Flux
Singapore in LA: They call it CityWalk, now open, an "entertainment and shopping promenade" in Los Angeles's perfectly nondescript San Fernando Valley (it's next to Universal Studios). It features a fake Venice Beach (minus the undesirable street characters), a fake Sunset Boulevard (minus the hookers, pimps, and pushers), a fake Olvera Street (minus the gang members), and a fake Melrose Avenue (minus the scruffy neo-art- punks). Yes, it's MCA Corporation's sanitized, G-rated, categorically fulsome attempt to sweep LA's problems under the virtual carpet in the hope of creating at least one place where urban blight doesn't stop a shopper's Constitutional Right to Spend. No surprise: Almost all the five-year shop leases are taken.
Crown Jewels: Ralph Nader's people are at it again, this time with a campaign (called Crown Jewels) to make public the US House and Senate's internal online information systems (Senate LEGIS and House LEGIS). The systems include full text of bills before Congress, the Congressional Record, and other meaty items. Access to both systems is currently restricted to members of Congress and their staffs, but the system can reportedly handle at least 30,000 subscribers. Congress currently sells the data from these systems to several online data vendors (including Mead Data's Lexis), which then resell the data to the public. See something wrong with this picture? Call Senator Wendell Ford: +1 (202) 224 6352 or Representative Charlie Rose: +1 (202) 225 2061. Better yet, write a letter. Until our government gets wired, it's still the most effective method. For more info on Crown Jewels, e-mail: tap@essential.org.
Service Power: So where's the action these days in exports? For the US, it's in the service sector. The WSJ reports that the US service sector racked up a $59 billion trade surplus in 1992, up nearly fivefold from1986. "What these companies are exporting so successfully is information, know-how, creativity, and technology," the Journal reports. z We'd like to see the pre-nuptial on this one: Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates is getting married (to a marketing manager at Microsoft, Melinda French), and the Net is already humming with rumors as to how the wedding will proceed: "The words 'for richer, or for poorer' will be replaced with 'for richer, or for even richer.' * The reception will be held at Microsoft so that people can continue working. * After the wedding, the bride will turn and laugh at all the women in the world. * Melinda will find out on the wedding night (to her great disappointment) where Bill got the name 'Microsoft.' * After three years of marriage, Bill will announce an upgrade to Wife 2.0."
Oops: In the first issue, we stated that the Sci-Fi channel was started by the USA Network. Truth is, they bought it from Mitch and Lori Rubenstein of Boca Raton, Florida.
Clipper Purposely Clipped? Sources close to those in the know on Capital Hill claim that the NSA deliberately sabotaged the poorly considered Clipper encryption chip (rolled out to the Net.public's dismay by the White House early this spring). The NSA, our sources say, would like nothing more than to see the Clipper chip fail, resulting in the outlawing of encryption altogether ("Gee, we tried..."). The Electronic Frontier Foundation's response to the Clipper plan, which has been in the works for four years and was formulated by the NSA: "We should not rely on the government as the sole source for the Clipper or any other chip. Rather, independent chip manufacturers should be able to produce chip sets based on open standards."
Relief for Cambodia: Bernard Krisher, a Wired editor at large in Asia and also the MIT Media Lab's Far East representative, chairs Japan Relief for Cambodia, a non-profit organization working closely with Head of State Prince Norodom Sihanouk to give hope to the people of Cambodia through direct donations. One of Krisher's projects is to provide used computers to the University of Phnom Penh's computer education program. To help, contact Krisher at bernie@media-lab.media.mit.edu; fax: +011 (813) 3486 6789.
It's about time: The Freedom Newspapers in Orange County, California (13th-largest newspaper chain in the US) have signed a deal with IT Network to develop interactive classified ads. IT Network runs the Interactive Channel, a national network for interactive TV programming. Meanwhile, the Library of Congress Information System(LOCIS) is now available on the Net. The telnet address is: locis.loc.gov, 140.147.254.3.
Report from TED4: Best line at the TED conference in Kobe this past May, uttered by Helmut Esslinger of frogdesign: "Technology, you love like a father; Entertainment, you love like a mother; and Design you love like a woman." Other than that, however, TED4 was not as lively as it has been in the past. Maybe it doesn't travel well.
Nobody Knows Like Domino's: Net.rumor has it that Domino's Pizza in Washington DC always knows when the military brass is gearing up for action. The tip-off: a sudden surge of late-night orders from the Pentagon. Too bad McDonald's doesn't deliver.
Same as it ever was: Remember the dust-up when ex-President Bush's archivist signed over all of the Administration's computer memos exclusively to Bush in a last-hour deal (11:30 p.m. on January 19th)? Well Bill understands. His lawyers recently decided to support the move - seems Clinton's people don't want the next administration pawing through their dirty laundry. Makes you wonder who's soiling what.
What happens when he sneezes? In April, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen signalled his possible interest in purchasing a controlling interest in America Online. The company's stock jumped almost $4. Meanwhile, Apple announced plans to turn its AppleLink online service into a real business, and may even ship AppleLink software with all future machines. That makes for a potential subscriber base of more than 2 million a year.
Where are your papers? 1993: The California Supreme Court ruled earlier this spring that police may search and jail anyone cited for a minor infraction if they are not carrying state-sanctioned ID. That means if you are jaywalking, or skateboarding in the wrong place without a driver's license, you may wind up in jail. There is hope: Attorneys plan to appeal the case to the US Supreme Court (now isn't that comforting?).
Zen MOO: Stressed-out by the pace of Net.life? Why not telnet to cheshire.oxy.edu 7777 - when you do, this calming incantation will appear: "Amid the smell of incense and the sound of gongs and chanting, you have come upon the glorious Zen MOO. Please be quiet, and enjoy your meditation." Any attempt at work summons this reproach: "Your typing detracts from your enlightenment." Try again and you may see this: "Enlightenment does not come from typing." The third time your fingers tickle the keyboard, the Net Zen Master loses patience: "You are too restless to continue meditation. Come back later." *** Disconnected ***
They'll probably use 'em to order pizza: Motorola is now claiming that by the year 2000, 20 million US workers will be walking around with some sort of wireless data terminal. The market for the two-way wireless set- ups should be worth $5 billion by then, Motorola claims.
NickelodeonServe: Nickelodeon has put 200 or so kids on CompuServe to provide instant feedback on programming, among other things. "We want to be in closer communications with our core consumers," a research exec said of the new forum. The kids have already started communciating with each other.
Live Picture: Industry analysts are hailing it as a breakthrough in live digital video. Brainfruit of a French company called Advanced Imaging, Live Picture defines a new standard, FITS, that allows manipulation of hundred-megabyte video images in real time. The Adobe Exchange, +1 (408) 562 6104, is helping to bring it to the US. Since FITS uses a purely mathematical model of an image, its rallying cry has become "No more pixels".
Virtual Worlds Collide: Virtual World Entertainment (see page 36) has some competition: Magic Edge of Mountain View, California. The company has created networked flight simulators based on those used by Navy pilots. Nationwide arcades are planned. Price of admission: $24 for a 45-minute flight.
Schools for sale: In its quest to find the balance between much-needed startup capital and ambitious plans to create a chain of for-profit schools, Whittle Communications is seeking more capital from new corporate partners (old partners include Time-Warner and Philips). They figure they need another $750 million. Who's thinking about buying in? Apple, Cox, Tribune Corporation, and Walt Disney, among others. Spot a trend?
200 channels, what's on? A survey of power TV consumers (those with 200 channels via satellite) published in Video Technology News shows these as the top picks (in order): HBO, ESPN, The Discovery Channel, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, TBS, TNN, and the Sci-Fi channel.
The woes of electronic money: Here's a clever hack: Make a fake ATM, set it up in a mall, then let unsuspecting shoppers try to get cash. The machine tells cardholders that their transaction could not be processsed, but in the meantime it records their personal identification numbers. Thieves in Connecticut did just that, then created counterfeit cards with the stolen information. They've managed to steal $25,000 and, at press time, have not been caught.
