Geek Mystique

August 1996 / Bits / Geek Mystique

Watch your notebook; it's become a popular target for thieves. According to Safeware Insurance (Columbus, OH), which specializes in computers, approximately 208,000 notebooks sold in the U.S. were reported stolen last year. That's about a 40 percent increase over 1994. One trick that we've heard about: A thief will get between a victim and his or her notebook at an airport security check-in and then stall at the metal-detector gate. Meanwhile, the criminal's partner steals the notebook as it comes off the conveyor belt.
First came product placement shots, in which vendors paid big bucks to Hollywood producers in exchange for prominent visibility in a movie. Then came movie tie-ins, where a feature film release coincided with the release of new CD-ROM titles or high-tech toys. Now it has come to th is: Barbie does CAD. This fall, Mattel Media will release an interactive CD-ROM program that lets budding clothes designers create their own ensembles for Barbie, the venerable 12-inch-high fashion doll. The title will include enough fabric that you can feed through a laser or ink-jet printer to create 10 outfits. Cut out the pattern and, voilà, you have a new outfit. The Barbie Fashion Designer ($35) will have built-in bad-fashion prevention. If your design suffers from bad color coordination, the program rejects it.

Go to next article: Vendors Eye Internet Telephony Standard

Matthew Wilson
My approach to software engineering is far more pragmatic than it is theoretical--and no language better exemplifies this than C++.

more...

BYTE Digest editors every month analyze and evaluate the best articles from Information Week, EE Times, Dr. Dobb's Journal, Network Computing, Sys Admin, and dozens of other CMP publications—bringing you critical news and information about wireless communication, computer security, software development, embedded systems, and more!

Find out more

BYTE CD-ROM

NOW, on one CD-ROM, you can instantly access more than 8 years of BYTE.

The Best of BYTE
Volume 1: Programming Languages

In this issue of Best of BYTE, we bring together some of the leading programming language designers and implementors...

Copyright © 2005 CMP Media LLC, Privacy Policy, Your California Privacy rights, Terms of Service
Site comments: webmaster@byte.com
SDMG Web Sites: BYTE.com, C/C++ Users Journal, Dr. Dobb's Journal, MSDN Magazine, New Architect, SD Expo, SD Magazine, Sys Admin, The Perl Journal, UnixReview.com, Windows Developer Network