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May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review August 18, 2006 / 24 Menachem-Av, 5766

What a brief, strange trip it's been

By Mark Kellner

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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Twenty-five years and three days ago, a suburban New York company made a brief, but important announcement: "IBM Corporation today announced its smallest lowest priced computer system, the IBM Personal Computer. Designed for business, school, and home, the easy to use system sells for as little as $1,565."


Today, the PC platform first conceived under the IBM name, but quickly "cloned" by what seemed a planet-full of garage-based entrepreneurs, accounts for roughly 90 percent of the computers used on Planet Earth, with a Microsoft-designed operating system at the heart of most of these.


IBM no longer manufactures personal computers, having quite the desktop business, more or less, years before selling what remained to China-based Lenovo, whose chief IBM-style products are ThinkPad notebook computers. And while the first "luggable" PCs, from a Houston, Texas, startup called Compaq, were roughly the size of a sewing machine and weighed about at much, today's portables are sometimes so light and thin, you might forget they're in your briefcase.


I've worked with, and written about, this technology almost from the days of that first IBM PC, 23 of those 25 years. While a lot about computing isn't as strange and new as it once was, there's still plenty out there to surprise, and amaze, even the most jaded user. Some observations, then, at this milestone juncture:


First, nothing lasts forever. IBM, Compaq, Leading Edge, Kaypro, and a bunch of other names once intimately associated with desktop computing are pretty much gone. IBM remains, of course, as a company providing software and services to large enterprises and smaller to medium-sized ones. But apart from the Lotus Development Corp. software it acquired a few years back, there's precious little that IBM would sell directly to a small business or home user. Twenty years ago, however, there was at least a chance that IBM could have dominated those markets, too.


Thus for companies who believe their position in the marketplace is inviolable, and you know who you are, it's not a bad idea to run over to a computer museum, have them dig out an old Compaq or Kaypro and contemplate it for a while.


Second, "failure" is never final. Apple Computer, Inc., which had a desktop computer on the market two years before IBM did, has been down for the count more times than a cauliflower-eared pickup boxer. Yet, each time Apple has been counted out by industry experts, it's bounced back. The firm's widely touted "five percent market share" could well increase over the next year or two, thanks to its switch to Intel Corp. processors and a tweak of the operating system to match.


Then again, tons of folks, this writer included, were inclined to dismiss the UNIX (stet) operating system and its variants to the realm of scientific or scholastic computing. But if you look closely behind the operating facades of today's computers, you'll find UNIX and its "windowing" graphical interface, somewhere. The last couple of versions of Microsoft Windows draw heavily, some say, on the UNIX-based "Motif" interface, and the Mac's OS X operating software has UNIX at its core, as Apple happily admits.


Third, the future remains full of surprises, many of which should be quite pleasant. Microsoft is readying Windows Vista, which might well trump earlier versions of Windows, itself a 20-year-old product. New versions of old standard word processors and other applications are appearing regularly. Advances in computer design and power continue almost unabated. The $1,565 you'd have spent in 1981 for a now-anemic original IBM PC will buy you a very nice Windows machine - or even 2.25 such units, if you know where to shop.


It hasn't been as long and strange a trip as the late Jerry Garcia may have sung about, but the PC era has been a great one, and tons of fun for many of us. I have a feeling the adventure will still surprise us for the next few years, if not the next 25.

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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