JUST OUTTA BETA
Outta the Box Thinking
__Release: Late 1995 Who'd have thought the grooviest computers on the block this year would come from a bunch of suits? Well, get a load of the new Archistrat systems, the love child of The Panda Project and its staff of ex-IBMers.
Panda's first line of sleek, sculpted Archistrat servers and workstations comes in a rainbow of colors. Looks alone will make them an instant status symbol on any geek's desktop.
But what's really knocking the computer industry's socks off lies inside these Jetsonian-deco cases. Panda pulled off a technological coup by breaking the motherboard into separate modules for the microprocessor, memory, and communications portions. Now, instead of committing to one platform like a ball and chain, invest in a Pentium, and if the PowerPC or Alpha looks better in a few years, swap out the old processor for a new one.
So, Motorola, Intel, et alia, want to put silicon in my machine? Make me an offer I can't refuse.
Archistrat 4s server: US$10,490. Archistrat 4b workstation: price unavailable. The Panda Project: +1 (407) 994 2300, fax +1 (407) 994 0191, e-mail sysinfo@archistrat.com.__
Release: November 22
It's the great leap forward in computer animation that everyone's been waiting for, and it's brought to you by ... Disney! Disney? Computer graphics? Get out!
No, it's true. Toy Story, coming to your nabes this Thanksgiving, is the first film ever drawn completely by computer. The industry buzz - no, rumble - is that it's the Mouseworks' next blockbuster. Animated on SGI workstations and rendered using an awesome amount of Sun computing power, Toy Story lights up the silver screen with a burnished, dimensional look and feel of "heightened reality" that's simply never been achieved before.
The mind behind this "buddy flick" is Lucasfilm spinoff Pixar. And Toy Story, the first of a three-movie deal with Disney, should turn this little company into a major Hollywood player.
Director John Lasseter likes to say Toy Story was shot "entirely on location - in cyberspace." "But," spouts Pixar co-founder Steve Jobs, "you don't need to know anything about the technology to be blown away by this movie." Look for an in-depth report next month.
Release: November
Return with us now to those glorious, greedy, paper-shredding days of the Reagan-Bush era. Thanks to White House E-Mail editor Tom Blanton and The National Security Archive, a whole lot of electronic correspondence has survived undeleted.
These declassified internal memos give an intriguing historical perspective on key politicos of the '80s. For the first time, you can read Oliver North's description - in highly conversational and often poorly spelled words - of his "good relationship" with Manuel Noriega. There's also John Poindexter's characterization of George Shultz as "too damn emotional." Follow details of developments in the Middle East that later led into the Gulf War minefield and directives from internal spin doctors carefully orchestrating leaks of misinformation. Never intended for public viewing, these explosive missives reveal the raw back-room energy that fueled the carefully polished public personas of the Great Communicator's inner circle.
If these unsettling wheelings, dealings, and power plays hadn't really happened, White House E-Mail would be the techno thriller of the year.
White House E-Mail, edited by Tom Blanton: US$14.95. W. W. Norton & Company: (800) 233 4830, +1 (717) 346 2029.
Release: Late 1995
ImageWare is changing the faces on "Wanted" posters. The San Diego-based company's new program, the very Get Smart-acronymed CRIMES (Crime Reduction, Image Management Enhancement System) creates computer-generated composite drawings that are a far cry from the fuzzy pencil sketches used to track down the suspects of yesteryear.
The first part of the system, Suspect ID, allows law enforcement agents to assemble faces from a database of assorted features, hairstyles, complexions, and scars. Cops toting laptops to crime scenes can produce
full-color composites of suspects on the spot and send the images off to fellow crime fighters in less time than it takes to hot-wire a Honda. Internet-accessible image databases should be available in coming months.
Agencies around felony-rich Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington, DC, are also hooking up CRIMES Lab, a program to modify and update existing suspect photos. Officers will be pleased to know the system takes only a couple of hours to learn, making it considerably easier to master than, say, Figure Drawing 101.
ImageWare Software Inc.: +1 (619) 673 8600.
Release: November
Get out of the way, Sonic and Knuckles. Go unclog a toilet, Mario. Make way for the return of Shiny Entertainment's segmented superhero, Earthworm Jim. This November, Jim's back with a vengeance - appearing in a toy line, a TV show, and a much-awaited videogame sequel, Earthworm Jim 2.
For the uninitiated, Earthworm Jim is not your ordinary 16-bit video chump. He's a worm with personality; he's got attitude up to his, ah, anterior, and if you pause during a game, Jim occupies himself by jogging around, tossing bricks in the air, or pulling a dancing Elvis out of his pants. Jim is to idle cycles (ahem, Sonic) what Trent Reznor is to synthesized music.
The game mechanics, too, have undergone a facelift. Gone, for instance, are the days of Jim swinging from hook to hook, which, game designer Scott Herrington explains, "was giving Jim a headache." Instead, our hero now hauls his buddy Snot around in a backpack, using his viscous qualities to hang from rafters and get around.
So, sit tight and grab yourself a blaster and a big ol' hunka dirt: the second coming of Jim is nigh!
Earthworm Jim 2: US$69.99. Playmates Interactive Entertainment: +1 (714) 739 1929.
Release: Late 1995, Early 1996
Worried that your US$1,400 Donna Karan jacket is a cheap knockoff slapped together in a South Korean sweatshop? With a new system developed by DNA Security Technologies, you may soon be able to verify the authenticity of your clothing by reading DNA base pairs stored within the fabric. Yep, you read that right - DNA. Counterfeiters beware. DNA Security Technologies's process amplifies a short stretch of DNA a millionfold, synthesizes it, and mixes the microscopic particles into a laser-sensitive dye that includes shipping and brand name information. Finally, these coded particles are magnetically attached to the fabric. Once DNA-tagged clothes are on the rack, counterfeit experts can conduct spot checks for phony threads using hand-held laser readers that reveal a manufacturer's DNA code.
DNA Security Technologies has already promised its new Garment Guard System to trendy No Fear - a clothing company that estimates counterfeit losses have topped more than $6 million this year.
All you label-conscious fashion slaves: Accept no substitutes. Look for the DNA seal of approval.
DNA Garment Guard System: US$.02 per article of clothing. DNA Security Technologies Inc.: +1 (310) 337 7779.
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