From - Wed Jan 14 17:10:44 1998 Return-Path: Received: from relay2.UU.NET by mrco.carleton.ca (4.1/SMI-4.0) id AA02058; Wed, 10 Feb 93 13:53:49 EST Received: from nyx.cs.du.edu by relay2.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA12740; Wed, 10 Feb 93 13:42:06 -0500 Received: by nyx.cs.du.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA01948; Wed, 10 Feb 93 11:31:26 MST From: ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu (andy) Message-Id: <9302101831.AA01948@nyx.cs.du.edu> X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University of Denver. The University has neither control over nor responsibility for the opinions or correct identity of users. Subject: FutureCulture Digest #225 To: future-digest@nyx.cs.du.edu Date: Wed, 10 Feb 93 11:31:25 MST X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Status: R X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 ______________________________________________________________________ |______________ / | | / | | u t u r e <___________ u l t u r e | _______________________________________________________________________| Issue #225 Wednesday, February 10th 1993 Today's Topics: --------------- <> Andy's irc trip Bubble Morph Cyberpunk Manifesto Fears cyberspace references Re: <> re: neuroscience or myth... Re: Somebody type something interesting (for a change) re: what's hot and what's not (fwd) - ICB? Re: your mail re:something interesting... __________________________________________________________________________ From: Evan Kirchhoff Subject: Re: Somebody type something interesting (for a change) Date: Wed, 10 Feb 93 2:19:26 CST various people write: > > > > > > > > > > Couldn't someone with the ability to do that learn how to PROGRAM THEIR VCR > > in the first place?!? (Sorry- personal vendetta against VCR Plus) > > Seriously though, doesn't it annoy anyone else that there is a $60 device to > > perform a function it should take 2 minutes to learn how to do? Before we can > > even THINK about a computer in every home jacked to the net, we have gotta > > destroy VCR Plus. Or at least the need for it. Are people really that afraid > > of machines? > > > As someone who bought a VCRPlus for a friend for Christmas, I feel qualified > to respond. > [stuff deleted] > > I consider the VCR plus to be a very successful attempt at simplifying a > user interface. If you want to program the VCR for a program that doesn't > have a VCR plus code, then you are still able to use your VCR's built in > ability. Perhaps it's best to think of VCR plus as a "macro language" for > your VCR. > > What does this have to do with FC? > > It must be kept in mind when thinking of futuretech as a consumer iten that > it's very application driven. People will buy something it does something > that they want to do, not just because a technology is sexy. The multimedia > revolution that everyone was predicting ten-twenty years ago is indeed now > happening, but not quite in the way most envisioned. CD-ROM techology isn't > being used as much as a great learning tool, as it is a format for home > video gaming technology; Sega's MegaCD is now the largest installed base of > CDROM users. This is not a bad thing; it gets people confortable with the > format, and prepares them for the next step, whatever it might be (3D0,CDI?). > > --hal > Well, I (longtime lurker, firsttime caller) have to agree with the "kill VCR-Plus" sentiment. I just bought a Sony VCR with this "feature" (last year's version of this model had manual sound recording-level controls; this year's has VCR plus instead; crappy trade, I think), and it really is a dumb idea. It takes longer to set up VCR plus in the first place (15 minutes of data entry) than you would spend in a year of actually programming the VCR (10 seconds a shot). To set up VCR plus, I had to actually look in the manual, to make sure I had the right thing in the right column; to program this VCR normally, you simply go to the screen and keep hitting the right _cursor key_ to accept all the current-time defaults, except for the ones you want to tweak with the up/down keys. Anyone who can't handle a modern on-screen-programming-for-complete-technophobes VCR is going to have to call service personnel to set up the VCR-plus feature. In the old days of teeny-button VCRs, I used to go around and try to start agruments by insisting that, as a precondition for being allowed to vote, all citizens should be given a VCR, a manual, and one entire year to figure out how to set the record-timer. Of course, now I'm older, and more fair-minded... :) -- Evan K. ______________________________ Date: Wed, 10 Feb 93 01:47:53 MST From: Juggler Subject: Bubble Morph If anyone on here hasn't read andy's bubble morph thing, you should. It's an awesome piece of writing. I dunno if it was just me or not, but I think he summed up a lot (I mean, a lot!) or things I have to say about future-culture and the other bubbles. It is a great piece of work. Great. My friends also agreed on this. Some haven't even been near Internet or anything similar, but the things he relates and the ideas he put out reflected our thoughts beautifully. Check it. -Juggler P.S. Thanx for that thing Andy. Really. --- Juggler IH23@utep.BITNET IH23%utep@utepvm.ep.utexas.edu Sysop of Three Ring Circus (915)564-0026 **Bill Gates is a big weenie.** Disclaimer: My school hates my opinion. ______________________________ Date: Wed, 10 Feb 93 20:29:44 +1100 From: Kenneth McKenzie Wark Cyberpunk ______________________________ From: subculture! McKenzie Wark A hip new lingo has infiltrated the mass media. 'Cyberspace', 'hypermedia' and 'virtual reality' have become the techno buzz words of the '90s. After years of indifference and suspicion, the idea that technology can be fun, exciting, and sexy has surfaced again. Two ideas in particular are now doing the rounds. One is that computers are not just for pencil-head types in lab coats and grey suited accountants. Technology can be a tool for the imagination, opening up new terrains of images, sounds, experiences and concepts. The second idea has less to do with computers than with communications. By linking up all of the computer power languishing on desks and in basements, whole new forms of interaction are possible Q a communications revolution to take us beyond the television age. _________________________________________________________________________ | | | That's all for today! | | To send a message to the list: future@nyx.cs.du.edu | | To subscribe/unsubscribe/change format: future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu | | All other requests: future-request@nyx.cs.du.edu | | List Maintainer is: (andy [aka hawkeye]) ahawks@nyx.cs.du.edu | |_________________________________________________________________________| | | | The opinions expressed in FutureCulture are those of the individual | | author only. | |_________________________________________________________________________|