Fashion Week
Paris
What with Paris and New York, Milan and London, spring, summer, fall, and winter, it seems there's always a fashion week going on somewhere. This month, designers unveil their fall/winter '08 collections. Expect gowns that experiment with lightness in form and fabric, and garments that utilize floral prints but not in a Laura Ashley way. While catwalk clairvoyants expect strong New York shows from Michael Kors and Philip Lim, they predict that this season will belong to Paris. Judy Licht, cohost of Ultra HD's Full Frontal Fashion, has her eye on Alber Elbaz, the Israeli designer who's behind the celebrated reinvigoration of the storied house of Lanvin. "It's visceral. Whether you're a skinny model or a fashion editor, you will want to wear his clothes," she says. And if you happen to be neither, ergo not a size 0, then you just can't. --WLA
Debut of Microsoft Windows Server '08, SQL Server '08, and Visual Studio '08
It's Microsoft's biggest enterprise-product (read: nonconsumer) launch ever, and it matters more than you might think, even if you're not a Bill Gates groupie or a MSFT shareholder. Server '08 and its companions are the behind-the-scenes software that keep computer networks, from your work email to your cell-phone service, running. One key feature of Server '08 is that it automatically does a "health check" of every piece of technology--from laptops to cells--that a company brings into its network. It's not just Microsoft that's counting on its new products to be a success. Its global partners, including Dell, Intel, and HP, are hoping that these offerings will help fend off competitors including Linux, Oracle, and Adobe. Analysts at IDC project that every dollar Microsoft earns in the United States on the Windows Vista OS and Server '08 will represent about $18 in the greater technology ecosystem--a total of $120 billion in 2008 alone. --JH
TED2008
Monterey, California
There must be a reason that big-thinking folks like Richard Branson, Richard Dawkins, Jane Goodall, and Peter Gabriel annually trek out west for the three-day TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference. If the TED Web site is to be believed, perhaps it's because of its reputation as a powwow where you can get answers to some of life's hugest questions--or at least be among people who ask them. The list on the site begins with a few that we think ought to be easily answerable in 72 hours: Who are We? What is our place in the Universe? What is Love? What will the Future be like? We have one to add to the list: What ever happened to Proper Rules of Capitalization? --JC
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