yammer — it’s as though I’ve been teleported here and haven’t skipped a beat. The only differences are the language spoken and the fantastic food.

I’m a captive audience of one; open to cross-marketing, campaigns and promotions, if these merchants only knew I was a customer across them all. Could there be an offer from SI that may keep me from canceling my HBO subscription, now that Entourage is over forever?

It is all, candidly, refreshing but also a bit saddening, as there is truly ‘no escape’ any longer. But with the media always clamoring about ‘the future’, I realized the future is NOW! The Internet and technology, leveraging our digital merchant friends, have transformed the world into a village…thankfully, with running water and electricity.