Silicon Snake Oil

Second Thoughts on the Information Highway

by Clifford Stoll

Doubleday, 1995

A division of Bantam, Doubleday, Dell Publishing Group, Inc.


"It's easy to spend hours reading the news from the network. With more and more newspapers and magazines coming online, you can burn up your mornings reading 'Newsweek,' 'The Atlantic Monthly,' and the 'New York Times.' But what kind of work lets you read magazines and newspapers on the job?

Come to think of it, I hardly know anyone who subscribes to popular newspapers and magazines at work--maybe doctors and dentists? Why the sudden demand for online news services?"

p. 92


"If you must keep abreast of the latest events at work, put a television on your work desk. Tune it to the Cable News Network. A TV is cheaper than a modem, easier to operate, and you'll get a wide bandwidth, channelized news, with an occaisonal commentary tossed in.

Of course, it's absurd to put a TV on your work desk. Yet the Internet, with its wide access to games, newsgroups, and chat lines, is considered desirable for the office. Go figure."

pp. 100-101


Read Chapter 13 of N. Negroponte's "Being Digital" or Brad De Long's comment in the discussion forum.


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