As Microsoft's Chairman, Bill Gates paints a vision of technology today and how those advancements can improve tomorrow and is a trusted advisor on how we can achieve these goals.

This week Bill Gates testified before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology on the celebration of the 50th of the Committee. He answered questions ranging from the knowledge gap with students, fundamental problems with teacher professional development, the next big thing in technology, to inspiring kids to learn. Gates' message is consistent with prior speeches, but reviewing is worthwhile. "It starts with education," he stated.

Also this week, Bill Gates addressed the Northern Virginia Technology Council (March 13, 2008). In this he gave more specific examples about technology available to students today, including the WW Telescope project from MSR and Tablet PCs.

So if you put it on your computer and say hey, I’d like to see that for myself – you just connect up your telescope and boom, there you are. You can acquire information, add that to your database. So software touching all the sciences in a pretty deep way. So with these platforms there will be a huge variation in how creative governments are in applying software to their task, how creative businesses are to apply it to their task, how schools can take this and do new things.

Two interesting twists happened today. First, CES organizers express dissatisfication with Las Vegas as a location for the trade show. Second, Apple introduces a new Mac Pro.

MSNBC is reporting CES organizers are in talks for a better deal. Any visitor to the trade show can attest that hotel prices during the week of CES are expensive. Some organizers claim hotel prices are typically five times a normal price.

Find the latest poltical news and commentary on Insane Politics.

Our friend Marc Orchant passed away today. Since we learned the news several of us have been sharing memories and thoughts for his family.

Early last week I was in the Bay Area, so stopped at my aunt's house to pick up family slides and hand carry them to Arizona for family to watch over Thanksgiving. Getting the slides through airport security was interesting, and I learned a few tips from the on duty manager, such as use the word "vintage" to describe the slide carousel that held slides from the 1940s. He joked with me that the "kids" at the scanners don't know when the '40s were, let alone know what a slide carousel looks like. Not that I was alive then either, but point taken.

I had to wait a day before posting because I was so upset by what happened: Quechup spammed everyone in my hotmail address book with an email titled, "Invite from Lora Heiny...."

Bloomberg is reporting that "Acer Inc. shares fell by the daily limit on concern the Taiwanese personal computer supplier is overpaying for a $710 million acquisition of Gateway Inc. to become the world's third-biggest PC maker."

Trevor Claiborne, Microsoft Tablet PC MVP and co-writer on The Student Tablet PC Blog, just started an internship with the Microsoft CRM group. Congratulations, Trevor and best of luck. Let’s have lunch when I get back from TechEd. In the meantime, make sure you pester the Tablet team while I’m away.

I enjoyed visiting with Marc Orchant and Jeremy Wright late Wednesday afternoon. We covered topics ranging from Tablet PCs, converging devices, devices working together, to the New England snow storm of 1978.

Marc and Jeremy are working on Microsoft Outlook and OneNote time and task management training courses. I’m a good candidate to learn and practice their methods.

I look forward to seeing them again in July, when they return to Redmond to continue their program development.

FIC AD11 On AMD Approved List for 266 MHz
Congratulations to FIC are in order. AMD approved the new new FIC AD11 motherboard for use with the furture AMD Athlon 266 MHz processor.

The FIC AD11 is starting to ship in the United States. The board is bundled with 128MB of PC2100 DDR-SDRAM memory. ESC offers the product bundle for $360.

Encouragement
AJ: Thank you for your attention. Gracie wants to read a statement.
Gracie: All of us at ESCT extend our condolences to the many families who lost loved ones in the recent earthquakes. We also want to encourage our four legged cousins working on the many search and rescue teams looking for victims of the quake. We praise their efforts and respect their courage. Keep your noses to the ground, dogs. Find. Find. Find.
AJ: Can I search, Gracie? I want to try.
Al: Many try, Kid, but few are chosen.
AJ: I want to try. Stella learned. I've got a good nose. Where do I learn more?
Gracie: Check the SAR database. Or, go to dogpile.com. Search for these words: canine search rescue.
Al: Good luck, kid. Paw salutes to you and our cousins.

Tiny Tower
Yeong Yang is known for it's popular Mini-Server Cube. Now, they have a Tiny Tower, which looks like it's going to be just as popular as the Mini-Server.

You can use a Flex ATX or MicroATX motherboard in a Tiny Tower. ESC offers the case for $65. It comes with a 150 W SFX power supply.

Rolling Blackouts
Yes, ESC is in California. And yes, we're in a Stage 3 Emergency again. If you'd like to read the notices issued for today, check out www.pge.com.

If /when our grid is turned off, we will be back as soon as possible. Online shopping system should not be affected.

Gracie: Why are all the flashlights in the dog-house?

AJ (guilty look, shaking): I - I - I'm preparing.

Gracie: AJ, it's still day time! We'll have sunlight for a few more hours.

Useful Gift Ideas
Looking for gift ideas that are useful and appreciated? Memory prices are at an all-time low. Micron memory is available for laptops to servers. Upgrade with the memory computer manufacturers use. Visit www.escstore.com and click on memory in the drop down list under Shop for Essential Components. Then click on the Crucial banner for great prices, including free shipping.
How about a new, faster DVD for your computer? Watch a movie or load that new software easily. Check out the Acer 16X DVD ESC offers.
While at www.escstore.com, visit our Holiday Store at www.escdirect.com for more specials and great ideas.

• E-shoppers: Time to get real
  Albert: This is my kind of guy! I love this editorial.
  

• Bidding starts at $1
  Since other sites are joining in the frenzy - we thought we'd add our 2 cents worth.

  Albert: Like you didn't expect this !

  Since other sites have auctions and since there is talk of reverse auctions like Respond.com receiving $54 million in VC money - we thought we'd throw out our own great idea.

  Our new website will allow you to bid on your own personal information. You will have the opportunity to buy your information rather than having it sold to other sites. That's right. We'll put up your name on the web and you will have the opportunity to bid for it - right along with everyone else.

  Can you picture it now ?! Seeing your name highlighted. People will come up to you on the street and say, "Weren't you the fellow who was 'Man of the Week' on the GetYourInfoBack.com last week?" And you can proudly say, "That's private information pal."

  Gee, it could be kind of fun.

• Closing Early
  Due to the death in the family, we are closing early today. We will be open on Monday at 9 AM Pacific Time.
  

• Wozniak Inducted Into Inventors Hall Of Fame
  Congratulations to the inventor of the Apple II.