Friday, March 24, 2000

The Cyber Scene in Seattle ~ by Larry Sivitz



Boom With A View: Seattle Blows Up the Dome--Sunday Morning, March 26, at 8:30a.m. 11:30 eastern

Drummers from across the globe are in town for the World Rhythm Festival,but the big boom this Sunday won't be coming from a conga, bongo, or bass drum. Kicking off parties all around the Sound, and the World Wide Web, the BIGGEST boom in Seattle history will take place at 8:30a.m. PDT as the walls of Seattle's Kingdome come tumbling down. Join the party and watch the Dome's implosion from high above like a bird, or from four Web-linked cameras located inside the Dome itself (yes, they will be destroyed).

It's Seattle's own brand of Shockwave at http://www.windowsmedia.com/preview/kingdome . Concrete flying through the air, smoke threatening to envelope you, tons of rubble collapsing before your very eyes -- and all from the cushy comfort of your mouse pad.

Or watch the Dome blow in 3-D. Microsoft has teamed up with Canadian company Isee3D.com to create a live 3-D Webcast. In order to see the multidimensional images, you'll need a pair of red- and blue-lensed 3-D glasses. The fun starts Sunday at 8 a.m. and includes a 3-D helicopter tour of the Dome before it's blasted. Head to the site right now and you can watch archived footage of buildings that have already been imploded.

Explode the champagne and ice the smoked Northwest salmon.

All over this city Sunday morning, people will gather around televisions, log onto the Net or wander outside to watch the destruction of what has long been regarded as the world's largest Chia-Pet.

Matt Trusdale, a manager at Seattle's Harbor Club, doubts there will be an inch of window unaccounted for on the club's 17th floor. The Harbor Club is catering two special events for the implosion -- one for members only; the other a private affair for 350 people. On the 15th floor, Harbor Club employees and their families will have their own brunch. At Ernst & Young, the accounting firm had to hold a lottery to limit its party to 200 people because the demand for their 32nd floor view was so high. For those low on cash and not lucky enough to work in a downtown high-rise, Seattle FM radio station STAR 101.5 will throw a bash on the Space Needle's observation level.

Some Seattle Web designers will find an explosive mix of work and play Sunday morning, along with a brand new view. Martini Design is a multimedia development firm located across the street from the Kingdome. To celebrate the big event, the firm has installed two cameras on the roof of its building and will offer a live stream of the implosion as well as an archived copy for viewing later. http://www.martinidesign.com/kingdome/home.htm  Seanet Corp. will offer a superb view of the implosion. Its camera will be located on the 68th floor of Seattle's tallest skyscraper, the Bank of America Tower (formerly Columbia Seafirst Tower), looking down to the top of the Dome.

Saltmine Creative and MPL2.COM Merge to Form Pacific Northwest's Largest Online Solutions Firm

Saltmine Creative and MPL2.COM, two of the largest Internet development firms in the Puget Sound area, are joining forces to form the Pacific Northwest's largest online solutions firm.With 475 employees, the new Saltmine far surpasses the size and service offering of other online solutions companies in the Northwest, and is already one of the most prominent online players in the United Kingdom.Saltmine will extend its leadership position with an impressive client list that includes Microsoft Corporation, BP Amoco, Amazon.com, Herman Miller, The PGA TOUR, Frank Russell Company, Nat West Bank, Nordstrom, Sears Hardware, Muzak and Columbia Sportswear.

Washington State's SPAM law has been ruled unconstitutional.

Last Friday, King County Superior Court Judge Palmer Robinson threw out a case filed by the Washington Attorney General's office against an Oregon man, Jason Heckel, who was accused of spamming Washington residents. In his ruling, Robinson held that the state's tough anti-spamming law violated the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. Robinson ruled that the law was "unduly restrictive and burdensome" because it would require Heckel to determine the state where each e-mail recipient resided. The ruling is already being criticized. The author of the book, Stopping SPAM, Alan Schwartz, observed,"Spam should not constitute interstate commerce, as no commercial transaction has occurred between the spammer and the recipient -- by definition!"

Bellevue Washington's ImageX.com, the leading b2b Internet market maker for printed business materials, is acquiring Creativepro.com, Inc., the vertical portal and software supplier for creative graphic arts and multimedia professionals. With the addition of Creativepro.com's functionality and market position, ImageX.com will offer Web-enabled automation of the entire graphic arts workflow, from concept to production.

Giving Billy Crystal a run for his money, the Pets.com Sock Puppet has been named the official host of this year's 72nd Academy Awards coverage on Seattle-based GO.com's Mr. Showbiz (www.mrshowbiz.go.com), and is currently appearing exclusively on the site. Frolicking alongside the comprehensive Oscar(TM) news and information on Mr. Showbiz, everyone's favorite pet continues his high-profile antics as he makes predictions, offers insight, and provides commentary on the entertainment industry's biggest event. The puppet comes to life on visitors' desktops, gesturing, joking and engaging his audience using Learning Agent(TM) technology from Learn2.com. "You will be hard-pressed to find a sock puppet who knows more about movies than me. I know about all the categories: Best Supporting Canine, Best Cinematography by a Turtle, Best Foreign Fish...and some others. Think of me as your guide dog to the Oscars!"