So what will schools be like in the year 2025? As noted by faithful viewer Echo Greco Smythe, that's what Newsweek asked a slew of "leading teachers, inventors and entrepreneurs," in hopes of cobbling together a sense of how learning will change over the course of the next couple of decades. And lookee here, kids: the first guy on Newsweek's list of visionaries just happens to be Steve Jobs. And why not? After all, this is a guy who runs a company that is both preoccupied with the realm of education ("it's in our DNA," he recently stated) and constantly well ahead of the technology curve. Who better can foresee the shape of education two dozen years from now?

Indeed, as far as some people are concerned, Apple is already providing the classroom of the future; Prof. Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University thinks that in 2025 "all of our students will have personal laptops connected to the world with wireless networks"-- iBooks and AirPort in Henrico County, anyone? Since that rather pedestrian vision has already been accomplished, clearly Steve's take on the future of education must be full of way-out sci-fi stuff like robot teachers, floating chalkboards, and field trips to Mars. In short, it'll be Elroy's classroom straight out of The Jetsons. Right?

Well, not so much, actually. Instead of going on about time-traveling hoverdesks, Steve makes some very lucid and thought-provoking points about teaching children "to express themselves in the medium of their generation." In other words, we're at a transition point; people used to read books and write letters, but today's generation is far more steeped in video than print. While we're constantly bombarded with television as a society, "regular people" are only just getting around to making our own video content-- to create in that medium, instead of simply consuming the work of others. We're not going to get all messianic on you and compare iMovie to the invention of the printing press, or anything, but it's some nice food for thought. Of course, then Steve concludes with some out-of-left-field comment about wanting to trade in all of his technology "for an afternoon with Socrates," which sounds either terribly profound or the product of an acid flashback-- we're not sure which. (Surely an afternoon with Socrates would be terribly boring, right? After all, the guy's dead, fer cryin' out Pete's sake.)

So what does the AtAT staff think education will be like in 2025? We can summarize in just two words: flying cars. 'Nuff said.

Okay, okay, we get it-- some people aren't crazy about the iPod. Interestingly enough, however, it would appear that there are only three major objections to Apple's "groundbreaking" digital audio player. The first is that, at $399, it's just way too expensive. The second, surprisingly enough, is also that it's way too expensive. Go figure. But Apple's listening, folks, and you can bet that when half the people on planet earth join together across all barriers of language, culture, and belief to state in no uncertain terms that the iPod costs too much, Steve sits up and takes notice. Indeed, faithful viewer dissimilation reports that Apple has already addressed those first two complaints by introducing the iPod LC, a lower-cost model which admittedly lacks some of the niceties of the first version, but whose $38.26 price tag ought to appeal strongly to all those Mac users who hate the idea of paying a premium for superior technology, elegance of design, and attention to detail. (Note: there's a teensy chance that the iMac LC is satire. But really, what are the odds?)

As for the third major objection, we think you all know what that is: the iPod can't drive you to the movies and frown disapprovingly at your date. How Apple could possibly have missed such a crucial bit of functionality is utterly beyond us; worse yet, our sources report that the company has no current plans to add conveyance features or artificial emotive ability to future iPod designs. Talk about not having one's finger on the pulse of the buying public! If this is true, then the iPod is indeed doomed to failure; while we're sorry for Apple's impending failure, really, the company's designers have no one to blame but themselves for making such a massive oversight.

Don't worry, though, folks; faithful viewer Jamal Kazi tipped us off to a CNN article about how Sony and Toyota have teamed up to work on their own "Pod"-- and while this one isn't quite as compact as Apple's device, those of you who are just itching for a "mood vehicle" won't be disappointed. Yes, the Sony/Toyota Pod is a car that will "smile, frown, and cry, not to mention take your pulse and measure your sweat." It lights up a "happy orange-yellow" when its owner approaches, it turns blue and cries if it runs out of gas, and it knows you're anxious if you're sweaty and tries to calm you down with "relaxing music" and "cool air." The back of this thing even features a "tail-like wagging antenna." It's like some kind of beautiful dream.

So there you have it: Apple's iPod is a $399 digital audio player, while Sony and Toyota's Pod is basically an attempt to take Herbie the Love Bug to the next level. Yes indeedy, there's something for everyone in Podville. Join us. It's bliss.

What's that? Windows XP is finally out? Sorry, we were too busy scoping out the iPod to notice. (If you think the timing on Apple's unveiling of its controversial new digital device is a mere coincidence, you're far less suspicious than we are.) Microsoft continues to tout XP as the operating system equivalent of having your brain's pleasure centers electrically stimulated while eating a whole pie and winning the lottery, but from our perspective, its release means less to us than the average annual rainfall in Ecuador. Why, just this morning someone brought up the XP release, and we interrupted to say "Not now, Bill-- we just found out that Ecuador gets forty-four inches of rain each year, and we're far too preoccupied with that astonishing piece of information to think about the XP launch right now." It's all about priorities, you know.

Still, we know that a decent-sized chunk of the world has its eyes on Microsoft's latest operating system, so we figured we should mention it. See, quite apart from the scads of consumer PC users who have been beaten down by years of abuse at the hands of Windows 3.1/95/98/Me and who believe XP to be their salvation (poor benighted little beggars), several analysts and industry bigwigs are hoping that XP's breathtaking system requirements will give the economy a much-needed kick in the pants by inspiring people to rush right out and drop a bundle on a new Wintel system that can actually run XP without catching fire. Yes, it's a heartbreaking cycle of frustration and horror, but hey, spirit-broken Wintel users always hoping that "the next upgrade will make everything all right" is what makes the world go 'round.

Based on that principle, plenty of folks in the PC industry expect an XP-driven boost in hardware sales. Take, for example, Mike Dell, who (as faithful viewer Larry Richardson notes) told MSNBC that he expects his company's fourth quarter sales to rise, due largely to consumer demand spurred by the rule of thumb that any computer more than two years old isn't good enough to run XP. The reason that consumer demand will spike, of course, is because Windows XP is so heartstoppingly incredible that everyone's going to want to use it.

How do we know it's so great? Several reasons, all of which are listed in a WIRED article. For one thing, it's being launched in New York City "to help remind the world that New York still represents strength and determination," according to Bill Gates. So it's a humanitarian product launch, and not at all exploitative. If it were, then Sting wouldn't be hyping XP with his free concert! Sting also reportedly demanded that free copies of XP be given to Manhattan schools affected by last month's terrorist attacks-- so XP is good like firefighters and the Red Cross. See? It has to be wonderful. And therefore everyone will want it, and Dell's sales will go up.

Hey, wait a minute-- faithful viewer Michael Schmid just pointed out that the WIRED article was written by one "Michelle Delio." We'd consider that simply a remarkable coincidence, except that we all know Michael Dell is just the guy whose severe lack of imagination would prompt him to choose such an unoriginal and obvious pseudonym. So now Mikey's writing fake articles hyping XP in hopes of driving hardware trade-up sales? Oh, the humanity... the economy must be worse than we thought. Still, that iPod is something else, isn't it?

By the way, if you're still itching for more information on the newly-released Windows XP, faithful viewer Mark K. Ehlert pointed out that The MacObserver's coverage has all you need to know. Enjoy.