Some of us still call them iceboxes. But that is way, way out of step with the arrival of the Internet Refrigerator from South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. (www.lgappliances.com).
At $7,999 this offering for the overserved boasts an ice dispenser on one door and a 15-inch computer screen on the other. The monitor plays either cable television or computer displays.
The Windows-powered refrigerator includes 128 megabytes of RAM and a 20 gigabyte hard drive with Ethernet ports to go online.
The master plan is that the Web-browsing icebox will serve as the hub of a home-appliance network, allowing folks to control microwaves, air conditioners and even home laundry machines.
Text and commands can be input with an on-screen keyboard or by tapping the door with a stylus. A built-in video camera lets family members leave short video clips instead of notes attached with magnets.
That’s right, this refrigerator watches you.
ENCARTA DVD
Reference library a hot learning tool
Microsoft Corp.’s most powerful version of its Encarta Reference Library 2003 ($75) is burned onto a 4.7 gigabyte DVD and promises to blow the socks off of middle school and high school students with some seriously educational game-quality graphics.
Also stuffed on the disc are a number of learning tools, including a language translator that handles English to German, French and Spanish.
Also new are scores of all-nighter “literary guides” to major books from James Steinbeck’s to Harry Potter.
But most riveting are virtual reality tours that offer fly-bys of many of the wonders of the ancient world, such as the Roman Coliseum, where the software sweeps over the parapets and into the arena with such realism that one almost can smell the lions’ breath.
UNIX JOY
Language facts are unraveled for Macs
Unbeknownst to most owners of the 2 million Macintosh computers running the new OS X operating system is that those machines are based on the powerful Unix language.
This means that you can take a Web-connected Mac, call up a text window called the console and enjoy the full power of a university’s Unix workstation.
There’s hardly a word about this in the manuals that come from Apple, but that lack of information gets fixed very nicely by a new book from O’Reilly & Associates Inc., “Unix for Mac OS X” by Dave Taylor and Jerry Peek ($19.95, 139 pages).
New Mac owners will relish the huge powers that Unix brings to tasks like moving and changing files, using the Internet at ultrahigh speed with text-only screens and other Unix goodies.
