Read this statement: "We've pushed this box to its limits."
Now match it with one of the following:
- A VP of marketing at NeXT
- A frustrated developer at 3DO
- A justifiably proud Newsweek editor.
Hard to believe, but when magazine editors start talking like hardware wonks, something is happening in the world of interactive media. Those words were uttered by Michael Rogers, editor of Newsweek Interactive, a CD-ROM version of its venerable paper parent. Packed with full-motion video, excellent narration, and all sorts of other goodies, Newsweek Interactive is Big Media's most visible accomplishment to date. Rogers has taken a limiting piece of hardware - the Sony Multimedia CD player - and created software that may just salvage the hardware upon which it depends. (The Sony box I used to review Newsweek Interactive is not much to talk about. There will be cheaper, better, and cooler boxes. What's most important is Sony's CD-XA technology stands a good chance of becoming the standard for CD-ROMs.)
Newsweek Interactive's first effort is a well-produced single-topic issue focused on - what else - Mending the Earth. Topics aside, the cool thing about the CD is its interface, which editor-turned-geek Rogers calls a "bimodal spine." You can play the disc as a sort of documentary, or break into "exploration" mode at any time. You stop the story and the script pops up, rife with underlined words that bring up additional levels of detail. Select "greenhouse effect" and a narrated graphic of the sun's rays bouncing off the earth comes up. The disc also holds full-text back issues of Newsweek, Newsweek On Air (its radio show), and a year's worth of Washington Post articles that pertain to the issue's theme.
This is interactive media done right, regardless of the inherent constraints of the Sony box (which can plug into your TV for a full color experience). The disc includes ads, of course, but you can skip those.
As hardware comes and goes, it's the software that will make or break multimedia. Newsweek Interactive is worth checking out, but for now you'll have to invest in Sony's player (or a sound- and CD-ROM-equipped DOS machine) to view it. Given that Newsweek Interactive will be coming out every three months, it might just be worth it.
Newsweek Interactive, $99 a year, 800-634-6850,+1-212-350-4000. Sony Multimedia CD-ROM Player, model PIX-100, $999.95, 212-937-7669
STREET CRED
Hacking For Jesus: 2001Newsweek Does Interactive
Online, All the Time, Everywhere
Where is Won-ton? - Zagat-Axxis CityGuide
Toon Town: No Goggles Required
Training Wheels for Internet First-timers
Bulletin Board Systems of the Month
This Review is an Ad for Adbusters
Toshiba Color 486 Laptop: No More Jerkin' Off Waiting
Neo-Futurists of the World Unite!
