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That Wacky Netscape (10/25/99)
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Just because Thanksgiving's still a month away doesn't mean that we can't be in a grateful sort of mood. We're thankful for lots of things, actually-- candy-colored Macs, Tuesday night on the WB, and eight-pound catering packs of Tater Tots, to name a few. And of course we're thankful for Apple Computer and the mercurial Steve Jobs for always keeping things, er, interesting enough to pull in the viewers. But more than anything else, we're thankful that even when things are slow in the world of Apple, we've got a considerate and thoughtful viewer base who can entertain us in return. It's a sort of karmic Wheel of Fun, or something.
Case in point: faithful viewer Galen Rutledge, who pointed out a fun fact we'd yet to encounter on our own. Those of you for whom Netscape is your "browser of choice" can try this at home. You know that in recent Netscape browsers you can type a series of words into the URL field and Netscape will perform an Internet search on those words, right? So if, for example, you enter "cat hair salad" and press return, you get a Search Results page listing such sites as The Bad Kitty List, Part 1. It's kind of a neat time-saving feature, though getting Netscape to search that way using a different search engine is a bit tricky.
Anyway, Galen told us to try entering "more evil than satan himself" and seeing what happens. Heck, we're always up for a giggle or two, so we complied, and what do you suppose the very first listing was? Microsoft's homepage. Whether you find this surprising or merely obvious depends on your state of mind, we suppose. The more reasonable types among you will assume that this is merely a Netscapian joke, but the rest of us just figure that the Google search engine that Netscape uses is uncannily insightful. Just try entering "home planet, steve jobs" to see that Google is in on the big secret: Apple Computer isn't actually located in Cupertino, as some would have you believe-- it's a planet unto itself, from which the Mighty Steve hails. Shhh, don't tell anyone.
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 10/25/99 episode: October 25, 1999: Imatec keeps making with the press releases like they're going out of style. Meanwhile, former Mac cloner Mactell finally dies from injuries sustained in the Clone Wars-- or is it a Voodoo curse? And Netscape slapped either a sense of humor or an eerie omniscience into the Google search engine-- you decide...
Other scenes from that episode: 1866: He's Baaa-aaack... (10/25/99) Deep down, some part of you just knew it was coming: another "press release" from our buddy Hanoch Shalit. Hanoch, as you no doubt recall, is the brains behind Imatec, the company whose business plan appears to involve suing large companies for obscene amounts of money in hopes of generating an actual revenue stream in one of three ways: 1) a quick settlement, because big companies might not want to risk even the slightest chance of losing ridiculous sums of cash; 2) an actual courtroom win, which not only is slightly more likely than winning the lottery, but also has a much higher payoff; or 3) by driving up its own piddly stock price through the constant and unrelenting issuance of press releases to remind potential investors that, hey, they may not have a product, but they've got a doozy of a lawsuit... 1867: The Voodoo Curse (10/25/99) Just when you thought the Clone Wars were long forgotten, up pops another reminder of the bloody corporate carnage that ensued when Steve Jobs retook Apple's helm. At the time, Apple was in dire financial straits, and a mishandled and ill-conceived Mac OS licensing program wasn't helping matters any; instead of making a few hundred bucks by selling a Mac, Apple was making about fifty bucks when the same customer bought a faster, cheaper Mac clone instead...
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