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- TidBITS#270/01-Apr-95
- =====================
-
- Welcome once again to yet another issue of TidBITS. This week
- brings you some irrelevant articles about topics you probably
- don't give a damn about. In fact, just pack it up and don't
- read this issue. Go outside, get some sun, and have a life,
- okay? You probably need the disk space anyway, and besides,
- I was sick last week, so you might come down with a nasty
- throat infection coupled with a cold if you're exposed to
- this file. Sniff.
-
- This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
- * The letter "I" and the number "0"
- Without which none of your I/O subsystems would work.
- * Worst of the Web -- http://turnpike.net/metro/mirsky/Worst.html
- Perpetuating user disorientation since, well, about January.
- * Useless WWW Pages Hall of Fame -- Celebrating Inanity
- http://www.primus.com/staff/paulp/useless/hall-of-fame.html
- * Human Internet Relay -- Some of the best runners in the world
- bringing you packets one step at a time.
-
- Copyright 1990-1995 Adam & Tonya Engst. Details at end of issue.
- Information: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <editors@tidbits.com>
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Topics:
- MailBITS/01-Apr-95
- Microsoft to Corner Floppy Market?
- Assault and Battery
- OpenDoc Suckers
- C What I Mean?
- SimWord
- Newt's Grand Old Party
- Reviews/01-Apr-95
-
- ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1995/TidBITS#270_01-Apr-95.etx
-
-
- MailBITS/01-Apr-95
- ------------------
-
- **Future of the Web?** -- I'd like to share an Internet utility
- that I think has great potential to help us break out of the rut
- that we've gotten into on the Web. Interlaced GIFs are all fine
- and nice, but tools like Nutscapify stand to really make a
- difference. I plan to use it for all of my Web pages in the
- future. As a sample, try the multiple line URL below. [ACE]
-
- http://thule.mt.cs.cmu.edu:8001/cgi-bin/nutscapify?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhome.
- netscape.com%2F&font=random&ol=none&blink=random&ul=off¢er=off&hr=off
-
-
- **We'd Like to Thank The Academy** -- In a ceremony held in
- Hollywood early last week, TidBITS was presented with an Academy
- Award for Best Short Electronic Newsletter with Weird
- Capitalization Written Directly for the Internet. "Unfortunately,
- due to technical difficulties," said presenter Pierce Brosnan,
- "delivery of the award won't be possible until the Academy is
- satisfied that the award can be securely transferred over the
- Internet. There are a lot of people out there who'll go to any
- lengths to get their hands on one of these," he added, hefting the
- weighty statuette. TidBITS editor Adam Engst would have liked to
- have been present at the awards ceremony, but they wouldn't
- install a T-1 line and a Mac 660AV with a video camera up to the
- podium so he could watch with CU-SeeMe. [GD]
-
-
- **What Me, Monopolize?** -- In a move that may ruffle the feathers
- of the FTC, Melinda French, the wife of Microsoft's billionaire
- owner Bill Gates, announced today that she intends to buy Compaq
- Computer for an undisclosed amount of cash and Microsoft stock.
- French said, "This is a personal investment, and should not in any
- way be viewed as an official Microsoft acquisition, and there will
- be no connection between Microsoft and Compaq" adding that she's
- wanted to own a PC hardware company "ever since I was a kid."
- Previously working in the same division that produced Microsoft
- Bob, Microsoft's so-called social interface, French said she just
- had "to get away from that damn rodent," and, "I've always used
- Compaq machines at work, and they seem to be pretty good."
- Nonetheless, analysts pointed at the immediate move by Compaq to
- install a Bob-friendly minimum of 32 MB of RAM in every computer
- sold.
-
- Justice Department chief Anne Bingaman, reached for comment at her
- home, said, "Frankly, I don't see the problem. If Melinda wants to
- buy Compaq, that's her business, and the Justice Department isn't
- going to harass her about any monopoly proceedings." Judge Sporkin
- refused to comment, but made irate gurgling noises. Rumor has it
- that the rest of the PC industry is considering merging in an
- effort to compete with what many view as a combined
- Microsoft/Compaq juggernaut. [ACE]
-
-
- Microsoft to Corner Floppy Market?
- ----------------------------------
- by Geoff Duncan <geoff@tidbits.com>
-
- When released later this year, Windows 95 is expected to ship on
- 24 to 28 high density floppy disks, and as a result, rumors have
- abounded that Microsoft is amassing huge quantities of floppies in
- anticipation of fulfilling millions of orders for the new
- operating system. This has led to speculation on the world-wide
- commodity markets that the release of Windows 95 may cause a
- floppy disk media shortage, causing prices for floppy media to
- increase.
-
- Microsoft officially refused to comment on this speculation.
- However, TidBITS managed to speak with a Microsoft program manager
- about the issue under conditions of anonymity. "Think about it,"
- our source said. "Wouldn't Microsoft want the price of floppy
- disks to be as high as possible when Windows 95 ships? If you need
- disks, then, the cheapest way to get them in bulk will be to
- **buy** a copy of Windows 95! It's definitely a market-saturation
- move." TidBITS managed to obtain an early copy of the Windows 95
- registration card. In addition to normal registration information,
- the card includes a checkbox to indicate "I bought Windows 95 just
- for the floppy disks."
-
- Microsoft tested the market-saturation idea earlier this year with
- its Macintosh products by releasing Microsoft Office on
- approximately 40 floppies and then continually delaying the CD
- version of Office containing the Power Mac-native version of Word
- 6.0. "The feedback was less than positive," our source said, "but
- we think we'll get it right this time."
-
- In light of this information, TidBITS would like to applaud the
- efforts of America Online, which has been frantically sending
- multiple floppy disks free of charge to Mac, PC, and refrigerator
- owners for the last year. AOL has also attempted to prevent the
- floppy shortage by bundling disks with newsstand copies of
- Macworld, Byte, and Ladies Home Journal. In a related
- announcement, avant-garde artist Christo announced last week that
- he plans to tile the exterior of New York's Guggenheim Museum in
- Mac and PC versions of AOL disks. The proposed work is an
- impressionistic scene entitled "Washington Crossing the Internet."
-
- Information from:
- Christo Pink Plastic Foundation, Ltd.
- Pythaeus
- Tarot readings
-
-
- Assault and Battery
- -------------------
- by Mark H. Anbinder, News Editor <mha@baka.ithaca.ny.us>
- Director of Technical Inertia, Baka Industries Inc.
-
- In a move related to last week's announcement of free replacements
- for Apple's original M5140 PowerBook AC adapters, Apple announced
- that, effective 01-Apr-95, it will provide replacement batteries
- at no cost to certain PowerBook owners. This announcement follows
- the discovery that the batteries do not continue to provide
- electrical power to the PowerBook following more than a couple of
- consecutive hours of use.
-
- Reportedly, Apple has determined through extensive testing that,
- after a period ranging from one-and-a-half to four hours of
- typical use, the batteries shipped with the 100-series PowerBooks
- fail to keep the PowerBooks running. Symptoms of this failure
- range from the appearance of inconvenient dialog boxes to
- unexpected data loss when the PowerBook suddenly ceases to
- function.
-
- Apple engineers claim that this behavior can be expected from
- standard battery technology, but the company's public relations
- division felt that users were confused by the inconsistent supply
- of electricity from the batteries. "Users feel that a battery
- powered device simply ought to keep running," explained Jan
- Gesmar-Larsen, general manager of Apple Germany. When asked about
- the typical effective life of a standard Walkman battery, Larsen
- said, "That pink rabbit in the commercials just keeps on going,
- why can't PowerBooks?"
-
- Users who take advantage of this new customer satisfaction program
- will receive Apple's new "FusionPower" PowerBook battery product
- in exchange for their old battery. Different FusionPower models
- are available for the PowerBook 100, PowerBook 140-180 models,
- 200-series PowerBook Duo models, and the current 500-series
- PowerBook models. Apple estimates that these power packs, based on
- a new hydrogen fusion technology, will provide the average user
- with 400 years of power on a PowerBook 100 or a Duo, and 750 years
- of power on other 100-series or any 500-series PowerBook.
- (Additional FusionPower batteries are available for 500-series
- PowerBook owners who wish to take advantage of the second battery
- compartment.)
-
- Because of the nature of the technology, Apple says that only
- certain PowerBook users qualify for this free battery replacement
- program. Owners in the United States must first apply for a
- license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and then send a
- notarized copy to Apple's Customer Assistance Center along with a
- lead-lined shipping carton. Outside the U.S., Apple recommends
- that users contact CERN in Geneva, Switzerland for appropriate
- licensing information. In addition, Apple warns that the
- FusionPower batteries must be stored in their plastic carrying
- cases. "If one of these suckers shorts out on a paper clip in your
- briefcase," said Larsen, "we might have to evacuate the
- surrounding city."
-
- Former Apple CEO John Sculley, an early tester of the FusionPower
- technology, was curiously unavailable for comment. A technical
- support representative at Apple's 800/SOS-APPL facility in Austin,
- Texas, asked about the procedures for replacement, replied, "Are
- you sure your PowerBook 170 is still in warranty?"
-
- Information from:
- Apple propaganda
-
-
- OpenDoc Suckers
- ---------------
- by Tonya Engst <tonya@tidbits.com>
-
- Impatiently waiting for the wonders of OpenDoc? Wait no longer!
- You can now have your OpenDoc cake and eat it too. A software
- startup from Georgia has announced CodeSucker, a program that
- beats Apple to the OpenDoc punch. The company, Sucker Software,
- uses early OpenDoc technology and a patented coding technique.
-
- CodeSucker will list for $69, require System 7.5, and work on any
- Macintosh newer than the Plus (Sucker Software couldn't get around
- certain Plus ROM problems), although reports from beta sites
- indicate that it tends to be quirky when running on docked Duos
- (the MiniDock is fine, of course). Installed, the program consumes
- a mere 400K of disk space, and its minimum RAM allocation is 700K,
- but you can expect a minor increase (perhaps 5K) for every Feature
- module that you add, but with a cap of 10 percent per year above
- inflation, and a lifetime cap of 32 percent.
-
-
- **Getting Started** -- To begin using CodeSucker, you use its
- Starter Control Panel to create a document - aptly named a Feature
- List - that lists the features you want to use with later with
- CodeSucker. Where do you get the features? You select them from
- software currently installed on your hard disk. CodeSucker looks
- into the code resources in your programs and creates a list of
- features, in much the same way that an AppleScript editor can see
- a list of AppleScript "commands" inside an application. For
- example, when I tried my review copy of CodeSucker, I sucked the
- Outline and Heading styles feature out of Word 5.1, the envelope
- printing feature from Now Contact, and the Transaction Register
- from Managing Your Money. (I was trying to create a humdinger of a
- billing system.)
-
- Because you can only create your Feature List from software
- installed on your hard disk, Sucker Software maintains that they
- have made a reasonable effort to avoid piracy problems, though a
- few issues remain. Lesly Smith, Sucker Software VP of Legal
- Affairs, estimated that Sucker Software's venture capital set
- aside for legal issues would last until "well past the year 2075."
- She also said that the company would pay for any legal costs
- incurred by its customers as a result of using CodeSucker Feature
- modules.
-
- After saving your Feature List, you send it to Sucker Software.
- The company's programmers (and yes, they are hiring in droves -
- email <jobs@sucker.com>), then use Code Sucker technology to suck
- out the code for features you want to use in CodeSucker. The code
- gets converted into a set of Feature modules, and the folks at
- Sucker Software guarantee a two week turn around time. (I got mine
- back in nine days along with a t-shirt that says in big letters,
- "Code Sucks" on the front and "Suck Code" on the back.)
-
- CodeSucker's interface lets you create most anything you'd like,
- within the confines of a Macintosh window. The CodeSucker
- interface is elegant, with a fruity nose, and somewhat strong oak
- overtones. My billing system worked wonderfully, and I feel as
- though I've been sucked into the Macintosh even further.
-
-
- **Pricing** -- The $50 fee for CodeSucker includes the conversion
- of fifty-one features, with two free shipments of completed
- feature modules, and a free lollipop with each shipment.
- Additional features cost $1.57 each.
-
- Ordering additional modules is a bit quirky - due to the religious
- beliefs of the company's CEO, customers must always own an odd
- number of Feature modules. This relates to the philosophical
- belief that you should, "never give a sucker an even break." Plan
- to always order such that you end up with an odd number of
- modules, and add an extra dollar per module for any software older
- than three years.
-
- After your initial two rounds of free shipments, additional
- shipments cost $5.00 to customers in the U.S.; prices vary for
- other parts of the world. Expect prices in excess of $20 for
- shipments to Mars and other planets.
-
-
- **Future Plans** -- CodeSucker currently only runs on the
- Macintosh, and your Feature modules must come from Mac software,
- even if you are running SoftWindows or a DOS Compatibility Card.
- Sucker Software does have cross-platform plans, with versions
- planned for OS/2 and the NeXT OS. (According to sources, Steve
- Jobs is a member of the company's board of directors.) Will Sucker
- Software develop a product for Windows? "Frankly," I was told by
- Marketing Manager Jim Smith, "according to our market research,
- there are few features in Windows programs that people want.
- However, Windows users are interested in a product that would port
- features from other platforms, and we are currently discussing how
- we might best implement such a product." Smith is optimistic about
- the company's future success. The way he sees it, "there's a
- customer born every minute."
-
- Sucker Software -- <info@sucker.com>
-
-
- C What I Mean?
- --------------
- by Geoff Duncan <geoff@tidbits.com>
-
- UrbanWerks Incorporated, a startup company based in the Cayman
- Islands with employees worldwide, today announced the immediate
- availability of its new Macintosh application development
- environment, Multimedia C++ 1.0. "This product marks a transition
- from the traditional software development model," says UrbanWerks
- chairman Ian P. Frehley. "It's geared toward the coming generation
- of Mac programmers who have been raised on multimedia and hi-res
- video games."
-
- "Kids today are bored with environments like MPW, Symantec C++, or
- CodeWarrior," Frehley explains. "What's cool about those products?
- Nothing! Look at their displays - they're boring! We try to make
- software development an engaging interactive experience." And
- indeed, Multimedia C++ is a radical departure from earlier
- development environments. For instance, compiler errors appear on
- screen as various scenarios. Attempting a build with a missing
- library might deposit the developer in an abandoned castle. How to
- overcome the error? Find the hidden key and unlock the wizard's
- tower. Performing a search and replace throughout a source tree
- becomes a seek-and-destroy commando scenario through a deviously
- clever maze. "Kids understand this stuff," Frehley explains.
- "These techniques greatly enhance their productivity as
- programmers." Indeed, one thirteen-year-old beta tester wrote a
- complete page layout program in a seven-hour session.
-
- Interactive scenarios aren't the only enhancements UrbanWerks has
- made. QuickTime videos featuring celebrities from the Mighty
- Morphin Power Rangers to Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder guide fledgling
- programmers through common tasks such as creating an event loop or
- implementing graceful error handling. The interface of Multimedia
- C++ uses the latest in 3-D technology to provide fully-rendered
- and anti-aliased function templates, and its code-optimization
- routines are uniquely intuitive (a secondary window is displayed,
- and the faster your code scrolls by, the faster it's running).
- Taking advantage of Macintosh Drag and Drop technology, Multimedia
- C++ allows users to simply drag syntax errors to the trash. "Sure
- beats looking it up in a manual," said one beta tester. "I
- probably didn't need that code anyway."
-
- UrbanWerks says the suggested price of the Multimedia C++ CD-ROM
- is $299.95, with a special six-player network edition retailing
- for $499.95 (includes ADB game controller adapter for Sega and
- Nintendo systems).
-
- UrbanWerks -- <info@urbanwerks.com>
-
-
- SimWord
- -------
- by Tonya Engst <tonya@tidbits.com>
-
- Frankly, I'm bored with the current crop of word processors. They
- all have more features than my vintage 1985 copy of MacWrite, and
- in that ten year interim, few of the new features make it easier
- to figure out what to write. With the exception of a few
- children's products, none of them have a sense of fun or
- exploration, although Word 6.0's 3,634 commands sometimes provide
- an acute sense of disorientation and frustration.
-
- I can no longer sleep properly - my dreams are twisted by my
- love-hate relationship with Word 5's Outline View, and constantly
- interrupted with fearful visions of Nisus Writer's Macros menu
- droppping down out of my monitor to the office floor, through the
- basement, and burrowing into the earth, never to be seen again.
- Writers of the world unite! I propose a new breed of word
- processors, a breed with spirit, soul, and simplicity. Maxis, are
- you listening? I want SimWord.
-
- SimWord is a new concept in word processing, and it turns writing
- into a game. When you launch SimWord to start a new document, you
- choose from options such as Novel, Essay, Humor, Technical, Short
- Story, and Poetry. The interface features one palette, whose
- buttons are large, labeled, and have nifty pictures on them, so
- it's easy to discern one button from the other.
-
-
- **Disasters** -- To get started with your document, you first
- choose what kinds of Disasters you want. Disasters add that random
- human element to your writing that computers otherwise have such
- trouble emulating. You can go for a simple Quotation Storm that
- randomly inserts quotes from George Will in your document. Or, you
- might choose Flooding, which arbitrarily adjusts your words (using
- the thesaurus to make sure they still mean the same thing) so that
- the rivers (vertical white space) in your document become large
- and unsightly. If you are the sort who likes to occasionally throw
- out your whole document and start fresh, you might turn on the
- Volcano disaster - the special sounds and visuals are just
- wonderful, but the clean-up time afterwards could make you miss
- your deadline.
-
-
- **Zoning** -- After you set up your disasters, you use railroad
- tracks (much like Word's section breaks or Nisus Writer's and
- MacWrite's rulers) to separate your document into sections and
- zone them for different activities. For example, you might have
- Introduction, Credits, Summary, Basic Text, and so on. SimWord
- comes with about 50 possible zones, but the architecture of the
- program is such that third-parties can come out with their own.
-
- Once you zone your document, you must create an environment
- conducive to words staying in the zone where you type them. This
- is where the strategy comes in, because if you type text in a zone
- where it feels uncomfortable, it will migrate to a different zone.
- The migration animation is terrific, so if you aren't in a rush,
- it's worth ignoring strategy for a while. To see an example, type
- "bus" - without the quotes - in a freshly zoned Introduction.
- Unless the title of your document has something to do with travel
- or transportation, the three characters in bus morph into a neon
- green school bus with lots of stuck-on decals, and complete with
- engine noises, the school bus moves into the Body section, squeals
- to a halt, lets ten kids of the bus, and morphs back into the word
- "bus." The names of the kids who got off the bus also appear in
- the Body section. You can turn off the sounds if you find them too
- distracting.
-
- If you create a sufficiently conducive environment through well-
- thought out titles, carefully crafted sentences, and the like,
- SimWord will generate words and move them into your document. In
- effect, the program will start writing for you. Once generated
- words start moving into your zones, you can go have a cup of
- coffee and find your work nearly done when you return, though if
- you use a 68000 machine like the SE, you may have to go have a
- proper meal.
-
-
- **Congestion** -- The more trouble you have putting words in the
- right zones, the more they migrate to other zones, and the more
- likely you are to have traffic control problems. The problems can
- be somewhat alleviated by using the Cross-Reference command. It
- works like a Star Trek-style transporter, and words that are
- cross-referenced can quickly move between zones outside of the
- normal flow of traffic. If traffic conditions become untenable,
- the words request an airport so that phrases that just aren't
- working out can leave, and replacements can be flown in. I've
- found that erecting Stadiums in the different zones also helps,
- because it gives the words a higher quality-of-life and makes them
- more likely to stick around. If you don't pay sufficient attention
- to the quality of life, your writing will lean more and more
- toward the style of Dostoevsky. A unpleasant side effect is that
- your document will gain an additional 500 pages, mostly composed
- of turgid conversation interspersed with lots of Russian names.
-
-
- **Corruption** -- To prevent your document from becoming
- corrupted, you must keep the financial situation under control.
- Each zone can have a Commissioner, and you use the Insert
- Commissioner command to add a Commissioner. Without a
- Commissioner, the zone becomes a black market. Black markets
- encourage informal trading, which can cause real problems because
- your words will trade characters with each other. Some words will
- be better traders than others, so you'll end up with lots of two-
- and three-character words limping along and other words that get
- so long and powerful that they start making their own zones,
- called Criminal Zones, where stray words are killed and stripped
- of their vowels. Norton Utilities sometimes can delete a Criminal
- Zone, but other times the corruption is so bad that you must copy
- and paste the good zones into a new document. Commissioners must
- be paid for, and you must set the salary such that you attract and
- keep honest Commissioners.
-
-
- **Ratings** -- As a replacement to the old-style word processor
- ratings boxes that tell your word count, passive verb count, grade
- level count, and white blood cell count, SimWord puts up a ratings
- box where your words rate you on how much they like your document.
- Ratings are based on how much corruption your words perceive, how
- much they like their zones, and so on. You must pay close
- attention to your ratings at all times so you know where to
- allocate more money or where to tighten up your prose. SimWord
- retains the Flesch Reading Ease rating, and if it falls too low,
- corruption increases, as does government rhetoric.
-
-
- **Filters** -- SimWord has import filters for most known word
- processors, and any feature that a filter doesn't understand gets
- turned into an Additional Reading zone. Future versions of SimWord
- will output directly to HTML, although the quality of the HTML
- code is directly linked to your ratings, once again. If the words
- aren't happy, your HTML document will be strewn with <BLINK> tags
- and probably won't display properly in anything but an old alpha
- of Netscape.
-
- My publisher has already expressed interest in any books I write
- with SimWord, just so long as I stay away from the Volcano and
- Earthquake disasters when I'm within a week of deadline.
-
-
- Newt's Grand Old Party
- ----------------------
- by Hubert "Vince" Fournier, Special to TidBITS
-
- In a move sure to spark some serious competition, Los Angeles-
- based Guzzlers, Inc., announced the release of Grand 'Ol Party
- 0.93b1 for Newton, billed as the world's only continuous, real-
- time guide to the Los Angeles party and entertainment scene.
-
-
- **Global Positioning Technology** -- Grand 'Ol Party (GOP) is a
- Newton application that uses a PCMCIA-based Global Positioning
- System (GPS) transceiver to ascertain the user's location at any
- given time. With that information, GOP uses a PCMCIA-based
- cellular modem to access partyMCI, a commercial service that
- maintains an up-to-the-minute database of all "recreational
- gatherings" throughout the greater Los Angeles area. "You know,
- all the big celebrities have been subscribing to this service
- since, like, you know, Day One," said Bob "Spaz" Hubbard,
- Guzzler's President, CEO, and self-styled cyber-rocker. "How else
- do you think they know, like, what Oscar parties to go to, man?
- They have an inside source!" Spaz whips out his Newton. "Now, I
- just say 'Hey, Newton, where's the good stuff happening?' and it
- draws me a map! Is that **cool,** man, or what?!"
-
-
- **Filters and Intelligent Agents** -- But GOP is more than a road
- map to the nearest party. "Like, GOP tells you whether you
- **want** to go to a party or not, which is totally important."
- Tapping an individual party listing presents detailed information
- about the gathering. A star-rating system indicates the number and
- relative importance of celebrities in attendance - four stars
- indicates a gathering of Hollywood royalty, "but, like, half a
- star probably means Kato Kaelin's there." Users can edit their
- preferences to give more or less weight to individual
- personalities. "Like, I've got Alice Cooper **totally** cranked up
- 'cause he's way rad, but I don't want to be partying with Jay
- Leno, understand?" says Spaz. Other user preferences include
- adding more weight to parties with high alcohol consumption ("see
- the little keg icons?"), upscale gatherings, live bands,
- controlled substances, hot babes, or hot tubs. Other information
- available through GOP includes movie premieres, concerts, and
- bingo tournaments in Toronto. ("That's a bug - that'll be fixed
- when we ship.")
-
- GOP also integrates with the Newton's built-in address book so you
- can get in touch with all your party-going friends "in case you
- need to bum a ride or something."
-
-
- **Future Directions** -- Spaz notes the possibilities for GOP are
- daunting. "We're, like, working with partyMCI to get more
- information on the parties, like playlists for the bands and
- stuff, and whether there's anything to eat." Another future
- feature is something called AutoCab. "Like, when, you know, you've
- had a little too much of the good stuff, your Newton will call a
- cab for you and put your home address on the screen so, like, you
- don't goof up and get dropped off at your mother's or something.
- Our beta testers have had some problems with that." The feature
- won't be in the 1.0 release because the PCMCIA Breathalizer cards
- aren't expected to be on the market until third quarter of this
- year. "But when they're ready, we'll be there, man."
-
- "One mondo problem is that GPS is, like, only accurate to a few
- hundred feet sometimes," Spaz notes.. "When you're **really** out
- of it, man, those few hundred feet can make the difference between
- getting to a party or not! Uncool!" Spaz also notes other regional
- markets are prime candidates for GOP. "I mean, if I'm in New
- Orleans for Mardi Gras, right, this ain't gonna help. Personally,
- I don't travel much because of that, but, like, I can see how
- other people might want to go other places sometimes."
-
- Nonetheless, Grand 'Ol Party is a compelling product. "Apple
- expects Newton will go through the roof when we ship," says Spaz.
- "Like, it's hard to find a metalhead anymore that's not looking up
- a cool party, or beaming his party preferences to his friends." At
- an estimated retail price over $3,000 - including Newton,
- necessary accessories, and the GOP software - GOP is only for
- serious partiers. But Spaz predicts the product will catch on.
- "Car thefts are way up since we announced this man. All that
- money's gotta be going somewhere!"
-
- [We'd give you a URL, but all the details on Grand 'Ol Party can
- be found in Wired's cover story this month. What, you don't read
- Wired? -Geoff]
-
- Guzzlers, Inc. -- <dudes@partyon.com>
-
-
- Reviews/01-Apr-95
- -----------------
-
- * Soldier of Fortune -- 01-Apr-95, Vol. 56, #3
- Spaceward Ho! 4.0 -- pg. 23
- Galactic Conquest 3.2 -- pg. 24
- Marathon -- pg. 24
-
- * UTNE Reader -- 01-Apr-95, Vol. 5, #2
- Adult CD-ROMs -- pg. 322
- (too many to list)
-
- * Vogue -- 01-Apr-95, Vol 64, #4
- Mac Makeup -- pg. 277
- DietNow! -- pg. 82
-
- * Harpers -- 01-Apr-95, Vol. 22, #4
- Political Simulations -- pg. 35
- Sim Beavis and Butthead II 1.2
- Sim Bush
- Sim Jesse
- Sim Scandal
-
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