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Web-only Exclusives November 30, 2000 From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead Bad news for the Philippines - and some others From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights? |
Tech News in BriefGOD@HEAVEN.ORG The Internet changes everything, but can it improve your relationship with the Supreme Being? It doesn't hurt to ask. At www.prayerwheel.com, users can send prayers to the deity of their choice over the Internet in a continuous and automated fashion. PrayerWheel founder Richard Cavitch says he started the website because there are already too many porn sites. "I figured maybe we should try to do something more wholesome," he says. Cavitch does not actually have God's e-mail address. The computer-generated supplications are routed in a loop around the world, in hopes that He is hacking. At $19.97 a year, the computerized service has only gained 20 customers since operations began in April, according to Wired News. CHECK, EVERYONE Chess champion Garry Kasparov, who split a pair of matches with IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer, has challenged the collective consciousness in an Internet chess game dubbed "Kasparov vs. the World." The game, which began June 21, pits grandmaster K against all comers who log on to Microsoft's MSN.com site and vote on their next move (a team of experts are on hand to give advice). Kasparov is not taking the competition lightly. "I don't think the world will decide to do something dramatic or something stupid," he says. History, however, suggests otherwise. E-SHOPPING UPDATE The number of people in Hong Kong who shop online has more than doubled from 50,000 to 110,000 during the past 12 months, but the overall amount spent electronically remains scant. According to a recent survey conducted by market research firm AC Nielsen, Hong Kongers now spend less than $10 million annually via the Net or other computer-based shopping services. America Online customers alone spent $1.2 billion during the 1998 Christmas season. Nevertheless, optimism about Asia's e-commerce prospects prevails. Mastercard International recently predicted that one third of all Asian households will have access to the Internet and more than half of them will shop online by 2001. |
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