|
Typing In The Dark (1/4/00)
|
 
|
| | |
Like a dagger in our collective heart! That's what all those tips from faithful viewers felt like yesterday, as they dashed our hopes against the rocks of despair. Yes, friends, while we struggled to keep hope alive, message after message streamed into AtAT headquarters informing us that Pismo, the new PowerBook expected to be unveiled during Uncle Steve's keynote address on Wednesday, will not ship with a light-up keyboard after all. So says a wide range of correspondents, ranging from the everyday shmoe who heard it on the street to the friend of an until-just-recently PowerBook engineer.
Now, if we were going only by the feedback we receive, we could maybe have managed to stay somewhat optimistic on the light-up front; after all, we get some real doozies sent in sometimes. (If Steve really unveils a Pikachu edition iMac, we'll eat every hat in the house.) But our dreams of glowing keyboards died when our original reason for hope jumped ship; updated from the Expo, O'Grady's PowerPage now states that Pismo's "glow-in-the-dark" keyboard "may be a false rumor." Apparently someone at Apple replaced the translucent root-beer-colored keyboard in his PowerBook G3 with a white one taken out of an iBook, and that may have started the whole rumor. Well, that and wishful thinking from fashionable fans of glowing computers the world over.
Worse yet, the PowerPage is now downplaying the likelihood of nearly all of the really new and interesting features originally predicted; the two-button trackpad (which, personally, we wouldn't particularly care to see, but at least it'd be interesting) is now listed as "unlikely," and the super-keen new Harman Kardon sound system now may consist of little more than "better speakers." Wow. If the PowerPage was correct in saying that Pismo looks pretty much just like the current PowerBook, it's sounding less and less exciting. Oh, sure, it'll have substance (faster G3s, FireWire, AirPort, etc.)-- but it's the glitz that grabs the interest of the short attention spans like ours. One way or the other, we'll all know in just a few short hours.
| |
| |
 |
SceneLink (2014)
|  |
 |
|
And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
| | | |
|
| |
|
 | | The above scene was taken from the 1/4/00 episode: January 4, 2000: Pismo's light-up keyboard is nowhere to be seen, much to our eternal sorrow. Meanwhile, it's a slaughter on Wall Street, even as AAPL racks up another upgrade from Salomon Smith Barney, and what lies in store for computer fashion in 2000 and beyond?...
Other scenes from that episode: 2015: A River Runs Through It (1/4/00) Wow. Regular viewers of AtAT are well aware that we, your friendly producers, keep our money well away from the stock market-- but we do keep an eye on Wall Street, because it's a fun way to see how different companies are doing, relatively speaking... 2016: Sashay Down The Catwalk (1/4/00) The year 2000 is already four days old, but Salon Magazine's finally gotten around to issuing its predictions for the year ahead. (Thanks to faithful viewer Jim for giving us the heads-up.) Topping the list of expected changes ahead?...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
|
|
