Ever wake up with a song pounding in your head, and you haven’t heard it for a while so there’s not an immediate explanation? Step into my world for a couple minutes, if you would.

Change is a fascinating thing, and it’s been quite engaging theater watching the political types try to define it, position it, capture it, and reposition it the last few weeks. Don’t worry, I’m not taking political sides here - it’s the trend that I’m interested in.

Because I know that you’ve sat in a meeting recently and the subject of the economy has at least indirectly come up. It’s one of the core reasons so many people are focused on change.

Any of this sound familiar? “We need to pull back a bit, and reduce our risk …. We’ll be cutting back on expenditures in a couple areas next year …. We need to do more with a bit less …. We’re going to place our bets in a few key areas ….” Uh-huh. (If not, write me. I’d love to hear it.) That part never seems to change. But how we all respond to it has to change.

In the late 70s, just as music recording technology was shifting from analog to digital, and folks were getting serious about video as a medium for music, the song “Video Killed the Radio Star” was first recorded. It’s been covered by a whole lot of bands, but the version I could hear this morning was the cover by The Presidents of the United States … that’s probably what got it out of the back of my brain, pretty funny actually.

So now that my subliminal mystery is solved, why are we here again? We’re here to serve your information needs, and as we’re about to announce our plans for 2009 next week, we’re moving in more directions to serve you better. Those directions will include more and new types of digital content for our audience - readers, listeners, viewers, surfers, whatever you best identify with. Print is still an important component of what we do, but it’s just one component, and the digital side is just as important.

We’re quite excited about what’s happening and playing a part in helping our industry define the future. If you’re in our audience already, thank you - and there’s more in store for you moving forward. We’re one of the best places for you and your colleagues to learn about new and exciting technology from industry experts, and help solve the difficult problems we all face with fewer resources to get the job done in these challenging economic times. And the best part is, most of the information we provide for our audience is free.

That makes us part of the answer to how you can do more with less. I’ve written before that I have total confidence that when our industry sets its sights on a target, it can be accomplished. Those that harness change and make it happen in the right way can rewrite history, and turn the future in the right direction.

What are you being asked to do with electronics and software? And how can we help? Comments are always welcome. Thanks for reading, and listening, and watching - and stay tuned as the story is rewritten.