The upside of finding ourselves at the beginning of a new technological era is that there's novelty to be found in even the oldest stories.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

The death of Yasser Arafat, historical leader of the Palestinians, marks the beginning of a new era in Middle East power politics...

BBC: NEWS | Middle East | World press reflects on Arafat legacy

"A lot of those players at United today are at the beginning of a new era, " he said.

BBC: Northern Ireland

This may be the tipping point, signaling the beginning of a new era of greater scrutiny of pensions and a defining of what constitutes fraud and mismanagement in the pension context.

FORBES: The Future of the Consulting Industry Speech, (September 19, 2005)

Yet this is the beginning of a new era in any event.

FORBES: The Economics Of The Recent Era Are Dead

"It is the beginning of a new era, an era that will be based on trust, " FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta said.

BBC: Barcelona president Joan Laporta is confident of a new era

That's also why I believe what we have achieved in Copenhagen will not be the end but rather the beginning, the beginning of a new era of international action.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama at Copenhagen Climate Change Conference

We are at the beginning of a new technology era where we embed computing and mobile connectivity into a wide range of devices.

FORBES: Intel Earnings: Data Center Revenue Only Partially Stalls Impact Of PC Declines

It could be the beginning of a new but unstable era for Ecuador.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Ecuador��s democracy at risk

Elsewhere, the New York Times published a weekend feature that suggests the Wii U is the beginning of the end of an era when consoles dominate the video game market.

FORBES: Wii U Selling Out: Nintendo Moves 400,000 Units in One Week

Even though we are just at the beginning of a new business-focused, user-controlled era of IT, there are some principles that will characterize what IT is going to become.

FORBES: Eight Steps For Addressing the IT Management Crisis

From this distance, at least, it's possible to imagine that the 1948 Games felt like the beginning of something a new country, a new Europe, a new era of peace and prosperity.

WSJ: Social Media

In 2008, once again, we find ourselves at the end of an era with a mandate from history to launch another new beginning.

NPR: Transcript: Al Gore's Speech