Blurts

I encountered Jeff Buckley’s version of the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah” some years ago. I have since acquired the original Cohen; and several other versions (Chris Botti, IL Divo, KD Lang) via iTunes.

It is sometimes strange what you can find online. Today, I discover an article from the Mirror (British) identifying the top 10 versions of the song. You can listen to all versions via YouTube links.

The Google Image Search service has been improved by allowing the designation of “content types“.

ReadWriteWeb explanation.

President-elect Obama has made his choice for the next Secretary of Education (see AP summary). While a professional educator all of my life, I have lived mostly in the midwest and never in a large city. I wonder about the choice of a “big-city schools chief”. I understand that the “issues” are very different in this setting and why those who succeed in such environments need be more of a political/business background rather than an educational orientation. Why is this a good thing? New ideas coming out of such a background likely emphasize management and reward structures. The logic appears to be if we can make education a more economically competitive environment, we will attract needed talent to the field and get rid of the less competent. Perhaps, but simplistic.  Seems like a different version of more of the same.

The thing I remember from the acceptance speech was the message the President-elect had for parents. The comments seemed to offer a broader perspective and explain a broader responsibility for student achievement. I understand that it is far too early to tell and I do like the priorities of the Obama education platform. Maybe a break from the traditional was too much to hope for with everything else that is going on.

Some video clips

NYTimes Video

Apple announced today that it was ending its relationship with MacWorld. So many things going on here.

First, the events placed unfair pressure on Apple. The assumption was that Steve Jobs would show, present a keynote, and reveal some fantastic new product. When you think about this, it is unreasoanble. Some product upgrades can be predicted, but new products emerge when they are ready. The pressure to deliver something of the caliber Apple creates by a given date is pretty difficult and perhaps not even a good business decision. What if no great new products happen to exist? What if a product under development is not ready? Why should Apple the company operate according to the time table of trade shows?

Second, there are continued concerns about Job\’s health or at least his role within Apple. Everytime something unexpected happens, this concern reappears and the stock market reacts. At some point, someone else is going to have to emerge.

Third, the day of the tech conference may have passed. I attended an early MacWorld in Boston and it was spectacular. I doubt if I would be as impressed or be willing to spend the money today. The focus on cloud computing has changed many things. The  power of the hardware and software you own matter less and you can preview products online. For me, this transition relates to a different convention (NECC).  Early on, I would spend most of my time in the exhibit halls and ignore the sessions. Not so much anymore. When you have seen one whiteboard, video projector, security system, etc., you have pretty much seen them all. The things that change about technology for me have less to do with what I own or at least that exist in my house or office and more with the services or people I can access online.

I have thought Microsoft was becoming less relevant as the rest of the world took a new direction. I am starting to have similar thoughts about Apple. The company has great equipment and innovative software, but these things matter less now. Apple – time for an inexpensive (but cool) netbook.

Things have changed – it was not exactly my fault, but I am responsible.

I started to have difficulty with my other “short form” blog. I hope to salvage old posts, but that will have to take some time. Give me a week and then visit again.

WordPress is capable of offering some complicated sites, but I have selected a theme I think is appropriate to a more microblog-like format.

🙂