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A L S O__T O D A Y Internet activism, Czech-style By Mark Schapiro The Communists are yesterday's target -- today, it's the phone company's Net-access rate hikes 21st Log Palm Pilot-assisted auto theft - - - - - - - - - - T A B L E__T A L K Love, sex and relationships via e-mail: Share your tales of romance and loss in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y Event Horizon's Web gamble By Patrizia DiLucchio Can a publisher of blue-chip science fiction for smart readers make it online? (12/07/98) IMAX mates with T. Rex By Michael Joseph Gross These dinosaurs are big and cool -- but they could use a better movie to star in (12/04/98) Spin sisters By Janelle Brown Why is PR the only high-tech field that women run? (12/03/98) The father of Mario and Zelda By Moira Muldoon Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto creates the world's most popular video games (12/02/98) Let's Get This Straight By Scott Rosenberg Block those pundits: AOL-Netscape isn't like an NBC of the Web -- and can't be (12/01/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST REVIEWS ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - -

CAR TALK | PAGE 1, 2 - - - - - - - - - - It was mostly Clarion's show at the Friday product launch, as well. The AutoPC's debut -- which occurred simultaneously at West Coast electronics emporiums in San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle -- was small and underpublicized, the softest of sells. That's a far cry from most Microsoft product launches, which typically involve enormous auditoriums, bleachers packed with sweat shirt-clad true believers and all the subtlety of a nominating convention. The San Francisco event took place at a Good Guys outlet, which -- though it isn't quite the Beverly Hills Bang and Olufsen -- has shed some of its street bazaar atmosphere thanks to a recent remodeling. Short speeches by Clarion, Microsoft and Good Guys executives took place around an AutoPC-outfitted sunflower-yellow Mercedes convertible that had been waxed to a warm glow. The Clarion executive introduced a video in which a chipper woman tooled around Anytown in her maroon sedan -- the Mercedes was apparently unavailable -- cooing to her AutoPC as if she were asking a preschooler how old he was. Public relations people, who outnumbered the journalists, looked on serenely while nibbling croissants and sipping juice. It was more prayer breakfast than product launch, and the AutoPC itself proved to be different as well -- the most un-Microsoft of Microsoft's numerous "platform" initiatives. Based on Windows CE, Microsoft's operating system for hand-helds and palm-sized devices, the AutoPC boasts an interface that works well on its small (256-by-64 pixels) color display. It doesn't make the mistake -- as many palm-sized devices, like Philips' Nino, do -- of trying to cram too many icons and menus into limited screen space. There's a simplicity to the AutoPC that's very different from the bloat we've come to expect from Microsoft. According to Microsoft, the AutoPC's original interface looked a lot like Windows 3.1, but usability testers rejected that as far too complicated to navigate while driving. Thankfully, Microsoft's designers listened -- or Clarion made them listen. A button on the console with the "flying pane" logo is the only overt reference to Windows as we know it. Pressing it brings up a list of eight standard functions, such as "radio" and "voice memo," some of which use icons similar to those found in the desktop version of Windows. You can use voice commands or a small, joystick-like device on the AutoPC's faceplate to move through the system. Navigation is logical, and customization options are numerous but not overwhelming. Despite the surprisingly smart interface, the AutoPC isn't quite cooked, especially for its hefty price tag. For instance, the wireless messaging capability wasn't operational for the launch, and the GPS function doesn't track your position continuously but instead relies on a CD-ROM of street maps. Still, the clean design of AutoPC shows Microsoft isn't fundamentally incapable of delivering a usable new interface. As the battle for market share among set-top boxes and dedicated Internet access devices heats up, that means the prospect of Windows Everywhere might not be the nightmare it sounds like. As for AutoPC's future, Clarion's device will be available nationwide around the middle of January, after a grander launch at the CES show. Microsoft employees may have to keep ponying up to keep AutoPC's sales figures respectable, though. After a busy holiday shopping weekend, the Good Guys in San Francisco hadn't moved a single unit. SALON | Dec. 8, 1998 Chip Brookshaw covers hand-held devices and other technologies for InfoWorld's Test Center. The AutoPC is worth more than his car.