We know. We all know that graphics don't equal fun. But....better graphics can absolutely help enhance games. I play my 360 on a 65" 1080p Plasma. I want it to look good on a display that size and the current consoles are woefully lacking. There is nothing I can think of that goes on a spec sheet that immediately equals better games..but the specs help to support the game devs vision.

We want an updated Xbox. I want an Xbox that can compete fairly well with modern PCs. I want to run games at 1080p and have them look good with high frame rate. I want it to be quiet. I want it to have a good online gaming experience, which honestly I think Live has done. I want good first party games. The problem is that the current consoles are old. They are outdated. My gaming has dropped off over time as the games and quality are lagging. Don't try to reinvent everything...I'm trying to make it easy for you. Give me a modern capable console.

It's a good thought, but you gloss over many things. First, not everyone has a good computer or Internet access. Second, can you imagine the support nightmare? I went through an online Masters program through a good school and it was almost impossible to get everyone online at the same time with working video conferencing. Tons of problems...tons of issues... Now add in to that people that just want their kid to go to middle school and you're setting yourself up for a lot of missed homework because the computer was infected..or Word kept crashing...or the Internet was down...etc.

The only way this works is to do it in parallel with traditional processes, which many schools now do. We're not at the point where we can cut over to all electronic communication just yet. I'd love to...but we aren't there yet. My son's preschool does a good bit online but many forms and other information still come home on a regular piece of paper.

To learn. My son is 3.5yo and can use an iPad better than most new adult users. I got him a Core2Duo iMac for a steal on Craigslist that he uses for PBSKids.org and other learning sites. If you don't have kids you'd be AMAZED at how fast they pick this stuff up. There isn't something magical about books that makes them the best learning tool. They can easily be supplemented with interactive learning from iPads and computers. My goal isn't to make him an IT geek. I don't give a damn what he does later as long as he is happy..it's to make technology extremely comfortable for him to use. When he gets older kids won't carry books..they'll have eBooks on a tablet. I want that to be as comfortable for him as it is now for me.

And pre-school is just school for younger kids. My son is in a Montessori pre-school with 3, 4, and 5 (kindergartners) year olds. He learns a lot. Now, some pre-schools are really just daycares so they aren't all equal so YMMV.

The problem with most tech positions is that there is a limit on what you can earn. Bill rates and returns on individual contributor or even team lead roles is only so much. What happens is that people in their mid-30s get the experience and understand the business and the industry well enough to move on to something else. They get tired of being on call. Get tired of the development cycle grind. Get tired of trying to keep up with tech while also having a life. So they move on to management, sales or other roles where they make more, and often, work less. It's a decision many people have to make at some point in the career.

Macs are no longer limited to graphics artists and web designers. While that market may not be what it was for Apple it's being more than made up for in other areas. I'm a Data Center Architect and use nothing but Macs. Cisco, EMC, and VMware now offer Macs as standard offerings for their SEs and field people and last I heard Cisco had gone 30% Mac in just a few months. It's rare I'm in a meeting with those guys where Mac is not the majority.

Pushing away professionals? Hardly. Nice link bait.

It does very little to the battery. It scales up in speed as needed and then back down to like 192MHz when idle. Mine is at 1.7GHz and battery has been just fine. After tweaks and OC it's not bad at all...especially for $149. Good enough that I sold my iPad 1.

Link to an easy walkthrough I did on tweaking the Touchpad:

http://jasonnash.com/2011/09/05/tweaking-that-new-hp-touchpad-you-just-got/

http://www.eedailynews.com/2011/08/wireless-inventors-hype-dido-no-not.html

That's why I say sometimes I can't. But often I can install Prezi on it..just depends.

If you can help it, stop using PowerPoint. I do a lot of user group and technology evangelization presentations and I'm doing my best to stop using PP. Sometimes I don't have a choice as I can't control the presentation system (large presentations like VMworld, for example). But when I can I'm using Prezi. It really breaks you out of that bullet point process. You throw your talking points and ideas out on a "canvas" and build your thoughts from there. After making the move I've gotten a LOT of positive feedback on it. Even if you can't use Prezi you can get out of bullet points. When having to use PP I stick to a "conversational" style presentation. Very few bullet points and statements, graphics, simple sentences, etc. The slide is about a thought, not a list of points.

Thanks for the review. I'll grab a copy of this as well.