The 21st Century Judiciary?

Perhaps 20 years ago, in an English courtroom one could imagine the following conversation:

Judge: Who or What are these "Beatles" that you are talking about?
Barrister: They are, I understand, a popular beat combo, m'lud.

So, it is with amusement and pleasure that I read of the following proceedings in the Apple vs Apple case (from Associated Press via CNN):

The case is being heard by Edward Mann, a computer-literate judge who has acknowledged owning an iPod music player.

At one point Thursday he stopped Grabiner during the lawyer's explanation of Apple Computer's iLife software suite.

"ILife is not a complete novelty to me. I've got it and I use it," the judge said.

Grabiner apologized for explaining the obvious, but said that should the case go to a higher court, an older judge might not be so savvy.

Not just a computer-using and iPod-using judge, but one who uses a computer with a market share of 2-3%? A sign of the times indeed. I wonder whose music is on his iPod?