Earlier this month I returned to Moscow, Russia for the fourth time to present a seminar.
The change from two years ago was astounding. I felt like Rip Van e-Winkle.
Three years ago, there was hardly any online technology available. In fact, in 2002 I watched in amazement as a university professor tried in vain to hook up a computer to an overhead transparency projector.
This time my host Dr. Serge Kibalnikov from the Academy of Tourism showed ME the technology:
* We go to a regular restaurant somewhere near Moscow, and I needed to tell my wife I had arrived safely and was in good hands. So Serge connects his PDA to the Internet, and I send an email to her!
* Then he logs on to the web, and I check the LERN web site from his PDA in a restaurant outside of Moscow.
* Then he tells me he pays his bills using his cell phone.
* Then I lecture at the Academy, and there is no Internet connection to show them our online classroom. So Serge puts his cell phone next to the computer, and using Bluetooth our web site gets projected on the big screen for everyone to see, and we do animation, drag-and-drop and everything!
(picture is of Dr. Serge Kibalnikov in Red Square)
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