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Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Dec. 28, 2007 / 19 Teves 5768

Things I'm thankful for

By Mark Kellner

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Technology's growth in 2007 is difficult to ignore, and there are many products, companies and individuals I'm thankful for as the year ends.


I'm thankful for MICROSOFT CORP. They brought out Office 2007 for Windows, and it's a marvelous product, making word processing and other tasks much easier for users of all stripes. The firm also released Windows Vista, which seems to be OK for many users, but has brought headaches to some others. I've not been brave enough to install Vista on one of my existing PCs, but the new computers I've used that have Vista seem to be just fine.


Another word of thanks goes to SUN MICROSYSTEMS and its spin=off OPEN OFFICE project. Yes, I like Office 2007, but I can't be bothered hassling with an install-and-uninstall process on every PC sent here for testing. My "standard," then, is Open Office's office suite (www.openoffice.org) and it's more than sufficient for my needs. Oh, and it's free!


Gratitude must also go to APPLE COMPUTER on the software front: this year saw the arrival of a boatload of new Mac applications, and of course the long-awaited Mac OS X 10.5, known as Leopard. This operating system revision is sweet, and installation and usage has generally been much easier for users than with Vista. I say generally, because some have reported hiccups. No hiccups have ben reported with new applications such as IPhoto 08, Pages 08 or Keynote 08, all of which commend themselves to users needed image handling, modest word processing or stunning presentations. Of the three major new Mac apps, I give highest marks to IPhoto - it's just too wonderful to be true. I use it almost daily, and, almost daily, I'm amazed at how well it performs.


On the hardware side, kudos must also go to APPLE COMPUTER. The new iMac is stunning in its appearance; I've not used one, but if it's half as good as its predecessor, which I use daily, it'll be great. I can say nothing but good things about the newest MacBook Pro computers; mine has been in constant use since August and it's a steady, solid performer.


And, of course, there's Apple's crowning achievement of the year, if not the decade, the IPhone. Not since the original Palm Pilot of a decade ago has a single device so changed and challenged an industry. Steve Jobs, Apple's chairman, and the IPhone team each deserve tremendous plaudits for coming up with a device so intuitive, so natural to use that there's no comparison with any other mobile phone in existence today. This product has redefined the entire category, and such an accomplishment is not an every day event.


There's someone else I'm thankful for at Christmas-tide, and on other days of the year. He is LT. GEN. MICHAEL W. PETERSON, the chief information officer of the United States Air Force. Hearing him speak, and interviewing him earlier this year, I saw that Gen. Peterson is that rare leader who is not only thoroughly versed in the mission of the military, but who also understands the role of technology as well as any corporate CIO that I've seen.


Gen. Peterson is representative, by the way, of the entire cadre of Department of Defense information technology leadership. These are people who "get" that our future defense will take place as much in cyberspace as anywhere, and that vigilance is vital to protecting our liberty.


To Gen. Peterson, his colleagues and all those working to keep the "land of the free" exactly that, my deepest gratitude. Godspeed to you all in the accomplishment of this vital mission.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.

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