C|NET CENTRAL
TRANSCRIPT
- EPISODE 8 -

Original air date:  5/20/95


HOSTS:  RICHARD HART and GINA ST. JOHN

RICHARD:  Visit the operating room of the future, where the surgeon 
is a computer.

GINA:  And you have the ultimate power, you control the 
commercials on the Internet.

VOICEOVER:  It's really fun to do.

(MUSIC)

GINA:  Welcome to c|net central.  I'm Gina St. John.

RICHARD:  And I'm Richard Hart.  Also coming up on the show, your 
first peek at the new Mac clones.

GINA:  And a little bit later, John C. Dvorak shows us the latest in CD-
ROMs, including, Are You Afraid of the Dark? and one from “Saturday 
Night Live.”  So stay tuned.

(COMMERCIALS)

(MUSIC)

RICHARD:  We're starting out today with something which is really a 
major development in the online world.  Just a week ago, some of the 
top cable companies unveiled something which is going to change the 
way you and I access information electronically.  Now, right now, 
when we want to access the Internet or Prodigy or America Online 
from home, we need one of these.  This is a telephone modem.  And 
as many of us have found out, one of the frustrations with these is 
that even the fastest of them, the so-called 28.8 modems, can be 
painfully slow.

Here's something that could change all that.  Several companies, some 
of whose names you might recognize from the top of your cable box, 
and others from computer boxes, recently demonstrated new cable 
modems.  They work like normal modems except for two very big 
differences.  One, they use cable TV lines instead of phone lines.  
Cable lines have much greater bandwidth--the more bandwidth, the 
more information that can be passed back and forth.  And this 
bandwidth allows them to be faster.  More than 1,000 times faster 
than the fastest phone modem.  This means that all sorts of digital 
information beyond text will be pumped into your PC.  Stunning 
graphics.  Real-time audio and video.  Your PC may soon rival your 
television for high-quality entertainment and information.  

Now, the capability of faster modems to deliver high-resolution 
multimedia is a fact that's not lost on the advertisers looking for new 
ways to make their wares more attractive.  In fact, the Internet, 
particularly a part of it called the World Wide Web, has become a 
multimedia marketplace, and everyone involved is hoping to pull in 
some net profits.

(BACKGROUND NOISES)

RICHARD:  There's obviously nothing new about advertisers using 
video screens to send commercial messages into people's homes 
coast-to-coast.

(BACKGROUND NOISES)

RICHARD:  These TV commercials are classics, but these days, 
advertisers are using a new kind of video to spread the word.  It's all 
happening on the World Wide Web, and here's how it works.  You 
sign on to the Internet using what's called a browsing tool, such as 
Netscape.  It gives you different ways to move around, or "surf," 
between collections of information called Web sites.  Each site can 
include text, graphics, animations and sounds.  MCI's combines them 
all to let you snoop around in the headquarters of Grammercy Press, 
the fictional company in its TV commercials.  Click on an office 
window to see what and who is inside.  Here, Darlene's telephone lets 
you eavesdrop on a conversation.

VOICEOVER:  I love technology.

RICHARD:  Her computer screen reveals a confidential email warning 
that the boss is on his way back.  And when you've seen everything 
you want here, the hallway leads you to a floor plan of the entire 
place, and all the other offices you can explore.  The idea is this:  the 
more there is to do at a Web site, the more fun it is to visit, and the 
more visitors it will attract.  And that's making the World Wide Web 
one of the hottest commercial battlegrounds in recent memory.

VOICEOVER:  Digital technology is the future.

DAVID VERKLIN:  Oh, boy, it is seen as a great new opportunity.  I 
haven't seen this much excitement from our clients, our general 
advertising clients, about a new media--boy, I don't think since, even 
since cable television came out.

TOWNLEY PATON:  If there's 25 million people out there on that 
Internet today, we understand there will be as many as 200 million, 
with maybe 50 billion dollars’ worth of transactions taking place in a 
year, by the year 2000.

PETE SNELL:  The Web has become such a powerful communications 
medium, that we're using that medium to help our clients 
communicate with their customers, or prospective customers, and 
these are clients like MCI, NBC, Sony Pictures--companies like that.

RICHARD:  But just what are those companies doing once they get 
there?  Well, lots of things, including just what you'd expect--
advertising products.  But these are no ordinary ads.  This AT&T Web 
site includes a storybook filled with updated fairy tales extolling the 
virtues of AT&T offerings.  In this version of Pinocchio, for example, 
the ambitious young puppet is faxing his father instructions from an 
airplane for building a fire that will free him from captivity in a 
whale's belly.  NBC caters to loyal Jay Leno fans by offering a new 
joke every day from his “Tonight Show” routines.

(BACKGROUND NOISE)

RICHARD:  If you're interested in buying a Saturn, pick the exact 
model and features you want on your computer--and without a 
salesperson breathing down your neck.  Federal Express lets you 
trace a package online.  Travelling microbrewery lovers can enter the 
area code they're visiting to get a list of all the local suds.  And here's 
a site you can't see on TV at all, Stolichnaya Vodka.  Advertising 
spirits is strictly "nyet" on broadcast and cable television, but the 
Internet is still unregulated.  The ultimate goal at all these sites is to 
get you to pay a visit and then to stay a while.

DAVID VERKLIN:  For us to produce an infomercial, we can go out 
there, strategically buy media slots on one of only 150 channels at 
the most--and in general maybe 10 to 20--and we know that we'll 
reach 40 million people.  But on the Internet, every person has their 
own address, and instead of being able to get to them, you have to 
pick little places in the streams and rivers as these people flow by to 
say, "Hey, look at me."

RICHARD:  But there's more than one me in these picture.  
Advertisers are paying to get their names onto the most popular 
World Wide Web pages.  All that money is putting a premium on 
making Web pages as fun to visit as technically possible.

TOWNLEY PATON:  The ability to download full-motion video is 
limited right now on the Web.  Most advertisers have a problem 
really importing what I would consider to be classic television-like 
content.

RICHARD:  Silicon Graphics is in the process of releasing what could 
represent a quantum leap forward, a three-dimensional browser that 
lets you move through the Web as though it were the real world.  
And to view things you find from any angle.  3D browsing will make 
surfing the Net just like a trip to the mall, without the traffic or the 
parking hassles--but you don't need to wait to start enjoying the 
ride.

DAVID VERKLIN:  It's really fun.  The one part about the Web that I 
think has not been described enough is it's really fun to do.

RICHARD:  If you'd like to visit some of the sites we just showed you, 
they'll be listed in this week's edition of Digital Dispatch, c|net's free 
weekly electronic newsletter.  You say you're not getting Digital 
Dispatch?  Just send an email message to subscribe@cnet.com.  It's 
that easy.  Gina?

GINA:  Coming up next on c|net central...doctors who operate by 
remote control, and John C. Dvorak on the latest in CD-ROMs.

(BACKGROUND NOISE)

(COMMERCIALS)

RICHARD:  Digital technology in a hospital almost always means 
something in the X-ray room.  MRIs.  CAT scans.  That sort of thing.  
But Kate Kelly is here to tell us about a medical miracle in store for 
the operating room...

KATE:  Well, Richard, imagine a robotic doctor performing delicate 
surgery inside your heart, or surgical procedures being conducted in 
your home by doctors who are hundreds, even thousands, of miles 
away.  One day, we may be able to take a fantastic voyage within our 
own bodies through the wonders of microscopic cameras, robots and 
computers.

(MUSIC)

KATE:  Whether by providing critical data to the surgeon during an 
operation or in controlling new and unusual surgical instruments, the 
computer has taken the leading role in the development of the 
operating room of the future.

DR. WARREN GRUNDFEST:  Computers in medicine have had a very 
odd history.  On one hand, they're great at crunching numbers and 
doing statistical analysis, but for the operating room, for the 
procedure room, they have been--up until recently--almost non-
existent.  Then came along endoscopic imaging, and we began to need 
video and then we began to need all that data we were collecting 
from the head of the patient, and then we were beginning to need 
physiologic data, so somehow we had to put it all together.

KATE:  Putting it all together is what computers do best.  In a 
laparoscopic procedure, a surgeon uses fiber-optic technology to 
operate inside of a patient's abdomen through small incisions.  It's 
called minimally invasive surgery.  Combine that technology with a 
computer and you've stepped into the digital operating room. 

DR. WARREN GRUNDFEST:  This headset is really a one-of-a-kind.

KATE:  The personal surgical monitor, as it's called, gives the surgeon 
up-to-the-minute data on the patient throughout the operation.

DR. WARREN GRUNDFEST:  I can see a fantastic image in VGA 
computer screen resolution of what I'm doing inside the body.  Since 
it is computer-based, I can put in multiple images.  I can, in fact, 
have the inside of the abdomen and an X-ray image.  I have picture, 
and picture in real time.

KATE:  Although the headset is still a couple of years away from 
approval, similar devices like these 3D glasses are already being used 
by medical students.  Another exciting idea destined for the 
operating room of the future is called telepresent surgery.  Through 
this technology, doctors no longer have to be in the same room or 
even the same country as their patients.

DR. WARREN GRUNDFEST:  With the telepresent surgery system, what 
you have is the ability to bring all of that expertise of a city-hospital 
trained surgeon, a guy who's done this a thousand times or a woman 
who's done this a thousand times, and bring it into an environment 
where you don't have good access to those types of expertise.

KATE:  Dr. Ajit Shaw developed telepresent surgery at the Stanford 
Research Institute.  He says the key to this technology is something 
called force feedback.

DR. AJIT SHAW:  What you need to be able to have is force feedback; 
when you touch something soft, you want it to feel soft.  When you 
touch something hard, you want it to feel hard.  If your hand moves 
in a direction, you want to see the instrument moving in the same 
direction.

KATE:  What about these three cameras up here?

DR. AJIT SHAW:  Well, those cameras are actually very important.  
They're there to give the surgeon who's sitting at that console the 
ability to have the same sense that when he looks up from his 
operating field he should see what's around him in that environment.

KATE:  What's even more amazing is the computing power needed to 
make this system work.

DR. AJIT SHAW:  It turns out the bandwidth for information transfer 
is well within the capability of the Pentium processors and the 486 
systems that are available commercially, that you or I can go out to 
the store and buy today.  That's in fact what's managing what we're 
doing now.

KATE:  Telepresent surgery is headed to the battlefield for more 
testing.  Army doctors say the system could be easily transported to 
the front lines where it could one day save lives.  And there are 
many other exciting developments, like virtual surgery.

VOICEOVER:  I reach out and I grab a tool, I ask for the tool, I could 
say scalpel and a scalpel appears in my hand and I go and I make 
the incision. 

KATE:  Doctors see virtual surgery as an important teaching tool.  
And robots are headed for the operating room of the future.  One day 
tiny devices will travel through your body performing delicate 
procedures--all controlled by computers.

DR. WARREN GRUNDFEST:  Devices that can go in and potentially clean 
out arteries from the inside with no tether to the outside, that could 
pass though the intestinal tract, find the disease and remove it--
those are much further in the future.

KATE:  Biomedical engineers are quick to point out that the current 
health care revolution has affected the development of new 
technology.  Scientists are having to ask themselves not only can we 
do it, but can we afford it?  Richard.

RICHARD:  Thanks, Kate.  Affordable technology is also an issue for 
personal computer users.  Now, we all know for years and years 
there have been clones of IBM computers, resulting in lower prices 
and greater innovation for PC users, but they said it would never 
happen that Apple would allow someone to make a clone of the 
Macintosh.  Well, it's happening, folks.  The first one on the market is 
from a company called Power Computing.  What does it mean to the 
end users?  c|net labs put this one to the test.

(MUSIC)

RICHARD:  Power Computing Corporation, based in Milpitas, 
California, has just begun shipping the first Macintosh-compatible 
clones.  More clones are expected from Radius and DayStar, but 
they're likely to be more expensive and Power Computing is the first 
to ship.  Power Computing's initial three clones, the Power 80, 100 
and 110, are built on RISC PowerPC 601 chips.  They're comparable 
to the Apple Power Macintosh 7100 and 8100 desktop models.  Later 
this year, Power Computing plans to release clones based on the PCI 
bus and faster PowerPC chips.

(BACKGROUND NOISE)

RICHARD:  What makes the Power Computing clones better than true 
Apple Macs?  Well, to begin with, they're less expensive, up to 15%.  
Power Computing uses cheaper industry-standard hardware and you 
can customize your clone as you order.  And unlike Apple's machine, 
this one comes with a keyboard and mouse included.  The clones also 
come with a comprehensive software bundle that's worth more than 
$800.  Future systems will have additional software bundles 
available.

Well, what should you be wary of?  Power Computing is a start-up 
company.  If they go under, you're holding the bag with an 
unsupported computer.  If you need a lot of RAM, the Power 
Computing models offer 33% less RAM capacity than Apple's.  
They're larger than Apple's machines, too.  Something to consider if 
you place a lot of value on desktop space.  So, should you get a Mac 
clone from Power Computing?  If you're looking for a high-end 
graphics or video editing system, you may want to wait for the 
Radius and DayStar systems to be released.  If you want a custom-
built, powerful Mac with a slew of bundled software at a value price, 
get a Power Computing clone.  They come with a money-back 
guarantee, so if you don't like it, return it.  Currently, Power 
Computing clones are available only via mail order.  By the end of 
the year, expect to see  them in computer superstores.  We'll keep 
you posted as other Mac clones enter the market, and we'll put them 
through their paces in c|net labs.  Perhaps we'll even see a 
PowerBook clone.

(MUSIC)

RICHARD:  When that first PowerBook clone comes out, you can bet 
we'll put that to the test, too.  Gina?

GINA:  It's time for our multimedia review.  I'll tell you, we've got 
the man here that's going to tell you whether this CD-ROM is a 
winner or a waste of your money.  It's our own John C. Dvorak.

JOHN C. DVORAK:  We've got three this week, Gina.  The first one is 
Are You Afraid of the Dark?  A real winner.  If your kids like ghost 
stories and computer adventure games, they're going to love Are You 
Afraid of the Dark?, the tale of Orpheo's curse.  You meet up with 
your computer cohorts, Terry and her brother Alex, outside a 
haunted theater, you find your way inside, and that's when the real 
action begins.  As you explore the maze of catwalks and secret 
chambers and all kinds of weird characters, you encounter warnings 
and clues that you must piece together to get back safely.

(BACKGROUND NOISE)

JOHN:  Are You Afraid of the Dark? sells for $59.99 and it's available 
on both the Mac and the PC.  I say buy it, this Are You Afraid of the 
Dark? game is a real winner.  Gina, you would like this game.

GINA:  I would like this...you couldn't play it and I would like it?

JOHN:  No, I could play it, I just didn't finish it.

GINA:  But you liked it?

JOHN:  Yeah.  Yeah, it's a killer.

GINA:  He liked it.  I'm so surprised.

JOHN:  Well, you shouldn't be, because I don't like anything else we 
have.  This is the best of the best, supposedly, from the last 20 years 
of “Saturday Night Live.”  You pick and choose your way through the 
titles and see what you stumble upon.  Remember Swill?

(BACKGROUND NOISE)

JOHN:  The Coneheads are there, along with the Blues Brothers and 
Samurai Delicatessen.  It's even got my favorite, Toonces, the Driving 
Cat.  Saturday Night Live:  The First Twenty Years sells for $49.99 
and is available on the Mac and PC.  Gina, this is a skip it, unless 
you're a Saturday Night fan, or a fanatic, or somebody who worked 
on the staff.

GINA:  But I mean, if you're a hardcore Saturday Night Liver, you've 
got a "week in the life" booklet...

JOHN:  Yeah, right, look at this... what kind of a booklet is this?

GINA:  That's neat...

JOHN:  And you get a postcard.  I mean, for 50 bucks, come on...

GINA:  A t-shirt...

JOHN:  You could go out and have a good meal.  Skip it.  Our next 
product, which I believe is the worst thing we've looked at so far, is a 
great tool for high-tech sexual harassment.  It's PlanIt Paradise from 
Swimwear Illustrated, or at least they have something to do with it.  
You'd be better off asking your secretary to log your appointments.  
This calendar and program has more bells and whistles than bikinis.  
Well, almost.

(MUSIC)

JOHN:  There's trivia from Isaac Asimov.  Sappy motivators and "to 
do" reminders that are pretty lame.  If I drag this shark here to any 
day on the calendar, like this, it will remind me to feed my fish.  Boy, 
that's helpful.  PlanIt Paradise sells for $29.95 and is available on the 
PC.  Gina, this is another skip it.  Don't waste your money.  There are 
better calendaring programs and prettier pictures.

GINA:  I am impressed.  You actually left this in here.

JOHN:  You know, you can get some really good pictures for free on 
the Internet.

GINA:  How do you know that?

JOHN:  A friend told me.

GINA:  Right.  John's going to be back with us next week.  Thanks, a 
lot. 

JOHN:  Thank you.

RICHARD:  Thanks, John.  When c|net central returns, how you might 
put your family photos on the Internet, and Dave Ross takes on the 
online world.

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIALS)

RICHARD:  Anyone who has something to offer on the Internet's 
World Wide Web creates what's called a home page--that's the first 
thing you see when you go to that site, sort of a table of contents.  
Eventually, if you surf from home page to home page, you have to 
say to yourself, hey, I could do a better job than this.  Now, Prodigy, 
the commercial online service, is going to call your bluff.  Soon, 
Prodigy will provide its subscribers with new software that allows 
them to create their own home pages, two million of them with 
access to the Internet already.  This means they will now be able to 
show the rest of the world their grandkids, refrigerator art, maybe 
the photos of the family's last vacation.  Just think of it: people on the 
other side of the world will be able to point and click their way into 
your world.  Gina?

GINA:  You know, with those commercial online services like Prodigy 
and America Online, you get everything--Internet access, tons of 
information at your fingertips.  Well you know, Dave Ross has his 
own methods of getting information, and he gets the last word.

DAVE ROSS:

Well, by now a lot of you are learning how to use online services.  
And a few of you have probably noticed that more and more of them 
have an interesting characteristic:  they want your money!

Well, they haven't gotten mine yet, because I've learned the secret to 
saving money on the Internet.  The secret is what you do during the 
login process.  Now, I'm going to log on to an online service right now 
as a new user.  All right?  You watch what I do and then try it at 
home.

All right, first of all, name.

(TYPES)  David Ross.

Address...  Zip code...

(TYPES)

Now, password.  No peeking!

(SHIELDS KEYBOARD WITH ONE HAND)

Type password again.  All right.  Hair color, height, weight--all right, 
fine.

(TYPES)

Credit card number.  Credit card number?!!  Whoa, whoa, whoa!!

(HITS ESCAPE KEY WILDLY)

See, that was close.  Works every time, though.  I save piles of 
money.  

"But Dave," you ask, "How do you get your online gossip?  The latest 
news, horoscopes, high-resolution graphics?  How do you match wits 
with aliens?  How do you feel the pulse of cyber-America?"

Well, for all that, I use this.  (HOLDS UP COPY OF TABLOID 
NEWSPAPER)

This high-resolution, passive-matrix display handles both text and 
graphics.  It's completely portable, and if you hold it here and do this 
(PUTS PAPER IN FRONT OF COMPUTER AND MANIPULATES MOUSE) it 
looks like you're working.

I'm Dave Ross.  And I get the last word.

GINA:  I think that's how he got that email from Elvis.

RICHARD:  Yeah. Elvis is the only one who can reach him by email.  
Thanks, Dave.  That's all for c|net central this week.

GINA:  Thanks for tuning in and logging on!

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL)


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