Business World

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Aug 11, 1999

E-books for high-fliers

CHICAGO (AP) -- First and business class passengers here get to try what British Airways calls its new e-books, a four-megabyte electronic device that can be used to download daily newspapers, financial information and books. Twenty e-books will be available for viewing during August in the airline's lounges at O'Hare International Airport. Passengers eventually should be able to call ahead to request what they would like downloaded into an e-book, and pick it up when they board the plane.

"We want our passengers to enjoy a `virtual library' of emerging authors and classic titles, plus magazines and newspapers to help make their time in flight more enjoyable and productive," said Dan Brewin, executive vice president, sales and marketing USA. The airline said no decision had been made on whether the e-books would be made available to coach class passengers.

Profiles in porkage

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- For all of the encyclopedic tomes ever written on critical issues confronting mankind, never before has there been an in-depth examination of that pillar of American culture, luncheon meat. Until now. Author, philosopher and woman- about-town Carolyn Wyman has produced the definitive treatise on the subject, SPAM: A Biography. Wyman says the tribute to the pink, gelatinous brick-in-a-can is long overdue.

"This is a work of serious Spam scholarship," said Wyman, a graduate of Brown University. "By my nature, my training, my education, I'm into looking at every aspect. I examine Spam in a very comprehensive way, and I think I really have a handle on my subject matter."

The "miracle meat" Spam pervades popular world culture. For example, did you know people on the U.S. territory of Guam eat more Spam than any other people on the planet, mostly because Guam suffers frequent typhoons that leave residents without power for weeks?

Spam has played roles in TV shows from M*A*S*H to Mad About You and in the movies Empire of the Sun, Grumpy Old Men and Blankman. In a 1987 airing of his late NBC show, David Letterman introduced Spam- on-a-rope, a product for people "who are really on the go and who like to eat in the shower." Then there is the British comedy troupe Monty Python, who immortalized Spam in a skit set in a cafe that served a heavily Spam-influenced menu.

Unwanted, pointless and repetitive advertising and e-mail on the Internet is referred to as "Spam." Sending such dreck is known as "spamming." The term is thought to have been inspired by the Monty Python "Spam" sketch.

Bruce wins out

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bruce Willis' The Sixth Sense won the fright- film fight, beating out The Blair Witch Project to top the weekend box office with a shocking $26.7 million. Low-budget horror hit The Blair Witch Project stayed in second place with $24.3 million. Last week's top movie, the Julia Roberts-Richard Gere comedy Runaway Bride, fell to third with $20.8 million. The Thomas Crown Affair, a Pierce Brosnan-Rene Russo remake of the Steve McQueen-Faye Dunaway crime caper, opened at No. 4 with $14.6 million. The superhero comic- book spoof Mystery Men premiered in sixth place with $10 million.

Coming soon

BOSTON (NYT) -- For all you video collectors out there, here's Hollywood's release date schedule through September: Tuesday: Analyze This (DVD), EDtv, The Duchess of Duke Street, Wishmaster 2, Keeping Up Appearances, 200 Cigarettes. Aug. 24: The Dreamlife of Angels, Sense and Sensibility (DVD), Go, Chameleon. Aug. 31: Cleopatra, Titanic (DVD). Sept. 7: The Other Sister, Twin Dragons, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. Sept.14: The Prince of Egypt (DVD), God Said Ha!, Children of Heaven. Sept. 21: My Favorite Martian, Lulu on the Bridge. Sept. 28: The Mummy.

Fractured English lesson

BOSTON (NYT) -- Here's a description seen on one manufacturer's bras in Japan: "These Underwears Fit Like a Globe."

E-bookings are up

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. (AP) -- Frequent visitors to the Internet are using travel agents less and online booking more, a marketing firms says. Tracking a group of 5,300 people who agreed to act as a representative sample of Web users, NPD Online Research found that nearly one-third of those visiting travel-related sites have made online reservations. Online airline bookings in 1999 were up to 31 percent, compared to 21 percent in 1998, NPD said. Hotel bookings were 28 percent this year, compared to 21 percent last year, and auto rentals were 28 percent, up from 19 percent in 1998.

Internet voyagers still were cautious, however, with 56 percent reporting they finalized their travel plans with a real live agent after initial explorations on the Web. Credit card and pricing concerns topped their list of reasons for backing away from making Web reservations, although the need for human contact and reassurance of accuracy weren't far behind.

Marketing to the rescue

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A major advertising campaign is being designed to help encourage participation in Census 2000, the program's director said Tuesday. The projected $166 million campaign will target the millions of people the agency historically has trouble counting, such as blacks, Hispanics and immigrants, Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt said. Half the money will be used for ads in Spanish and other foreign languages.