#72 - Open Source

Why pay for something when you can get it for "free". This is the American bargain hunters mantra. Find "free" stuff and abuse it! I think we all were taught as children the following quaint cliches: 'You pay for what you get', 'There is no free lunch', 'Pay me now or pay me later'

Each gets the point across of Caveat Emptor - Let the buyer beware. So having said that lets talk about free software. Two items: Operating systems and Office software are what using a computer is all about. Both are dominated by Microsoft with their Windows and MS Office products.(Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook) Both are expensive in the sense that they generally cost more then what we think is fair. PCSS makes a bit of money selling Microsoft products, but to be honest, not enough to make us completely loyal to the Bill Gate Money Machine.

There are alternatives to Microsoft products and, gasp!, they don't cost a penny. In the case of Operating Systems, the Linux open source product has been around almost as long as Windows. Many companies have tried to make some money off of Linux, but Microsoft has just plowed them under. If you are an experimenter in nature you might want to take that old Pentium III PC you have thought about throwing away and install Linux on for a try. Our favorite flavor of Linux is Ubunto http://www.ubuntu.com/. Ubunto contains a windows like version of Linux, a web browser, games and Open Office (we'll talk about it below). The only cost you have is your time and plan on a fair bit of that (couple of hours) to get your old PC up and running.

In the case of productivity suites (defined here as MS Office), there is the Sun Microsystems product called Open Office. Open Office has many of the MS Office products and is mostly compatible with them. Their equivalents are Writer=Word, Calc=Excel, Impress=PowerPoint, Data=Access. Open Office also contains Math and Draw components. The programs can open and write MS Office compatible files. They are different programs and don't have all the features and the features they do have in common aren't arranged in the same menu structure. Still the price is right ($0). Open Office is available for Windows, Linux and Mac! Here is there site: http://www.openoffice.org/.

So check out this "free" software and let us know what you think.

#71 - New Monitor Shapes

I've been seeing a trend in LCD monitors for the past 6 months. Monitor makers have been pushing the wide screen look. These screens are supposed to show DVDs (ie. films) better since the aspect ratio (width to height) is closer to the 2.39:1 of the movies (less black at the top and bottom). If you do alot of movie watching then the wider screens are better. If however you are more document or Internet centric then the wider screens don't buy you much.

The big problem, of course, is the advertising. Screens are measured by the diagonal so wide screen displays sound bigger. Ah but are they bigger? I did some research here at the PCSS Learning Center.

In laptops the hot size for displays is 15.4". These screens measure 13.1" x 8.2". That gives an area of 107.42 square inches. My old laptop has a 15" display that measures 12" x 9" for 108 square inches. So my old screen has more pixels (just slightly) despite having the supposed "smaller screen".

I use a 19" monitor here at PCSS central. It measures 15" x 12" for 180 square inches. The new wide screen monitors are 16" x 10.8" for 172.8. So once again they say they are bigger but aren't

The kicker in all of this mad Nick math is that the wide screen monitors get a slight premium in price. Laptops with 15.4" screens are generally more expensive then the same PC with 15" screens. I love when an industry can figure out how to get more money for less product. Its capitalism at its finest.

How I got to this stop in monitor sizing is that I brought home what I thought was a 1/2 gallon of ice cream. Nope it's only 1.75 quarts (where is my other 0.25 quart of ice cream?) for the same price of 1/2 gallon. Nice work if you can get it!

#70 - What should I buy?

I had a good friend ask me what CPU (Central Processing Unit or the BOX!) should I buy today? My old PC is slow and is on its last legs. I replied that he has chosen an interesting time for picking a PC. There are 3 valid choices out there. Lets go through each and see what makes sense.

The latest and greatest would be a new PC with the new MS Vista operating systems. If you go this route there are several things to consider. 1. Will my software work with Vista? This is the primary concern. Many older versions of Quicken and Quickbooks won't work with Vista. Lots of hardware (printers, scanners, etc) won't work with Vista. You have to search the manufacturers site and make sure it will work with Vista. 2. What specs on the CPU should I get? I'm recommending 2 GB of memory, 120GB of Hard drive and the fastest processor you can afford. This is so not Nick here, but my experience with Vista is you that you can't have too much memory, hard drive or speed for this operating system. Get less then I recommend and you'll be sorry. 3. Which version of Vista should I get? Home Basic, Home Premium, Business or Ultimate. You can eliminate the first and the last of the choices. Home Basic has such a limited set of features that you might as well not get Vista. I haven't seen a PC with Ultimate Vista on it. I believe its only being sold as an upgrade from Microsoft. That leaves Home Premium or Business. Tough decision there. Home Premium has DVD burning software, Business has more security and file encryption. Take your pick.

If you decide not to buy Vista then I would recommend a decent PC with Windows XP Pro. Get one with 1 GB of memory (upgradeable to at least 2GB), 80-160GB hard drive, depending on your storage needs and a decent dual core processor. This is the least expensive route and probably the safest. It will run everything you have today, seem familiar and actually seem faster then what you have. Downside is that you probably will have to upgrade it to Windows Vista sometime in the future.

The last alternative is to buy a MAC. Problem here is price and what will you run on it? If you only need Internet, Office software and Quicken then the MAC is fine. Any other programs and you'll have to consider if the MAC has a solution for your software problem. Also bring buckets of money, cuz the MAC is right up there on cost. See what no competition does to price?

I wished my friend good luck. I'll let you know what he chooses.

#69 - Stealing is Stealing is?????

A Michigan man was arrested in Michigan for "stealing" free wireless Internet. The man would park every day outside of the Re-Union Street Cafe in Sparta, Michigan and use the wireless Internet to get his email. He admitted to the activity and was fined $400 and given 40 hours of community service. The maximum sentence could have been 5 years in jail and up to $10,000 in fines. Now that's scary!

I saw an interview with the police chief and he said he had to look up the law and found a 1979 Ethernet network protection act that was recently updated. He said the fined man had no idea it was illegal and had a clean record. The cafe has an unsecured wireless set up that they would like for customers (coffee buyers) to use. There are literally thousands of similar set ups in the country. I was telling a customer recently that you can find over 50 similar set ups in Covington alone. You could park literally anywhere in the city and find unsecured Internet.

One of my neighbors asked to used my home wireless set up. He purchased a couple of big antennas and I set up my system to put out a stronger signal for him. The local library has 3 power full wireless access points that lets everyone withing 100 feet of the library to use their signal. And I have been known to surf for unsecured access on occasion, especially when traveling.

So is this a bad thing to do? What are the risks? There are some risks. If you don't have your files secured, someone borrowing your wireless can access those files. It is an easy process to secure your wireless network. By securing the network, anyone wanting to use it would have to know your hexadecimal password. Different security schemes (WEP, WPA) are available to protect your wireless information. The way I look at it, is that if you don't have your wireless secured, then you are inviting the world in. If you have any question about that, just drop me a line and I can tell you how to secure your wireless network!

#68 - Can Technology help Part 2

Continuing from yesterday's Katrina recap: One of the big issues is the infrasture issues in the area. Roads are in horrible shape. I mentioned water and electricity issues. Water quality is a big problem in New Orleans. Internet is hard to find in residential areas. While I was down there I saw a fair amount of utility work going on. Lots of holes and backhoes being run still.

On the other hand the hotels, restaurants and tourist sites are in pretty good shape. The hotel we stayed in, Astor Crowne Plaza, was very nice. There were some water/sewer issues but nothing major. The people were very accommodating. I think they appreciate any tourists and ask when you are coming back and to send your friends. It was the same at every stop. Every place seems to be sparkling with new paint, furnishings and equipment. The Marriott had put in new elevators and I saw some unique technology. The elevator controls were digital. You would press the floor number that you want to go to and the elevator system would tell you which elevator to go to. If the floor was a residential floor as opposed to a public floor (restaurant, convention, meeting) you had to swipe your room key before the elevator would work. Neat-O!

Everyone has a new car since the car insurance paid off. However the home insurance pay offs in New Orleans haven't been so forthcoming. Since the flooding was caused by levee failures rather then direct wind and rain, there is much debate on who will pay what. Those that were insured were mostly under insured. Even if you have the money, its usually not enough to fix or rebuild. Skilled labor rates are high and contractors are at a premium as you can imagine. Modular home technology is taking hold. Homes are being built away from the Gulf Coast and then shipped in pieces to the location and secured. Appliances are installed and utilities hooked up. The homes are using 'GREEN' technology to save on materials and future energy costs.

The problem, of course is that not many new homes are being built. Many in New Orleans have to be redone instead of new build. Most don't have the money to do the rebuild. They have mortgage payments in New Orleans and rent payments if they live away from the city. Not many can overcome that double dip and afford to pay extra for a rebuild. Its a world economy and thanks to the Internet and a good transportation system people aren't limited to Gulf Coast suppliers. You can order fixtures or supplies from almost anywhere in the US and keep the high Gulf Coast costs from killing you.

So technology is helping the recovery, but it certainly isn't enough. There is a ton of money needed to help out. Money for people to rebuild, money for infrastructure and money to bring back the business that left. Keep the people of the Gulf Coast in your thoughts and prayers.

#67 - Can technology help? Part I

I just returned from a conference in New Orleans. It was a meeting of the church mission group I represent in SW Virginia. The purpose of the meeting was to update us on how the money people gave has been spent and how things are going in the Big Easy and Gulf Coast 1.75 years post Katrina/Rita.

Well if you haven't heard, they aren't going very well. Billions have been spent in both areas, but they aren't anywhere near normal. The word we received from both locations was 10 more years. Yes, they predicted 10 more years of huge effort to bring them back to 2005 levels. I heard this when we first arrived and thought, "No way it will take that long". After visiting both areas and talking to multiple people on the ground, I now think things may never get back to the way they were. I'm not sure the US has the commitment to bring these areas back. The federal and state governments have made poor decision after poor decision in "helping" out. Today, I think, I'll let you hear what I heard and tomorrow, talk about what can be.

Lets define what happened. We all know Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in August 2005. So much rain hit the Louisiana coast that the canal system in New Orleans failed in many locations flooding 80% of the city. The water remained in some locations for 3 weeks. Many homes and businesses had over 6 feet of water to leave them rotten hulks.

The eye of the storm hit the Gulf coast at the Louisiana/Mississippi boarder complete destroying over 70 miles on the shore and an equal amount into the land. Homes, businesses and government buildings just are no longer there. Nothing but splinters left.

So we have two very different disasters caused by the same storm. We all saw the scenes of New Orleans and the devastation on the Gulf Coast. Twenty One months later the devastation has moved from a physical one to an emotional one. Less then 1/2 of the inhabitants of New Orleans have returned. Even less have come back to the Gulf Coast. In New Orleans you can't turn around without seeing damage. Even in the so called safe sliver by the River (French Quarter and much of the Garden District) business after business is closed and boarded up. Yes the Hotels, Bars and Restaurants are open, but not much else is there. Infrastructure is so poor that water pressure and electricity is still not universal and not reliable in many areas. Only 3 out of 10 former hospitals are open. Many homes have been gutted out, some are starting to be rehabed, but over 30,000 homes are still in the same state as right after the flooding occurred. Scary numbers no?

There is almost nothing permanent on the Gulf Coast. City Halls, Churches, Schools, Post Offices are being run from tents or Quonset huts. Roads are opening up, but most living on the coast are in FEMA Trailers or RVs. But hey, I saw 2 casinos open so run down and do some gambling. Mississippi was nice enough to change the law so the casinos could now be built on land instead of over the water.

So my church group and several others are doing our best to rehab homes, build homes, council those with issues, provide some medical, food and shelter assistance. It isn't nearly enough. We deal in the hundreds and the needs are in the multi thousands. Some Louisiana parishes (counties) are starting to throw people out of the FEMA trailers (and those aren't any luxury homes!). People can't come back to the area since there still aren't many homes or jobs. In New Orleans the schools aren't even at 25% open. The parish fired 7,000 teachers last year when it became obvious they wouldn't be reopening soon. One school opened in August 2006 without a single text book or library book in the school. What were the administrators thinking? I saw entire neighborhoods eerily empty with just a few trailers about. The homes were gutted but nothing was happening. The Coast has become the kingdom of contractor scam artists. People are afraid to just about do anything. Insurance has been woefully inadequate in New Orleans and slow to arrive on the Gulf Coast.

The words all the natives say "Take our story back home and tell our fellow Americans what it is really like here". So that is what I'm doing. More tomorrow.

#67 - Printings Past

The evolution of printing technology is an interesting one. In the beginning we had these wonderful printers that were just glorified automatic typewriter. Then came the dot matrix printers.

Dot Matrix printers have a print head that runs back and forth on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like a typewriter. Unlike a typewriter or daisy wheel printer, letters were created out of a matrix of dots, and thus, varied fonts and arbitrary graphics can be produced. Because the printing involves mechanical pressure, these printers can create carbon copies (you remember them?). Paper was pulled through the the machine over a roller just like a typewriter. Rods formed the matrix and would hit a ribbon to produce the type. The first Dot Matrix printer appeared in 1970 from Digital Equipment Corporation.

A thermal printer produces a printed image by selectively heating coated thermochromic paper. When the paper passes over the thermal print head. The coating turns black in the areas where it is heated, producing an image similar to the dot matrix printers. Thermal printers are still used today in small printers like label printers and receipt printers.

Ink Jet printers were invented at Hewlett Packard in 1979. The first in jet printers were based on thermal technology. This printing technique heats ink, creating tiny bubbles that squirt ink onto paper when they burst. By 1984, HP had released the ThinkJet—the first low-cost, mass-produced inkjet printer that offered a disposable cartridge for monochrome printing. Over time, HP refined cartridge body designs and ink delivery systems to make color printing possible. The first generation of color inkjet printers used dye-based inks. Later generations used pigment-based inks that enhanced water—and light-fastness—enabling outdoor signage and other applications.

Laser Printers were invented separately by IBM and Xerox. The first commercial laser printer was the IBM 3800 Printer in 1975. It was big as a car and cost in the 6 figures. In 1984, HP introduced the LaserJet, the first desktop laser printer, which rapidly became a huge success due to its modest $3,000 price tag. The technology in laser printing is essentially that of the copier. The laser is used in imprinting the image on a drum that transfers the image via toner dust thermally to the paper.

#66 - Trolling the Internet

I have been addicted to google since it started. In 1998 I read a PC Magazine article about a new beta Internet search engine. I had been using Yahoo search or Alta vista and found both unsatisfactory. They hardly ever gave me the web info I was looking for. Google in beta was so much better then the existing search programs. I wasn't the last to notice. I remember telling many of my customers the advantages of Google in newsletter after newsletter. Its like we were disciples of a new religion!

Google was founded by two Stanford graduate students Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Starting literally in a garage in 1998. The technology of using the number of back links to sort searches was unique and worked remarkably well. Google just pointed to the right pages search after search. The rest of course is history and now Google has had the ultimate compliment and been placed in Websters as a verb as in to Google a topic!

S0 almost 10 years later Google is indeed the search tool of choice. Over 1/2 of all the Web queries were done through Google. Google has not stood still either. They have added many features including searches for Videos, Images, News, Maps and Shopping. The wonderful Google Earth tool lets you see the world from the satellites perspective. Google also owns Picasa, the picture organizing program, the wonderful GMail email client and Google Desktop, PC search program. If you haven't tried these tools please do. They are all well designed and do exactly what they say they are to do with minimum frills.

We still love the sleak utilitarian interface. No frill here, just the most powerful search engine. I know some have questioned the commercialization of Google, but you can always ignore the paid for search results items that Google clearly puts in a different color and location.

So how are the other search engines doing? Yahoo and Alta vista still exist and do OK. In fact in a recent study the Alta Vista (altavista.com) search engine proved slightly more relevant searches then Google (key word is slightly). There are several limited aspect search engines the get you info that Google can't We like Congoo, which looks at private pay sites and organizes their info. You can actually see some of this info for no charge, but if you need a whole article then you must pay.

If you have a different favorite search engine, let us know about it and we'll check it out!

#65 - How Cheap can they get?

Well our dear friends in the PC industry have given up including backup CDs/DVDs of operating system, applications or drivers for your PC. This is REALLY a bad idea. And guess what? Since it saves about $1.00 on each PC, EVERY manufacturer in the industry has adopted this cost savings action.

Many people don't use those CDs/DVDs, but some do. And the ones that do, need them desperately. If your hard drive crashes, you get a virus, a major program develops a bad file or you make a mistake and delete part of your operating system, YOU NEED THESE DISKS! What the manufacturers have done is put the information needed to restore you PC and all its programs on a different partition of your hard drive. So not only do you not get your back up disks, but they take away about 10-20% of your hard drive size. Aren't these people wonderful?

So what should you do when you get a new PC? Immediately run the Create Recovery Disks utility and make your own CDs/DVDs. Be prepared, if you are burning CD's it will take more then 9 of them. If you are doing DVDs (and have a DVD burner) it will be 1 or 2 DVDs. Mark them appropriately and save them with your other important PC documentation. PCSS will be creating these disks for our customers, but because it takes lots of time, we may stop doing this at any time. Things sometimes get worse not better.

#64 - Music Tech - how are you listening?

I still have a collection of LP record albums. Though I don't quite remember what speed the record player ran at (33RPM? 45RPM? 78RPM?). They are well worn since I collected the vast majority of them in college. I think the pops, skips and beeps add character, but then I'm a throw back. CDs were invented in the early 80s so they aren't a very new technology. Sony and Phillips invented the CD. Did you know the first recording on a CD was Billy Joel's 52nd Street?

CDs essentially eliminated the Pops and beeps, but you can still have skips. There is a plastic layer on the CD that can be scratched causing skips and actual loss of song. So take care of your CD's (and DVD's) by only touching them on the edges, not leaving them in direct sunlight and storing them in a protective sleeve or case.

The next major step in music was the invention of the MP3 Audio format. The MP3 format allowed for the compression of digitized audio into a file of manageable size. The German company Fraunhofer-Gesellshaft developed MP3 technology in the early 1990s and now licenses the patent rights to the audio compression technology. MP3 stands for Motion Pictures Expert Group Audio Layer III. This is a standard for audio compression. MP1 & MP2 aren't precursors to MP3, but different standards dealing with video compression (MP1) and Video AND audio compression (MP2). Since MP3 there have been literally dozens of other compression technologies. WMA is Microsoft's version, ALE is Apple's version.

MP3 players were first designed as software for PCs. WinAmp was one of the first software programs that could play audio files that were compressed. With the shrinking of Hard Drives and the invention of Flash Memory, the first portable MP3 players came to be. We'll talk tomorrow about their technologies.

So how do you listen to music? CD, MP3, or vinyl record? I listen to mine mainly via MP3 on my Palm Pilot.

#63 - How does that GPS work?

So what is this GPS technology and how does it work?

The GPS (Global Positioning System) is a group of 24 well-spaced satellites that orbit the Earth and make it possible for people with ground receivers to pinpoint their geographic location. The location accuracy is anywhere from 100 to 10 meters for most equipment. Accuracy can be pinpointed to within one (1) meter with special military-approved equipment. GPS equipment is widely used in science and has now become sufficiently low-cost so that almost anyone can own a GPS receiver.

l The GPS is owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Defense but is available for general use around the world. Briefly, here's how it works:

l 21 GPS satellites and three spare satellites are in orbit at 10,600 miles above the Earth. The satellites are spaced so that from any point on Earth, four satellites will be above the horizon.

l Each satellite contains a computer, an atomic clock, and a radio. With an understanding of its own orbit and the clock, it continually broadcasts its changing position and time. (Once a day, each satellite checks its own sense of time and position with a ground station and makes any minor correction.)

l On the ground, any GPS receiver contains a computer that "triangulates" its own position by getting bearings from three of the four satellites. The result is provided in the form of a geographic position - longitude and latitude - to, for most receivers, within 100 meters. The more satellites that are used the higher the accuracy.

l If the receiver is also equipped with a display screen that shows a map, the position can be shown on the map using software.

l If a fourth satellite can be received, the receiver/computer can figure out the altitude as well as the geographic position.

lIf you are moving, your receiver may also be able to calculate your speed and direction of travel.

The GPS is being used in science to provide data that has never been available before in the quantity and degree of accuracy that the GPS makes possible. Scientists are using the GPS to measure the movement of the arctic ice sheets, the Earth's tectonic plates, and volcanic activity.

Not a bad technology at all.

#62 - Big Brother in the Sky

Ah the power of the GPS! Since the technology of Global Positioning System (GPS) have shrunk to one chip, those chips have been ending up everywhere. We first saw them in General Motors Cars - The famous OnStar system uses GPS to locate where your car is. GPS chips are also in some cellular telephones and even watches that you can give your kids. Many companies are giving their employees cell phones that feed back to a company web site where the employees are.Now the city of New York is proposing to put GPS in all 13,000 city taxicabs. Of course the cabbies aren't real impressed. A manager could see where they take their breaks, when they take their breaks and the paths they use to deliver a client to his destination. The New York Fire Department is working with the Department of the Navy to develop a super GPS chip that can be placed on each of their fireman and in every fire department vehicle. The 9/11 tragedies of lost firemen have led to that effort.

We love our Garmin GPS that we use in the car. It is a one way GPS in that it can only receive signals not send them. So I can run around the Alleghany Highlands without being tracked. However I'm not sure whether my cell phone has a GPS so that may not be true. Police who use a cell phone's GPS to track a 911 caller can attest to its positive attributes. I haven't seen a criminal case where a perpetrator is tracked by his cell phone or car. But you know it will happen. To my knowledge there aren't any laws on the books yet regulating GPS usage.

So how soon will it be before we are all trackable? And will we allow the tracking to be legal? You can get an awful lot of personal information by knowing where a person is all the time. Big Brother is already watching some of the time.

Tomorrow we'll look at the technology behind GPS.

#61 - Is that really you?

On July 3, 1977, an event took place that would forever alter the landscape of modern medicine. This event was the first MRI exam ever performed on a human being. The first MRI took 5 hours to complete. Magnetic Resonance Imaging is one of the great technology advances of the 20th century.

If you have ever seen an MRI machine, you know that the basic design used in most is a giant cube. The cube in a typical system might be 7 feet tall by 7 feet wide by 10 feet long, although new models are rapidly shrinking. The tall section contains the magnet. There is a horizontal tube running through the magnet from front to back. This tube is known as the bore of the magnet. The patient, lying on his or her back, slides into the bore on a special table. Whether or not the patient goes in head first or feet first, as well as how far in the magnet they will go, is determined by the type of exam to be performed. MRI scanners vary in size and shape, and newer models have some degree of openness around the sides, but the basic design is the same. Once the body part to be scanned is in the exact center or isocenter of the magnetic field, the scan can begin.

In conjunction with radio wave pulses of energy, the MRI scanner can pick out a very small point inside the patient's body and ask it, essentially, "What type of tissue are you?" The point might be a cube that is half a millimeter on each side. The MRI system goes through the patient's body point by point, building up a 2-D or 3-D map of tissue types. It then integrates all of this information together to create 2-D images or 3-D models.

The MRI provides an unparalleled view inside the human body. The level of detail we can see is extraordinary. MRI is the method of choice for the diagnosis of many types of injuries and conditions because of the incredible ability to tailor the exam to the particular medical question being asked. By changing exam parameters, the MRI system can cause tissues in the body to take on different appearances. This is very helpful to the radiologist in determining if something seen is normal or not. We know that when we do "A," normal tissue will look like "B" - if it doesn't, there might be an abnormality. MRI systems can also image flowing blood in virtually any part of the body. This allows us to perform studies that show the arterial system in the body, but not the tissue around it.

Supporting the MRI technology is the PC that is integrated into the system. Processing images and handling all the data is a PC at the MRI's core. Without the PC the MRI data would be too complex to give any meaning.

#60 - May Day

May 1st is May day. Its the day all the world (except the US, of course) celebrates labor day. May poles are feted in Europe. Everyone has the day off in Central America. Its also Principal appreciation day, so that makes it real important to me. Now what does this have to do with technology? Well, technology is supposed to make our jobs easier. Has it?

I have mentioned in a previous blog that PCs essentially were invented to support spreadsheet software. So certainly every accountant worth their salt will tell you that PCs have helped them to be more efficient. The Internet has brought so much information into our homes and offices. Searches that really couldn't have been done with out tremendous effort now take a few keystrokes and a click. I heard that a friends brother-in-law had passed away recently out of town. It only took 2 minutes and I had the obituary with funeral home and pertinent information up on my PC. I can't imagine how many phone calls it would have taken pre Internet.

The GPS system in my car certainly makes it easier to find new customers. That saves time and gasoline. Many of us would not even be reading this if it weren't for medical technology. The average life span has increased almost 7 years over the past 40 years. Most of the advances have to do with technology improvements to medications and diagnostic tools. We'll be sure to do several blogs on medical technology in the future.

The average office worker should be more productive with new office technology. The copiers are faster, the software more powerful, the printers now have great color graphics. I could go on and on about how the Internet helps most office workers. We certainly are becoming more of a service economy (versus manufacturing) due to technology advances (and our atrocious foreign trade policies).

So celebrate May day by hugging your PC. I think I'll hug my Principal...