PopularMechanics.com has called Ajax one of the top 15 tech concepts to know in 2006.  Thats awesome that the technology is getting that kind of exposure.  Hope the excitement continues well into the summer.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/specials/features/2076876.html?page=4&c=y

Ajax
When you use Google Maps, the Web site doesn't pause to reload the page each time you zoom in or pan to the side, and the URL remains "maps.google.com" instead of the meaningless string of letters and numbers you see at older sites like MapQuest. Google Maps is using a new technique that Web-watcher Jesse James Garrett has dubbed Ajax, for Asynchronous JavaScript + XML. Weaving together existing technologies, Ajax will help make Web services feel more like programs that run on the user's own computer, Garrett says, releasing Internet content from the limitations of conventional Web design by reimagining the browser as an operating system.

sounds about right to me except for the part that says its a "new technique."  This technology isn't really new.  Just a little more compatible with modern browsers.  But hey, we'll take the recognition anyway.