Is it a computer or a sewing machine? Actually it's both. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. There are built in LCD screens and USB ports…processors and memory chips on many models. Sewing machines have evolved from the ones that are stowed away in so many attics. At Brother International, Director of Education and Training June Mellinger says …

"The machines, for the most part, have LCD screens, so that as you turn on the machine, whether it's a small amount of information or a larger amount of information as the screen size increases, the information is right there for you to make decisions on how you would like the sewing quality to look. Whether the stitch would be longer, wider, what kind of dimension or shape it might have. You know we always used to have instruction manuals. And the instruction manuals are actually built into machines today so that customers can see exactly what they need to do or exactly how something might look when they're sewing or creating. And actually in many of our machines we have movies built in."

No…not a comedy to keep you in stitches. The videos are instructional. There is also software available that lets users create designs on a PC…save them on a USB drive….to bring over to the sewing machine. Some embroidery machines can do digital photos as well. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.