March 1999
Patently Easy
The US Patent and Trademark Office completes its online database. Now you're just clicks away from the text and scientific sketches of 2 million patents registered from 1976 to 1999 - including Bill Gates's only official patent (No. 5,552,982). Bonus: trademarked symbols, names, and sounds dating to the mid-1800s, such as the roar of the MGM lion.
Dec. 2000
Lord of the Screens
J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring comes to a theater near you, courtesy New Line Cinema. Director Peter Jackson (The Frighteners, Heavenly Creatures) translates Tolkien's imagination with AI software that drives CG extras in the movie's colossal battle scenes. Technology that morphs full-size actors into Hobbit dimensions allows for star casting, but Jackson dispels the Net rumor that Sean Connery will lead.
2001
High Way
Jet-setters take to the air in M400 Skycars. Punch trip coordinates into an onboard computer/GPS unit and Moller International's four-passenger vehicle flies you to your destination, reaching altitudes of 30,000 feet and speeds of 350 mph. Dual parachutes and multiple air bags should appease the aerophobic.
MUST READ
Paranoid, Are Ya?
Know Your Options
Live Nude Trades!
Caching Diana
Tired/Wired
Mini Weapon of Mass Destruction
Tomorrow Today
Smart Spider Goes Shopping
Shopbot Pandemonium
Shopbots: Three Degrees of Automation
Tiny Tongs
Hype List
Biotech's Plan B: Merge
Gimme Shelter
Fiber to the Penthouse
People
Jargon Watch
Dollar Signs
Sperm with a Shelf Life
Inside Out
Low Scorers
Game Showdown
Buy This Business Model
Platform Pushers
Duke Nukem Crushes Micro Star
Raw Data
