In the News
Created | Updated Jun 20, 2003
In case you missed the news coverage this week, h2g2 has made the big time, with coverage in the Independent, the
Guardian, and the Times. Our fearless media watcher
has managed to survive reading all three articles and reports back.
'It's not often that you invent something in fiction and then see it come to life,'
opens the article in Friday's Independent newspaper. The quote is, of course, from Douglas Adams, speaking at a press conference on Thursday. The article then goes on to say that the idea of a friendly guide is set to become reality. This is true. The Guide is already here, the handheld device from the story is now available using WAP (Wireless Applications Protocol) technology.
The Guardian however, has a more welcoming start to its article, 'Don't panic!' It also runs with the title 'Arthur Dent
makes mobile impact' You get the impression that the writer, John
Cassy, has actually read the books. Another point that the Guardian article brings up is the introduction of article tailoring for phones with global positioning systems in them.
Perhaps in a few years we will be able to stand outside a restaurant and find out what is currently good to eat, without having to bother reading through the menu. As the Guardian quotes Douglas Adams:
'The standard restaurant guide can tell you which is the best
restaurant in Paris but this will be able to tell you which waitress is in a mood today and how to avoid her.'
Global positioning is already used by vehicles to avoid traffic jams, so maybe the Guide will allow 'Hikers to avoid queues? We can also imagine future Guide users taking short cuts across cities, or knowing which cab companies are likely to get you to your destination the quickest, with the least wait to be picked up.
The article in the Times on Friday, although smaller, held
more financial information (as you would expect from the Times). It reports that:
'The Digital Village' secured initially £400,000
of funding from private investors and went on to raise about £2
million this year from Intel, Durlacher, the internet investment
group, and Arts Alliance, the venture capitalists.'
So Intel are investing in the Guide? What are they planning I wonder? And why, with two million quid to spend, can't we get the servers revved up a bit?
All three newspapers that ran articles on Friday used examples of
the current range of Guide entries. The Independent described
the range as:
'from what you can find in Hobart, Tasmania, to what happens if you hit Marmite with a spoon.'
The Times said that the Guide:
'covers everything from Marmite to Driving Etiquette in China.'
The Guardian chose:
Irritable Bowel Syndrome to Latex Clothing.'
What this says about the average Guardian reader is beyond me. Perhaps they just don't like Marmite.
