| Show V if 2F Sunday December a ' IT if r i Business d 2000 Standard-Examin- PERSOM TECHNOLOGY OL and Gateway introduce wm By WALTER S MOSSBERG The Wall Street Journal The race is on to create a counter-to- p appliance Three giant companies - America Online Gateway and 3Com - are introducing simple new devices that can surf the Web and send and Like earlier enreceive tries from Netphance Compaq and Microsoft these new machines are aimed at people who either don’t have a PC or who want to complement then PC with a simpler Internet-acces- s This week I’ll take a look at thejomt entry from AOL and Gateway called the Gateway Connected Touch Pad Next week I’ll review 3Com’s contribution a device simply named Audrey As the PC itself becomes a boring commodity product these and other appliances are the new frontier for the computer industry The S599 Touch Pad is a small silvery unit with a wireless keyboard and a color flat-pan- el touch screen It can sit upright on a counter or table or it can be mounted under a cabinet so the screen hangs down The device goes on sale Friday via AOL (keyword: Instant AOL) on the Web (wwwOatewaycom) by phone and in Gateway stores I tested the Touch Pad over a couple of days and generally liked it It has a few rough edges but I can see it filling a real need for people who want to be online but lack a PC or who want a sort termiand of nal in the kitchen or family room The latter use is especially attractive if the unit is hooked up to a broadband Internet connection either directly or via a home network with a PC Gateway has designed the Touch Pad to work on such a network but I couldn’t test this feature on my preproduction unit By far the most important thing about the Touch Pad is that it's an AOL device The minute you turn it on you’re in AOL and part of the largest community m the online world with 25 million members The device uses a customized version of the AOL software called Instant AOL which has a simplified interface and opening screen But the service is reassuringly familiar starting with the usual Welcome screen and the trademark You’ve Got Mail audio greeting Nearly all of the important AOL features are available including instant messages chat rooms parental controls and the content channels The AOL service for the Touch Pad costs the same as on a PC - $21 95 a month - and you get seven screen names But if you are already an AOL member you can use your existing account on a Touch Pad at no additional cost as long as you don’t try to log on simultaneously from the PC and Touch Pad As with AOL on a PC you’re not limited to usmg the proprietary features of the giant service You can call up Web pages from all over the Internet or even use offered by the Web-basAOL competitors such as Ya- ed Ginsburg also known as “Mr Food” works on an episode for his television 1 program which appears on KSL’s noon news each weekday The program is earned by 63 TV stations and Fla Ft offices at in Lauderdale taped contender Net-applian-ce hoo! and Microsoft Every Web page I tried came up successfully albeit somewhat slowly on the dial-u- p connection I was using The Touch Pad will play audio and video clips in the RealNetworks format the Web’s most popular And it can display pictures sent as Compared with its closest competitor the CompaqMicro-sof- t device the Gateway AOL offering has some pros and cons Unlike the Compaq it won’t display Microsoft Word and Excel attachdocuments as ments And unlike Microsoft AOL isn’t offering a rebate that cuts the price But the Compaq doesn’t allow you to use an existing online account free of charge the way the AOLGateway offering does And it doesn’t allow offline or you to compose have multiple users as the AOL box does So what are the rough edges on the Touch Pad? Well you won’t be able to print anything from it until early January when close the essentials list because it blocked a big portion of Web pages I was viewing Also on many Web pages the links and buttons were too small to be precisely activated by touching the screen with a finger and the stylus provided by Gateway was so short that it was a pain to use I finally resorted to usmg a wooden letter opener about twice as long as the stylus I also tried uspointing mg the device built into the keyboard but I found it hard to aun AOL expects to automatically upgrade every box so it can work with a wide range of Hewlett-Packard printers Also it won’t play MP3 music files The system lacks features available from AOL on a PC such as a filing cabmet for storing and sorting mail and a spelling checker Some other features of AOL don’t work on the Touch Pad For instance while you tan view photos you can’t download or save them Also the new simpler interface of Instant AOL is only partly successful The idea was to replace multiple windows with large tabs identifying major features of the service list of vanous plus a drop-dow- n “essentials” such as your address book buddy list favorites and a note pad To activate these features you can just touch the screen with a finger or a stylus or hit a row of dedicated keys identified by colorful labels at the top of the keyboard But I found the tabs a little confusing and I kept having to mouse-substitu- te Despite all this the Gateway AOL Touch Pad is a good first effort which I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend However I’d consider waiting a few months until all the glitches are worked out and all the features are working well The Wall Street Journal runs a weekly technology column You can reach the column writers and find past columns at http ptech wsj com IN FRONT OF THE CAMERAS: Art is Food now a living brand name finds ‘quick and easy’ success Mr South Flonaa Sun Sentinel colas and condensed to frozen vegetables From creamy desserts Americans love brands They trust Coke and Carnation Bird's Eye and Borden Most consumers think of brands as products not people But Art Ginsburg known to millions of TV viewers as Mr Food has become a brand in his own right Call him the culmary version of Martha Stewart He appears weekdays as part of KSL Channel 5 news Ginsburg 69 is instantly recognizable thanks to his gray beard bulbous nose and signature chefs hat And that recognition has helped him create a Fort 1 auderdale Fla culinary complex where he tests recipes videotapes vignettes seen by 10 million people a day on 163 television stations and sells an assortment of cookbooks and other merchandise His company Ginsburg Enterprises Inc is privately held and he won t disclose his net worth or the firm's revenues Yearly growth exceeds 10 percent he will say and cookbook sales have surpassed $25 million "Let s just say I'm comfortable" Ginsburg said with a soft smile His offices which recently expanded to handle new products and projects serve as a think tank and home base for a TV chef who constantly travels across America promoting himself and those with whom he has marketing agreements People who follow his recipes get what he describes as a meal they can put in 30 minutes or less often using processed food as part of the recipe ’ Quick and easy" is one reason for his success That s because consumers need to know the key benefits of what someone does(and what they represent as a symbol or icon said Robbie orhaus chief executive officer of Vorhaus & d Co a New Y public relations firm ’ Martha Stewart for example is every woman's homemaker If you see Martha Stewart you don't think of space travel Y ou don't think of sex” Vorhaus said Experts say the most successful people-brand- s are those whose first name or nickname brings instant recognition quick-and-eaer ork-base- “Ait is likable and sincere and he’s a walking logo In his own right he’s a He’s an everyday gay -t- he common man’s and ” - Stu Stringfellow of KlngWorid which diistributes the “Mr Food” show Among them: Martha Bette Oprah Regis and Mr Food Such branding they say gives their ventures tremendous clout and generates consumer loyalty Getting recognized was Gins-burgfirst step in establishing a mmiempire that employs 20 people a few of them relatives A Troy NY native and son of a butcher he started out cutting meat at the age of 14 At 225 pounds he played football in high school attended college for a while then joined the Navy When he came home he met his future wife Ethel a classical piano player She works in the business A onetime actor and later a caterer Ginsburg developed his Mr Food persona during segments on an Albany N Y television station He then his program to eight other stations Ginsburg knew from the start that he needed a way to become unique Appearing as an amateur actor in the musical “Gypsy” inspired him “There's a song in the show "You Gotta Have a Gimmick” I knew I had to have one to succeed - to have people recognize me” he said Yes there was the beard the nose and the hat but there was something more an identical ending to each minishow -“Ooh it's so good'” The expression is registered with the U S Patent & Trademark Office So is ’s “Mr Food” Even as new business ventures come along and a few fade the TV segments remain the heart and soul of the Mr Food empire Ginsburg has been syndicated for 17 years by KingWorld Pro te rr w - ' ’ y ty j 1 marketing phenomenon common woman’s chef ductions which also distributes “Wheel of Fortune” "Jeopardy” and “Oprah” The syndication brings in anywhere from $5000 to $ 30000 per station each year depending on the size of the market “Art is likable and sincere and he’s a walking logo” said Stu Stringfellow KingWorld’s president of domestic sales “In his own right he’s a marketing phenomenon He's an everyday guy - the common man's and common woman’s chef” Mr Food uses gimmicks but his staying power comes from his ability to generate trust and his consistent approach to cooking and communicating his goals to the audience “A gimmick gets you noticed but it doesn’t breed loyalty The heart of a strong brand is an idea” said Maria Z Nunes of St Aubyn a New York City branding agency “If you put that idea in words and it locks in someone’s mind that is what the person stands for” The TV vignettes have led to 28 cookbooks the first of which Ginsburg published himself in 1986 and which sold 150000 copies He hit the QVC cable airwaves in October 1993 and his publisher at the time William Morrow & Co reported sales of 45000 books in one appearance The larger queston looming over Mr Food’s empire is what happens once he removes himself from the marketing mix While he says he doesn't plan to retire any time soon perhaps the biggest danger of a person being his own brand is the uncertain future of the business once that person stops working “It's always something we think of There are ongoing discussions” said Howard Rosenthal the Mr Food vice president for creative business development “Our plan is to continue to develop the Mr Food name and icon through cookbooks merchandise newsletters We want to develop the retail operation so that no one needs to see Mr Food but everyone knows what Mr Food stands for in terms of ‘quick and easy’ ” Rosenthal said Can that work? “Think about Col Sanders and Orville Redenbacher They're no longer with us but their brands go on” he said Vivr V' A t - -- ! H V'A Kl ‘T-- r -' rtf Wt f T KmcXit DINNER’S READY: Art f i Ridder Ginsburg holds a dish of broccoli and carrots after taping an episode COMPUTER COMPANY MOVING SALE! SLOW OUT! FIRST COME - FIRST SERVE - PART5 - CABLES MONITORS - HARDWARE - HUBS COMPUTERS WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 0:00 AM-6P- - SATURDAY SOFTWARE BENCHES 6 THRU 9 5HELVE5 M - SWITCHES - PRINTERS - CHAIR5 DESKS -- TABLES ETC RON’S AUTOMOTIVE WAREHOUSE RECEPTION FURNITURE (Just North of Harley Davidson) OFFICE EQUIPMENT EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR A NEW BUSINESS OR HOME OFFICE ' 520 SOUTH 900 WE5T RIVERDALE 430-118- 2 V |
