WELCOME BACK TO MISC., the column that asks the question global economists have as yet refused to address: How will the Korean fiscal crisis affect the continued production of Simpsons and King of the Hill episodes?
WHEN’S ORGANIC NOT?: The health-food business (and don’t be fooled; it really is a business) doesn’t want the Feds deciding what is or isn’t an acceptable nutritional supplement or health remedy. But it does want the Feds to define what is or isn’t an “organic” food. Some within the biz want stricter rules on the “organic” name than the government’s latest proposed guidelines recommend, particularly regarding the use of pesticides on crops. If you wanna learn more, the folks at Central Co-Op will be glad to bend your ear.
WHEELIN’ N’ DEALIN’: Call me retro, call me picky, but I know I’m not the only one to believe there hasn’t been anything really good in U.S. automotive design since the fall of American Motors. From the awkward K-Car, to the once-innovative but now-tiresome Taurus teardrop, to today’s bland minivans and macho-gross sport utilities, mediocrity rules showrooms across the land. The new VW Beetle represents a small forward step, though it doesn’t look enough like the old Beetle and costs too much. Things are a little brighter overseas, especially in Japan. Nissan’s got a number of way-rad cars it sells only in Asia (including a slug-shaped miniwagon called the “S-Cargo”), while continuing to saddle its U.S. division with the same poor-selling Altimas.
Now I have a new object of desire. The Smart car, made by the unlikely joint venture of Mercedes and Swatch, was supposed to hit Euro streets this month (production-startup problems have now held back the launch ’til fall). Think of it as a scooter with a roof. It seats two people snugly inside its eight-foot-long plastic body (surrounding a steel safety cage). It looks like the perfect super-fuel-efficient tool for urban errands, leisurely country drives, or any other transport use that doesn’t involve mucho cargo or wintertime pass-climbing. Naturally, there are no plans to bring the Smart to North America. They don’t think enough people here would want a human-scale vehicle to be worth developing a U.S.-street-legal version and setting up dealers to sell and service it. Sadly, they may be right.
NETTING: Nearly two years ago, I told you to look forward to a new, high-speed Internet connection called ADSL (asymmetrical digital subscriber line). Now at last, US West promises ADSL hookups in Seattle no later than June. It’ll cost $200 to start up such a connection, plus another $300 or so for the special all-digital modem US West will sell you. From there, you’ll pay $60 a month ($40 if you use a separate Internet service provider). For that, you get 256kbps, five times the speed of the best current analog-modem connections. (Even faster rates, up to 7 mbps, will be offered at higher prices.) You might not receive complex web pages all that faster–much of today’s “World Wide Wait” is due to heavy demand on the Internet’s transmission infrastructure, not to the home connection. But it’ll be a boon to Net-based multiplayer games, and it could make streaming video practical at last (opening another potential explosion of many-to-many communication, as mentioned here last week). And you’ll be able to talk on the phone and use the Net at the same time, without an extra line.
A couple caveats: The high speeds only come to, not from, you; it’ll still cost more to become your own Net server. And it’s all promised by a company whose on-time performance record has left more than a little to be desired.
SIGN OF THE WEEK (ad card on the front of a Seattle Times vending machine): “Out of the Box News.” That’s dangerously close to KIRO-TV’s 1993 slogan, “News Outside the Box.” The station’s only starting to recover from that debacle.
