Word: networked
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2000
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Gulfstream. Besuited and betied, Case is also clearly bewitched by a vision of a world where consumers are constantly connected to a web of entertainment and information. It's a world, he says, where cell phones, televisions, computers, cars, maybe even refrigerators, will all be tapped into a data network that makes it as easy to talk to Singapore as to call your next-door neighbor. And AOL Time Warner, he begins to explain, will be the company that makes all that happen. But now Levin has something to say, so he puts the pager aside and begins to tell...
...start-up called Control Video Corp., which was perfecting the "can't lose" idea of shilling TV-top boxes that would download and play video games over telephone lines. The idea bombed. But a bit of financial legerdemain turned the firm into Quantum Computer Services, which ran an online network for Commodore 64 computer users, and Case stuck around...
...flameouts, riveting in the same way a NASCAR wreck is--all wheels, fire and smoking rubble. His track record, after all, includes half a dozen spectacularly costly crashes. Among them: TV-Cable Week ($47 million), a TV-information service called Teletext ($30 million) and, most famous, the Full Service Network in Orlando, Fla. (in excess of $100 million). You don't screw up like that and survive if you're just a waxen flack. But Levin's legacy also includes a number of sharp, Net-speed pivots when his business has demanded them. He considered, for instance, selling Time Warner...
...couple of days after the merger, Levin flew down to AOL's offices on one of the Time Warner jets for a meeting and a Case-led tour of the firm's network operations center. As Case walked Levin through the NORAD-like setup, he couldn't resist a dig. "How many simultaneous users did we have last night?" he shouted to one techie. "One point five million," came the answer. Case: "Hey, that beats CNN." Wink. Case explained to Levin how--and why--AOL's networks are built to be faster than regular Internet service providers...
...more than a billion instant messages. Case argues that that's evidence of a whole new medium. Levin listens and suggests that it might be harnessed to support Time Warner products. An AOL techie points out that they can tell when popular programs come on TV by watching the network traffic fall as users log off. "You could use this to tell when it was time to kill a show," the techie suggests. "We can see when Friends' ratings are falling," he adds, referring to a Warner Bros.-produced show. "Not Friends," Levin corrects as Case listens in. "ER, maybe...