Most of the time you don’t notice a trend until it’s already popular. It sounds trite, but pop culture status really does seem to be achieved overnight. Six months ago, I barely heard a rumble about Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Then suddenly I started hearing about it everywhere and related article proposals started drifting in. This being the Internet & Connectivity issue, it seemed especially appropriate to commence our coverage of what’s shaping up to be the next big thing.

For the basics, flip to page 46 for “A Fresh Look at VoIP.” Columnist Jeff Bachiochi analyzes the technology and weighs its pros and cons. His frank discussion about how it works—from the connection methods and hardware to the regulations and cost—will ready you to tackle VoIP applications and make an informed choice about using it in your home or business.

Huifang Ni, Jingxi Zhang, and Yang Zhang provide a practical example of how to employ VoIP in an application (page 28). Award winners from the Zilog 2004 Flash Nets Cash Design Contest, this trio designed an efficient eZ80F91 microcontroller-based VoIP system. Further enhancing the system’s capabilities, the MCU’s serial peripheral and I2C interfaces enable easy connection to audio devices such as a telephone, a handset, and a headset.

These articles demonstrate the possibilities VoIP offers. I anticipate seeing additional creative applications in the near future. If you’re working on something already, let us know.

If you’re working on other intriguing applications, drop us a line about those too. As those of you who have written for us know, we have a three-month lead time for articles, which means we’re practically at the end of the 2005 publishing year already. This month we’re announcing the 2006 editorial calendar. If you’re working on a project that you think you’d like to write about, check out the schedule below. Please note that these are the deadlines for completed articles. Article proposals should be submitted at least a month in advance of the deadlines so we have time to review your ideas and give you feedback.

For more information, please see the Author’s Guide on our web site at  www.circuitcellar.com/authors/. Definitions of the monthly themes as well as special topics of interest are listed in the guide.

jennifer.huber@circuitcellar.com