Giving New Meaning to 'Designer' Shoes

Newsweek, July, 2000 by Jennifer Tanaka, Michael E. Ryan, N'Gai Croal and Erika Check

Look down at your sneakers. think you could do better? Test your style I.Q. at Customatix.com, which lets you design your running shoe or hiking boot starting from an all-white slate or a prefab model. The company says that users are customizing all 15 zones of their shoes, from midsole to eyelet color to logo. If they turn out ugly, you know who's to blame.

GAMES Devilish Fun Diablo is back and he's not a happy camper. The hulking, ill-tempered title-demon from the best PC game of 1997 returned last week in the long-awaited sequel, Diablo II ($50, Blizzard, 800-953-7669). It's challenging, exciting and horribly addictive. This three-CD dungeon romp features the hack-and-slash action and spooky atmosphere of the original, which sold 2 million-plus. You control a heroic...