An Exciting Turn of Events (POD 1999, Tech/Pop Culture)

NHBChamp

HIGHEST-GROSSING MOVIES OF 2001, WORLDWIDE
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Warner Bros.), $1,010,923,432
2. The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (New Line), $803,094,342
3. Shrek (DreamWorks), $501,548,912
4. Spider-Man (Sony), $492,213,404
5. Monsters, Inc. (Disney), $479,891,233
6. Ocean's Eleven (Warner Bros.), $430,509,428
7. Planet of the Apes (Fox), $425,038,602
8. The Mummy Returns (Universal), $410,138,313
9. Pearl Harbor (Disney), $398,193,459
10. Rush Hour 2 (New Line), $350,428,204
 

NHBChamp

Jan 31, 2002
THE MONTH'S ANNOUNCEMENTS IN PC GAMING​
-In the wake of its successful third-person shooter Halo, Bungie has confirmed that a sequel is in development, although no details about its gameplay have been confirmed.

-Valve has confirmed a release date of June 24 for Team Fortress 2, a sequel to their 1999 game based on the 1996 Quake mod.

-Blizzard released its first previews of the first expansions for Warcraft III, Dominion of Evil. It is expected to solve many of the minor issues which bothered many players of the best-selling game, as well as adding new gameplay options and story.

-Sega will be porting Crazy Taxi to the Windows Store in February, according to Microsoft's website.

-Following the closure of Ion Storm Studios in Dallas, John Romero has been hired by Microsoft to develop games for their new OTG mobile PC, set to release in March.
 

NHBChamp

February 8, 2002
AOL CEO TO STEP DOWN, WITH HEADQUARTERS MOVING TO NEW YORK AS PART OF EFFORT TO PIVOT TOWARDS THE FINANCIAL SECTOR​

Steve Case, CEO of America Online, announced a major restructuring of his company during the publication of its quarterly report today. According to Case's statement, the company will relocate from its Virginia headquarters to a location in Lower Manhattan by the end of the year.

In addition, Case will step down as CEO once the reorganization is complete, though he will still remain the company's chairman. AOL also plans to create a Finance division of their site, which would manage the operations of AOL's PilotPay service, along with a variety of planned services for workers in the financial industry. Case explained that his motivation behind the big decision was to "get in touch with the increasingly online economy." He also mentioned increased competition from other internet service providers as another reason for the shift.

Case is confident that this shift will be a positive one for AOL. "AOL already one of the biggest companies on the East Coast, so it is in a unique position to develop this sort of a relationship with the financial sector." However, Case will no longer be helming the company following the shift, as he does not believe that he will be able to manage the company as well after a shift in priorities.

The report did not mention who Case will choose to succeed him, but in response to media questioning, AOL has stated that it has not yet made the decision, but it is willing to hire anyone with the requisite experience to lead AOL into the future.

The stock market reacted positively to the announcement, and the stock price for AOL has been continuously rising since the announcement.
 

eldandythedoubter

NHBChamp said:
Yeah, I think I semi-established that earlier. Because the dot-com bubble burst earlier after Yahoo and then Disney got in trouble, the merger never happened.
Click to expand...
Well with this happening, Eric Bischoff has a slightly better chance of acquiring WCW. But that chance only increases due to 2 factors:
1. How their fiscal year went in 2000. If WCW managed to stop their rating decline and renegotiate many of their top tier contracts, then at the very least they won't be losing $62 million.
2. Jaime Kellner not becoming SVP of Programming at Turner Broadcasting.
 

NHBChamp

I don't really know enough about pro wrestling to make the call on the WCW, but given that the POD is in December 1998 it very well could've been doing better in the ratings than it was in OTL. I do imagine WB might want to sell it due to not wanting a pro wrestling league.
 

NHBChamp

February 20, 2002
MICROSOFT OTG MOBILE PC GOES ON SALE​
The Microsoft OTG makes its debut on store shelves today, and Microsoft has put quite a bit of faith in this newest venture of theirs. Its launch was even advertised during the Super Bowl, which as far as I know is a first for Microsoft. However, by making such a bold entrance into the mobile PC market, Microsoft risks a lot by treading into new waters.

With the possible exception of the Palm Pilot, most mobile PCs have failed to make an impact on the market. The Apple Newton, which was released in 1993, is now regarded as one of Apple’s more notable missteps, and Intel’s proposed WebPad never saw a market release. In addition, while Apple has provided software as well as hardware since the beginning, Microsoft has, as the second part of their name indicates, always primarily been a software company, although the XBox game console released last November marked a significant foray into hardware releases. In addition, the proximity of the OTG’s release to the releases of the XBox and Windows X+ may leave Microsoft with too many new products to manage at once.

However, Microsoft seems to have a good plan for how to budget the release of the OTG. Marketing for the OTG didn’t ramp up until the XBox’s release was done, and OTG hardware design and production was almost entirely handled by Toshiba. The initial price is $450, which is slightly higher than what some of its competitors are going for, but the brand recognition of both OTG and Microsoft, as well as the extra benefits the OTG offers and the device’s slightly larger size in comparison to most PDAs, will likely justify that price for many consumers.

The main advantage the OTG has over other tablet computers is the ability to easily transfer files between it and Windows computers, and that it can run its own versions of many Windows applications.This allows OTG users to do things such as editing Word documents written on their home computers. Also, many of the OTG applications automatically sync with their home computer equivalent when connected, such as the calendar, allowing events to be scheduled on the OTG and then added to the schedule kept at home.

OS-wise, the OTG’s capabilities mostly resemble Windows NT 4.0, but the layout bears more resemblance to Windows X+ with its sidebar. The apps also work more like their Windows X+ equivalents in order to ease file transfer. The system runs on a 33 MHz Intel 80386, measures about 5 inches by 5 inches, and weighs about 11 ounces.
 

eldandythedoubter

NHBChamp said:
I don't really know enough about pro wrestling to make the call on the WCW, but given that the POD is in December 1998 it very well could've been doing better in the ratings than it was in OTL. I do imagine WB might want to sell it due to not wanting a pro wrestling league.
Click to expand...
Well in that case, have WCW jump over to USA Network in 2001 to replace WWF Raw and allow Bischoff buy the company outright.
 

NHBChamp

March 24, 2002
“WINNERS” AT THE 22ND GOLDEN RASPBERRY AWARDS​
As is tradition, the 22nd Golden Raspberry Awards was held the day before the Oscars, with a similar flair but with as little glitz and glamour as possible. The selections for the worst of the worst were unsurprising, with Tom Green’s gross-out “masterpiece” Timmy’s Tingle taking home 5 awards, including Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Actor, Worst Onscreen Couple, and Worst Picture, beating out such other atrocities as Hardball, Pearl Harbor, Whitey Trash, and All That Glitters. More surprising, however, was Tom Green’s decision to show up to accept his award dressed as a robot version of himself. In other categories, Mariah Carey won Worst Actress for her musical film All That Glitters, Burt Reynolds won Worst Supporting Actor for his appearance in The Driver, and Roseanne Barr won Worst Supporting Actress for her role in Whitey Trash. Jurassic Park III won in the unenviable category of Worst Ripoff or Sequel.
 

NHBChamp

Dang, I haven't updated since March, I do have plenty of interesting plans but I'm not sure if I'll actually take the time to write them down the way I want. Sorry about that.
 
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