he school board meeting on October 26th was really less of a meeting and more of a seminar lead by Iowa State's Scott McLeod. He's an education futurist, technology guru, and leadership consultant. He writes this world famous blog entitled Dangerously Irrelevant... Ruminations on Technology, Leadership and the Future of our Schools. Scott is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Iowa State University. He is the coordinator of the Educational Administration Program.

Scott is the very definition of the term technology guru. His program was peppered with wonderful visuals and movie clips, and they served his message well. And that message was, in a nutshell, education in the US as a whole is woefully behind when it comes to the adoption and adaptation of technology in curriculum, and the traditional education delivery model can't compete with the online and wireless world when it comes to commanding the attention of our students. Perhaps most disturbing among his pronouncements is our curriculum does not match what the world needs in terms of a skilled workforce that can think analytically, collaborate well with others, group problem solve, and command a wide variety of technology hardware and software.

Of course his message was hardly a revelation. There's a whole section at Border's Books featuring author after author lamenting the problems we face in education. My physical inbox and email inbox are filled with journals and blogs that feature this topic. For those of us actually directly involved in teaching children, the question always remains, "How are we going to pay for it all?" There aren't many articles and blogs about that, I'm afraid. But it's not just about the money.

When teachers (especially veteran teachers) hear that we are not doing enough with technology, it becomes extremely frustrating. It's interpreted as a personal attack. Scott said he is already hearing parents asking teachers at conferences, "Why are these kids doing so much with paper?" There are all kinds of legitimate reasons why this is, but one becomes exhausted explaining them.

I used to work for John Deere (just shy of 20 years). I remember when sales sank in the early 1980s, and we laid off 3,000 people in what seemed like the blink of an eye. We were all told, "Manufacturing is changing. We've got to think of our place in the world differently. There's going to be more technology, less people, and far fewer levels of management." For the 3,000+ people who lacked the discernable skills to adapt, they scattered about the country, and apparently adapted to new careers, jobs and communities. For those who were left, they helped retool the company from top to bottom over the next decade and a half.

When the change began, I was actually promoted to "communication manager." I was in charge of company publications and public relations." When I occupied my new office, I was given a secretary, and when I asked if I could have my own typewriter, I was told, "managers don't type." Hmmmm. "But I can type faster than the secretary you assigned to me," I explained. I got my typewriter, lost my secretary, and very quickly I asked for and received my first personal computer. From that moment forward, I was a self contained department of one ultimately producing publications for three factories in Iowa.

Change like this was happening all over the company. But John Deere had the money, determination, leadership, vision, and most importantly patience to do this. And their investment obviously paid off, and now they are among the top manufacturers and innovators in the world.

So why can't education, or more specifically our school district do what John Deere did? Well, the big difference between us and the heavy equipment industry is how we are financed and how we are required to manage those finances. The big question is, "How can a school district invest in its future beyond the traditional bricks and mortar?"

I compare the US education system to the popular children's book and later Japanese animated film, Howl's Moving Castle.The film is one of my favorites from the fertile imagination of Academy Award winner Hayao Miyazaki. If you click on the headline above in blue, you'll see the trailer for this motion picture, and I think you'll agree that it is an apt metaphor.

Howl's moving castle is this enormous smoke belching mechanical creature perched upon bird-like legs. The castle walks the countryside and serves as shelter for the characters of the story. The castle has a mind of its own and looks almost organic, and it appears that several inhabitants over the years added things to it. This walking castle becomes enormous, and one wonders how it functions without collapsing into a heap. But there it goes, nimbly walking across the rugged landscape doing what it does best, providing shelter and support for its inhabitants.

My wife summed up her 30+ years in education to me this way. "Yes we were continuously told things were going to change or that we had to change... change, change, change. The problem was we were so busy doing what we had to do to survive in the classroom, we had no time to do anything else." But she acknowledged to me that if she were a college graduate today and starting her career as a teacher, she would not check her technology at the door. Since she retired from education, she has become a power-user when it comes to computers. She runs a business out of our home, and the necessity to communicate with her customers and suppliers efficiently via computer and high speed network access is what made her this way.

Until we, as a nation, figure out how we are going to continue financing schools, we will not see much innovation except in small pockets where rich people (and I use this term with all due respect) like Bill and Melinda Gates can buy entire schools and literally plop them down in needy communities; residents there welcome any kind of progress no matter who pays for it. And since private foundation money is being used to finance these technology based schools, the way they manage funds can be kept private as well.

The bigger question we need to be asking is, "Can US Education under present circumstances and funding mechanisms adapt quickly to this rough and rugged landscape we call technology?" Change has to be systemic, and it's got to start with financing. If we do see change, it will likely come first in richer districts.

Finally, change and adaptation to technology is less about finances and more about the human need to solve a problem that technology might be able to help with. It's particularly true in education that application is what sells technology not technology alone. Some people think all one has to do is drop a notebook computer or smartphone on someone's head and they will become instantly productive. We all know that's typically not the case. Many of us have phones that take photos and even movies. But how many of us (particularly those over 40) actually use these functions?

My favorite story about educators adopting technology was told to me by an education technologist from an Illinois school district. He said when his district bought this costly network software solution for managing and sharing documents to reduce printing costs, it was largely underutilized because it was too rigid, difficult to use, and didn't model natural human behaviors. Meanwhile, the teachers discovered email which could do much the same thing as the expensive enterprise software, only it could do it better, and everyone knew how to work email. The teachers quickly adopted the email technology and made it work rather than trying to adapt to the cumbersome turnkey system.

Meanwhile, check out Howl's Moving Castle if you get the chance. It's like a Japanese painting come to life. It doesn't matter if you don't understand the story. It's a little weird, I have to admit, and it's pure fantasy, however, the visuals are beyond extraordinary.

--G.O.

his is the third season for Doctor! Doctor! a cable TV show I produce about the human body and the medical professions that tend it. It is filmed in a real live hospital (Finley) with real physicians, nurses, and patients. Here's the formula: Take kids from fourth through eighth grade, dress them in doctor's coats and give them stethoscopes, and then provide them with hands-on experiences with various medical procedures some real and some simulated.

The show is a hit in the community judging by the feedback and recognition we receive. Finley Hospital is delighted with the exposure. The show fulfills several community relations and communications objectives. As a consequence, I have lots of help from Finley staff in producing the show.

We do about nine episodes a season, each a specific theme with curriculum and learning goals. For example, this last week we learned all about how viruses work in the human body and how they use our cells and DNA to replicate and spread to other hosts. In light of our current flu season, this was timely and vitally important. The kids in the cast were totally loving the production largely because we had these fantastic models of the human cell and virus agents that were hand crafted by the show's host, Dr. Gregory Grotz. According to Dr. Grotz, the model was made from old mattress foam, spray paint, pipe cleaners, and all the ping pong balls he could purchase at Walmart.

Dr. Grotz is a native of Southern California, the home of many a movie production company, and if it weren't for the compelling draw of the medical field, he would surely be working in movies or television (his brother is an executive with MTV). Dr. Grotz is a multitalented artist beyond his occupation of radiology. He' a musician (piano), a sculptor, set builder, and he loves to draw and paint. Halloween is his favorite time of year because of the imaginative possibilities of decorating and costume making.

I discovered Dr. Grotz through my association with Finley Hospital on other TV projects we were working on. My production partner, Wally Brown and I (Wally is on their board of directors and on the Dubuque Community Schools Foundation Board) hatched the idea for a cable series at Panera's one morning over coffee and Danish. We agreed that we needed a doctor to host it. Everyone we talked to at Finley spoke of Dr. Grotz and how funny and enthusiastic he was. He was also very busy. So would he be able to carve out the time to work on the show with us? Well, three seasons later, he's still coming up with imaginative and innovative ways of teaching kids about the complexities of the human body. A fourth season is scheduled.

Last season in an episode on bones, he built an entire "bone yard" cemetery in a conference room complete with spooky sound effects and lightning. The episode was filmed around Halloween, so it was most appropriate for the season.

In one episode this season, special makeup effects had to be applied to two young patients who were to have suffered a chemical burn in a farm accident. Dr. Grotz, using makeup and acrylic paints, rendered the burns perfectly on the arms of the patients. As they were waiting in the lobby during a camera setup. People were walking by and were startled by it all. The kids were oblivious, laughing and conversing like nothing was unusual while passersby were horrified by the burns. We had to explain to people that they were young actors and that the burns were makeup designed for our cable show.

Once Dr. Grotz showed me a movie he had shot on his cell phone of a Halloween costume he made for his young son. I looked at the video and saw a small but familiar semi-truck in what I identified as Dr. Grotz' driveway. Suddenly the semi-truck began to come apart and stand erect. It transformed right before my eyes into a robot (a.k.a. Optimus Prime from the Transformers' movie)! It was the coolest Halloween costume I had ever seen in my life, and he built it all from cardboard and foam plastic.

What has become an integral part of each and every show of Doctor! Doctor! is Dr. Grotz' models of organs and systems of the human body. Last season's stunner was a fully functioning kidney he built out of rubber foam, pvc pipe, plastic hose, and parts from the inside of a toilet flush tank (how appropriate). It was an actual functioning kidney that allowed the kids to inject blood (water with red glitter in it) into the vein supplying the kidney, and the kidney separated the blood from the waste product, urine, which was then diverted into a bag that represented the bladder. The kids and the viewers loved it.

This year Dr. Grotz amped it up even further. He built a complete replica of the ear and inner ear to explain how ear infections run their course in the human body. I can only begin to describe the accuracy and functionality of the ear that was made of plastic foam, bits of cloth, and wood. It must have taken hours to build.

The model demonstrated how an ear becomes infected. He bought a gallon of this green viscous material called "Slime" which you can buy at any toy store apparently, and this served as the mucous and pus that develops when an ear becomes infected and fills with fluid. There were viewing ports in the model that allowed the kids to see what was going on. The ear drum bulged out when the inner ear was full just like a human's would in such circumstances. Redness of the tissue was accomplished by red LED lights embedded in the foam that were illuminated by a hidden battery pack.

The kids loved, loved, loved it. There was this green Slime all over the place, on the table, on the floor, everywhere. The TV audience is going to love it, too. It made outstanding television. But it illustrated another important learning point that we can all benefit from.

Since this is television, I could have easily built an animated model on my computer that would have served the same purpose. But as sophisticated as I could make it, it would not interact with the students as well as Dr. Grotz' model did. It probably took longer for Dr. Grotz' model to construct, but he can use it over and over again. The cool thing was that the kids could interact with the model in a physical space, and it no doubt was effective in transferring learning. How could it not be?

Dr. Grotz was a fantastic find, I must say. He loves doing this show as he often tells me, and he's spread the opportunities to participate among other physicians at Finley. Now we have regular contributors to the show like Dr. Joe Jenkins, a surgeon, who loves building models as much as Dr. Grotz does. You need to see Dr. Jenkins' model of the small intestines he did last season. We had to clear a bowel obstruction from a network of foam rubber tubing he used for the simulation. We even did a bowel resection where the kids, using surgical techniques, cut and re-attached the bowel after removing diseased tissue.

So what did Dr. Jenkins use to simulate a bowel instruction? Tootsie Rolls. They were still in their wrappers, of course, and that's because the young doctors tend to pop them in their mouths during surgery.

--G.O.

was at my local computer system integrator's place of business recently, and I spied a new desktop computer that after I played with it, it blew me away. It was a computer brand you've likely never heard of, but the device is an MSI (an Asian-based OEM computer manufacturer that builds components and subsystems for many of the leading brands in the world). The computer model is the MSI WindTop 2010 and it is featured prominently on their website, http://us.msi.com. I don't get the name "WindTop." It probably is a tight translation from Japanese, Korean or Chinese which spawns a term that literally makes little sense in English.

This computer is powerful in some extraordinary ways. The touchscreen is easy to master, and soon I was using the touchscreen exclusively without touching the mouse. I was amazed how fast I could manipulate material on the screen, especially in a web browser. This would be fantastic for kids to play with I thought to myself.

Yes, children master the mouse and keyboard earlier and earlier, and by the time they develop any kind of intellectual connection to the content on their computer, they have mastered the navigating, typing, even drawing and graphics production on a computer.

When you think about it, there really hasn't been significant adoption of new interface technology since the mouse was invented in the Palo Alto Research Center back in the 1970s. There have been enormous sums invested in touchscreens, pen computers, and even voice command interfaces, but the only place such technology paid off was in hand-held devices like the iTouch and IPhone. As far as desktop computers are concerned, the mouse is the champ in terms of customer preference. But this new brand of touchscreen I predict will be the game changer.

Why it's superior is that it is sensitive and intuitive. With all kinds of variety in finger tip sizes, it was years of research that finally evolved to accommodate all finger sizes. I remember testing an early touchscreen interface on an Apple computer back in the 1980s, and it was enormously frustrating to hit a menu choice. I would often get some unintended result because my finger was too big for the on-screen menu. I run into some of those same problems when Web browsing on my Samsung smartphone. I have to enlarge the screen view on some Web sites because their buttons or hypertext elements are so small. One of the solutions to this problem is Web designers must design their screens to accommodate smartphone touchscreen users, but good luck with that.

Instead, the interface technology had to get smarter and adapt. It has. This MSI touchscreen is amazing. I found myself navigating through web pages at speeds far greater than I've experienced using a mouse. This is because the mouse is a "relative pointing device" and the touchscreen is a direct pointing device in which my finger touches the screen rather than a mouse on a flat desk.

This means to be productive with a mouse, you have to develop your hand-eye coordination, and most of us have done this. I'm a pro at using the mouse. I even draw with a mouse the cartoons and graphics you see on our Web site. I also use the Wacom tablet, which is a "pen mouse" (my term), that simulates drawing. But it's still a relative pointing device and sometimes my brain doesn't sync up my hand moves with what I see happening on the screen.

Where this touchscreen technology would be great is in my kitchen at home where I already have a laptop computer. Let's say I'm working on a recipe or multi-tasking.. online banking while I am preparing a meal. Let's say the phone rings, and somebody wants me to resend an email. I merely touch the screen with my index finger or a button on the keyboard that launches my email application in a new window or tab in my browser. I don't really have to touch the keyboard . I touch the "sent mail" link on the screen and then touch the email item I need to resend from the list. I touch it or touch and drag my finger from the list to the "outgoing mail" box, and poof, off it goes. All this while still talking on the phone and watching my pasta boil.

I was amazed how facile my Web browsing had become in just a couple of minutes using this computer. If you're considering a future computer buy (and who isn't?) I hope you would consider touchscreen technology. It doesn't add much if anything to the cost as far as I can tell.

--G.O.

t's a term I've been using a lot lately. It describes my shooting style. Nowhere is this better illustrated than the video I just produced called Election Night. I was at the Dubuque County Court House on School Board election night, September 8th. I shouldered my trusty video camera and did some "observation." I've discovered that if I'm patient, the action, the drama, and the story will unfold right before my lens. And it did on this particular night.

One thing I observed while filming Election Night was the large number of adults at the court house texting family and friends some of whom were presumebly in far away places but connected to events happening here in real time via hand-held devices.

The neat thing about my job is I get paid to be an observer. Someone who knows of my reputation and career history as a photographer, painter, writer, graphic designer, publisher and webmaster asked me just yesterday what I enjoy doing most, and I quickly responded, "making little movies." I absolutely love it because it's the fastest and most effective way to produce and distribute a great story. That's always been my life's work as I look back on my career. I'm a storyteller of one form or another, whether it be through the lens, on canvas, or on a computer generated Web page.

My job has always been to tell the story of whomever was employing me at the time, John Deere, Hardie Interactive, NCS Pearson, and now Dubuque Community Schools. As I celebrate my 10th anniversary with the district, I can't help think back on how I got started.

It was in the radio business. I was a broadcaster working professionally on local AM and FM stations while still attending college and for a time after. I worked news, was a DJ, did commercials by the thousands. But while I was perfomring on radio, I was also the radio station's graphic designer. Because I could draw, I designed everything from the banner the sportscasters hung from the press box window during the broadcast of the Iowa football games, to the graphics on the mobile studio trailer we used for all the remote broadcasts we did in those days. I also did all of our newspaper ads, painted showcards (by hand), posters, brochures, music surveys and rate cards for the sales staff. I also did cartooning, and outdoor advertising (billboards).

One day my mother-in-law suggested I take my artwork to John Deere and see if they would be interested. I showed my stuff to the personnel manager, he called in the manager of the John Deere Industrial Training Center, and I was hired on the spot. Goodbye radio days and hello John Deere for the next 19-1/2 years.

Not suprisingly I guess, working for Deere doing production graphics for training films got me interested in television. We bought bankrupt Dubuque KDUB Channel 40's studio lighting system (they didn't need it any more), dismantled it, and we reinstalled it at the Dubuque Works in an abandoned garage. My television career had begun. I was producing training videos, but then I got sidetracked into print.

I was offered the opportunity to create a new employee publication, Tracks Magazine, and I rode that horse for the next 17 years, winning all kinds of national awards for journalism photography, illustration and design. I actually became a national celebrity in the organizational communication field. I didn't get back into television until I went to work for NCS (now NCS Pearson) in Iowa City. Did I tell you I never took a design class in college nor did I take any art classes? Good old liberal arts degree... the degree that says, "I can converse about anything, even things I know little about."

While in Iowa City working in a creative department for a large government contractor, I worked with a part-time television producer and full time professor in the Communication Department at the University of Iowa, and he taught me a ton. The technology had changed from analog to digital by that time, and by the turn of the millennium, I had become a computer graphics expert having gone from pioneering desktop publisher to desktop multimedia creator (and I wrote and had published two books on the subject), I was really ready to jump back into television. It had become cheaper and easier to do, and when I took this job, I transferred all of the print-centric communication budget to cable TV and the Web, and I never looked back.

What I quickly discovered is that the smaller, lighter cameras provided a much better means of shooting video, and the fact that you can record to a hard drive or similar tapeless medium is a boon to continuous shooting techniques. I can basically turn the camera on and never worry about running out of tape. Batteries are still a problem, but not much of one. That technology has improved because the cameras have little or no moving parts.

And the innovation of non-linear editing on a computer makes it comparatively easy to edit video. No longer do we need big tape machines or A-B roll technology to assemble a video from disparate footage. You simply drag the clips to a timeline on your computer screen, reorder clips whenever and wherever you want, and bingo, you're done. It's perfect for observational style or reality television production in which there is no script, no cue cards. You can edit the footage in such a way as to tell the story far more effectively in far less time.

So essentially, I'm doing what I've always done... tell stories, and the message hasn't changed much, but the medium in which it's conveyed has changed a lot. My original skill set is still viable, even my knowledge of print and especially graphic design, but most of my time is spent creating content for the Web and our own Channel 19 on Mediacom Cable.

I love this job... I've loved all my jobs because each experience was unique and contributed to my present skill set, and, most important, they've honed my edge which comes in handy when I need to hack through the jungle to solve a problem or capitalize on an opportunity.

--G.O.

just want to share an anecdote that suddenly made things crystal clear for me on a thorny issue I've wrestled with ever since I've been working in television. The issue is: "Why don't teachers want to do television?" It's hard to believe, but people who are reasonably comfortable performing in front of a classroom, or even on stage before a large audience, are paralyzed by the prospect of appearing on television. This isn't just true for teachers but for the population as a whole. Every once in a while, I have people tell me "Pleased don't put me on television!" They run for cover as if they are in the witness protection program. Seldom do I have that problem with kids. But since a big part of my job is developing content for television, I depend on teachers to provide some form of narrative to whatever I'm filming. You might be surprised at how many teachers will not cooperate if there is any possibility they will appear on TV.

One of my teachers who does perform on TV regularly, told me of a teacher who was so enthusiastic about a project she was working on, but when my friend suggested she appear on our cable show to explain it, she shut down immediately "Absolutely NOT!" she said. And effectively that was the end of that discussion. I've run into this myself on several occasions.

Several teachers I deal with are extremely guarded about their privacy, or they are very uncomfortable about any television exposure or depiction on the Web. Sometimes it's in my judgement an irrational fear.

We live in a TV culture, and not wanting to use this medium as a teaching tool or to bring recognition to whatever you're doing or believe in is such a waste of a tremendous resource.

Perhaps it's the idea that "if I appear on television, then people will judge me..." or "I hate how I look on TV" are the reasons for not wanting to participate. But more accurately what they may be saying is, "I don't want to be that public of a performer. I do not want nor do I need the pressure of having to be recognized in public or as representing my profession. Above all, I enjoy my privacy."

All very good reasons for not wanting to participate. On the privacy issue, I can personally say that people frequently recognize me in public and even approach me, but always respectfully, and they have never hassled me. Though they may judge me (yes I probably could lose a little weight), I can honestly say I have had no serious problems arise from my appearances on TV. In fact, I've made some new and wonderful acquaintances.

As I've been telling people who are appearing on TV for us regularly... "People will think they know you from watching you on TV, and I hope you're okay with that The more you appear," I explain, "the more people will think they know you and will approach you with praise, mild criticism, but more frequently story suggesitons."

Frequently I'm in line at Bishop's Buffet, Panera's or at the movie theater, and parents of children in our district will try to make eye contact with me, or (this is my favorite), come up behind me and whisper, "I love what you do on television" or "I love Crazy Cam!" Kids will shout "Hey Crazy Cam guy!"

The point here is by not wanting to participate in television, you are in effect shutting the door on your students participating, too. It sort of affects the whole process negatively.

We live in a TV culture, and not wanting to use this medium as a teaching tool or to bring recognition to whatever you're doing or believe in is such a waste of a tremendous resource.

Trust me, there is nothing to fear.

- G.O.

was thoroughly delighted by the turnout this past Saturday for the Garden Organic cable show. We had about 25 families and that's from merely promoting the date on Cable TV Channel 19, and I sent over some 60 second spots promoting the open cast call to the middle schools. However, much to my surprise, we have a larger percentage of elementary school students participating, and that's great. I'm loving The Garden Organic more and more, and I've become a real gardening enthusiast. I really love to see the kids participate in this activity.

I did an informal survey among the new cast members to find out what their motivation was. Most of the parents told me it was their kids' idea to be on the show. They actually dragged their parents along. Many parents, by the way, stayed to help plant things (we don't waste any time), and I interviewed four parents on camera.

So it looks like we are heading into another successful summer for this cable show, and I couldn't be more delighted. There is still time to get your children involved. Just check the schedule and join us any time.

Copyright 2009 Gary Olsen, Higher Education, Dubuque Community Schools

Another topic: I just completed teaching my 10th Annual Digital Photography Class, sponsored by Clarke College. It's a 3-1/2 day course, 3 credits, and we draw the line at 10 students, however, this year we had 11. It was an incredibly talented bunch of students, most of whom are considered "adult learners." These are students pursuing their second degree, perhaps, or adults with good jobs but who want to expand their horizons. They are enrolled as a Communication Major at Clarke, and they get first pick at the 10 positions for the spring-time class that I co-teach with department chair Dr. Abdul Sinno.

I don't see Dr. Sinno much for the rest of the year, So we do a lot of catching up. We looked back on the last decade (we started this class in 1999), and we talked about how much the technology has evolved in digital imaging. We also talked about how the curriculum must change in Communications studies to accommodate the new economic and technical realities of our times.

For example, the emphasis on print journalism is becoming supplanted by digital media of all forms, including the Web, Twitter, social networking applications, smartphones, wireless e-books e-newspapers and video on demand.

Technological innovation is what is fueling the change. In other words, when Jeff Bezos, of Amazon, literally invents a new way of publishing and distributing books, that innovation is a major game changer. I asked Dr. Sinno what he thought was going to happen. He is one of the most incredible prognosticators of technical innovation I've ever known, and I've known him for nearly 20 years. He predicted everything that is happening now including the decline of newspapers, the rise of the Web as a media form, television on demand, the evolution of digital music (iTunes) and, and the innovation of smartphones. He has made it his life to capitalize on these changes in our technoculture, and he quickly incorporates them into his college courses.

"There will always be core skills one must learn, like writing and photography, graphic design, and visual storytelling," says Dr. Sinno, "but how it is created, delivered and digested by the audience will be in constant flux for the near term. Eventually," he theorizes, "we will settle on some sort of screen that folds up like a handkerchief in our pocket, or a small folding book of some sort. You open it up, and you can type on a virtual keyboard, download movies, access websites, e-books, music, whatever. Your entire library of resources and entertainment will be in your pocket available anywhere and at all times.You won't actually carry the files of your movie collection. They'll reside on a server, and you can download them anytime anywhere because you purchased the download rights and added this media to your 'collection.'"

I asked him, "What do you think of the Kindle (Amazon's eBook that features 'Digital Paper')?" He said, "Watch for a major product announcement in the near future," said Dr. Sinno. "I predict there will be a strategic partnership perhaps between Sony and Amazon. There will be the release of an exciting new product. Sony is planning something really big, and I think they have already closed the deal with a strategic partner to make sure there is more than adequate content availabilities for their newest product."

I guessed it will be some kind of flat screen computer with a keyboard, but not a hard keyboard but a virtual keyboard. You will also have handwriting recognition to facilitate text input, and you can draw on it.

This device will use network hotspots to connect your device to the Web, and it will also have a wireless card that will use the cellphone network to transfer data, voice, pictures (movies and still images), and access websites. You'll be able to download a ton of applications like one that allows you to use your flat screen to access all of the TVs and music systems in the house and control them.

For many of us, it will be the only computer we need. When we want to use a larger keyboard for productivity, we can place a wireless Bluetooth keyboard near the device, and it automatically synchronizes. When you want to transfer files to a server, you can just click an icon on the screen, and it transfers whatever is open or onscreen to a server that is nearby or accessible through a wireless network.

You decide to watch today's episode of Oprah you've accessed from Hulu, and she talks about a new book she loves. While the show is playing, you click on the Web icon on your screen, bring up Amazon, and order and download the eBook. Payments for these things are automatically drawn from your online credit account maintained by eBay. You maintain a modest balance so that you can purchase e-newspapers, music, movies and more television shows with micropayments anytime and anywhere you want to.

And you'll take this device with you everywhere. Coach will design a special leather manpurse for it that will be a huge hit with both sexes. Eventually Sony will come out with one that folds small enough to put into one's pocket.

Keep this column and mark Dr. Sinno's words. Too bad I can't place a bet on this happening with Vegas.

- G.O.