Games For
The Millions - Electronic Arts is betting that
computer gamers will migrate to the Net and play games
with thousands of contestants. AS METCALF'S LAW STATES, A network's
power rises in proportion to the square of its size.
That logic explains the Web's overnight success. Might
it apply to computer games? A year ago Lawrence Probst, chief
executive of Electronic Arts, the Redwood City,
Calif.-based game maker, took this bigger-is-better
argument to Robert Pittman, the president of America
Online and a former member of EA's board. They set out
to assemble an on-line gaming network so big it would
outgrow any possible competitor...
Where
did we go?!? - At 9:38pm PST on Wednesday February
23, projectcoolmedia went off the net. 55 hours and 34
minutes later, we are back online and I'm composing this
message to you. It is Saturday morning, far too early to be
out of bed. You didn't see anything about this in the news.
We're not sexy enough. We don't have enough dollars and we
weren't hit by hackers. I did try to get some of the press
interested, but to no avail. So let me tell you what
happened, from my perspective...
Congress
urged not to allow Webcasting - Movie studio and
broadcast television company representatives urged a U.S.
House panel to avoid legislation that would let Internet
companies retransmit their TV programs over their Web sites.
Congress is considering whether Internet companies should be
able to ''Webcast'' TV programs on the Internet. Their
review comes on the heels of a high-profile legal battle
involving iCraveTV.com, a Canadian-based Web site that began
showing 17 Canadian and U.S. stations for free and now faces
a court challenge from U.S. sports leagues and TV stations
claiming the company violated their copyright. A court has
halted the service...
The
Smoking Gun Nails a Millionaire - Already, it's a landmark moment in TV history:
actor-turned-real estate developer Rick Rockwell marrying a
woman he'd never met – after eliminating 49 other
strangers – with 23 million people watching, slack-jawed.
The Fox special Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire? was
an amazingly successful spectacle – for a few days, until
the entire project came crashing down. After court documents
surfaced in the press indicating that Rockwell might have a
history of domestic violence (which he denied), Fox canceled
Multimillionaire last week. Which press outlet brought down
this TV juggernaut? A venerable daily like the New York
Times? A wily trade like Variety?"
