Reviews

Technology

Ed Zuckerman, Ph.D.

WEB TV is a box that connects to your current television set (any size or brand) and a to a telephone line. You don't need a new or even a separate line, just a nearby wall jack and will only be making local calls. The hardware for Web TV costs between $100 and $300 and the connection to the internet service provider costs another $20 a month. The hardware (a television-top box, a keyboard - recommended- and a remote control) comes with a simple wire to your television and one to the phone. Trust me, anyone can connect this stuff and you don't even need cable TV to use it.

Several famous companies make versions of the hardware in two levels - WebTV Classic and WebTV Plus. Classic is the box only and offers e-mail and web-surfing. For $100 more you get a TV/cable tuner, a 1 gig hard-drive to store lots and lots of sites' addresses, mail, and whatever, and a port to connect a printer (very handy). Almost any Canon or HP printer will work and the most basic $50 color printer will do just fine for this purpose. A keyboard ($50 more) makes sending mail a lot easier and nestles nicely in you lap (no wires). I recommend the Plus version with keyboard and printer for about $300.

This hardware is called "interactive" because you can watch television programs while on the web (with the Plus model), read WebTV listings of what is next on television, and offers instant "crossover" links to materials about the television program you are watching. This is what is meant by the coming "convergence" of communication media. WebTV has some limitations. Because it is a closed system and controlled (by Bill Gates' Microsoft) you won't be able to add new or updated software from anyone else but WebTV. Your won't be able to see some of the movie-like parts of some sites because WebTV does not recognize the Java programming language. Also, WebTV has ads and it collects some information about your viewing habits to bundle and sell to advertisers.

Here are some uses for WebTV and the Œnet:

• You are watching a documentary on the exploration of space and the universe and want to know more. You can easily find more information on the space station currently under construction, view thousands of pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope, learn about the Mars Lander from last summer, buy a telescope, or wherever your interests take you.
• You see that there are several movies on your cable tonight and would appreciate some help in choosing which to watch. Wouldn't it be nice to read the reviews? Just go to the Internet Movie Database at www.imdb.com . If you want to see the worst movies you can get an annotated listing at www.razzies.com . Then there the movies you might like but have never heard of. You could ask the clerk at the rental store or you can try artificial intelligence at www.movielens.umn.edu/. You enter some movies you liked and some basic info and let the best brains at the University of Minnesota make suggestions.
• You see an author being interviewed and think you might like to read a book of hers. For many books, the first chapter or so may even be posted at the publisher's site. How's that for the net replacing stores? Perhaps you are unsure whether that book is worth your time and money. You can easily find the publisher's summary, reviews by reviewing services, and reviews by ordinary people who have read the book all at the Amazon.com site. Perhaps you would be interested in other books by this author or other books on the same subject; just search at Amazon.com. You can order the book online and receive it in two or three days by Priority Mail.

By the way, many people worry about the safety of sending their credit card information over the net. Almost all sites offer toll-free ordering numbers but let me ask you: how many incidents of credit care theft on the net have you heard of? Do you think this would not be front page news considering how fully bad news about the net is covered?

• The travelogue or documentary makes it look so wonderful you would like to visit. You can plan your trip on the web. A site like Fodor's (http://www.fodors.com/) has lots of information for planning your trip. If you want more, you can search with say HotBot (www.hotbot.com ) for others opinions and related sites. When you decide, you can book your tickets, car rental, and hotel rooms on the net easily at many sites:
  • http://expedia.msn.com/daily/home/default.hts (a giant site),
  • www.biztravel.com (tracks you frequent flyer miles as well as making reservations), and www.1travel.com (for cheap, last-minute flights).
• You were watching the news and they were talking about a disease and now you don't feel so well.
• Depending on what hurts you might try the very comprehensive www.thebody.com for AIDS information, www.allerdays.com (a drug company site) for allergies, the Breast Cancer Decision Guide (www.bcdg.org ), the Prostate Cancer Infolink (www.comed.com/Prostate), and www.diabetes.com for um, diabetes.
• You were wondering what psychological research has to say about something you saw on television. If you are and APA member and subscribe for about $125 a year, you can search all of the psychological literature, read the abstracts and, for some recent APA publications, even read the text of the articles online at apa.org.

WebTV might make a superb present for a stay-at-home, anxious but curious surfer, or even yourself.

Links as of 08/25/00