TIME EUROPE
November 6, 2000 VOL. 156 NO. 17
Tech Watch
INTERACTIVE FILMS
Who Needs Hollywood?
Maybe you think you're funny. Or maybe you're an armchair critic who knows how every movie's ending should be rewritten. Now you can prove it, thanks to the Interactive Motion Picture Corporation. Just about every feature at the company's new IMPzone.com invites audience participation. The site features short video clips spotlighting silly humor, from dumb jokes to spoofs of space movies and the nightly news. If their IMP Joke Cards, which feature everyday Joes and Janes offering their comedic best, leave you chuckle-free, submit your own; they will film the ones that make them laugh. Fans of IMPzone's Norman's Knowledge can suggest London landmarks for the bowler-hatted know-it-all to visit and expound upon. And anyone with questions about "science und nature" can send them to Professor IMPlausible, who will answer them in his fake German accent while torturing his hapless assistant Morton. The interactivity takes a dramatic turn at IMPzone's sister site, itsyourmovie.com, where viewers vote on everything from casting to plot. Screening through mid-December is Get A Life, Harry, a "bizarre, off-the-wall comedy" with installments featuring, among other things, a talking goldfish and a woman seeking purpose through country line dancing. The cast doesn't film each episode until the audience has had its say. So if you don't like the way the story goes, don't complain. Just point and click.
SITE SEEING
Stop in the Name of the Law.com
Crime may pay, after all — thanks to the Web. At www.theburglar.com thieves can anonymously negotiate a price to return stolen goods to owners. Claiming to be "Your link to the underworld," victims and insurers can post details of stolen goods; the "finder" can then search for the item and negotiate a "reward" directly with the victim. The site claims this is lawful.
Calling all kids! Here's a fun way to get rid of all those boring old toys, books, CDs and videos and replace them with new Betty Spaghetty dolls and joke books. U.K.-based SwapitShop (www. swapitshop.co.uk), launched two weeks ago, lets registered users (with parental permission) describe their treasures and price them with a starting and top value in Swapits, the site's virtual currency. If a user offers the top price, the item is theirs; otherwise it goes to the highest bidder after seven days. Items are transferred via SwapitShop.
WHAT'S NEXT
Mobile Muezzins: Call to Prayer
Muslims are traditionally summoned to prayer by the voice of a muezzin from a mosque's minaret — a method that is often impractical in big cities. Now U.K. Muslims can receive free text prayer alerts on their cell phones: it's just one of the services available from family-run PatelsCornerShop.com. The messages are currently sent out by e-muezzins who log onto the site at the requisite times, but eventually the calls will be made by local mosques.
E-mail Addresses: Street Smart
British start-up Streetnames.com plans to offer e-mail addresses that people can actually remember — by including the user's physical address. For around $45 a year the anonymous sf1314@unknow-nisp.com could be changed to sue@dulwichroad.com using the postal address, street or town where you live. For a more memorable tag you can choose from thousands of locations across the U.K. Businesses can remind customers of their locations while social climbers could just virtually move up market — @buckinghampalace.com anyone? No need to e-mail sherlock@bakerstreet.com to work out who the message is from.
Picture Phones: Say Cheese
Make your friends instantly jealous — or bored — with your vacation snaps while you give them a call on your mobile phone. This month Japanese communications firm J-Phone will release the first mobile phone with a built-in digital camera. The J-SH04 allows users to transmit color photos to other mobiles as e-mail attachments. Images can also be instantly printed using a Sharp color mobile printer. The phone's screen is able to display stored images and even show the picture of a friend when they call you. Your boss could soon ask you to prove it the next time you say you're in your sickbed.
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