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...Back in the day, your operating system was a big deal. It was who you were. Mac vs. Windows was like Catholic vs. Protestant, or Republican vs. Democrat, and about as rational. Now it's somewhere down around Coke vs. Pepsi. Microsoft is still winning the battles - the iPod "halo effect" notwithstanding, Apple is hovering at about a 5% market share - but no one's getting worked up about the war. So many of the file-compatibility issues have been solved, and so much computing goes on in the browser anyway. So who cares...
...Vista is secure, or at least it's securer. If that's a word. Being a near-monopoly makes Windows a magnet for phishers, viruses, adware and other malware writers. So Microsoft has worked on that, mostly under the hood. I think what most impressed me were the built-in parental controls: you can decide when your kids will use Vista, what websites they can go to, what applications they can run, whom they can IM with, and so on. And if they try to break the controls, Vista will rat them...
...Premium ($239). (Note that Basic doesn't give you that nice pretty translucent look, which is Vista's most immediately appealing feature.) Most people won't buy Vista at retail, but you'll feel the burn somewhere in there whenever you buy your next computer. For the Premium edition Microsoft recommends a 1Ghz processor and 1GB of RAM, as well as a respectable graphics setup, but I think you'll need quite a bit more power to get the full, smooth experience. The laptop Microsoft loaned me to test Vista had 2Ghz and 2GB, so be careful...
That's the idea behind the Allen Brain Atlas (ABA). Launched in September with $100 million from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the atlas is the first Web-based, public-access database of all 20,000 or so genes expressed in the mouse brain. Want to know where in the brain a specific gene is active? The ABA has it, in vivid three-dimensional color. Curious about what types of brain cells are actively expressing a particular gene? The atlas provides molecular-level data that tell you. "Even though it's a mouse project, it really is a wonderful resource...
...attention, class. Pachter, whose clients include Microsoft, DaimlerChrysler and Merck, strides in with her tailored black pantsuit, black purse and black heels, looking serious. Are people suddenly ruder? she asks. The need for etiquette tune-ups has become direr as a result of changes in the business world, Pachter tells her students--more women, more international commerce and new technologies like cell phones, BlackBerrys and e-mail...