‘Passion’ tickets deemed unholy
A Georgia movie theatre recently drew complaints from some customers after its computer randomly assigned the number 666 to tickets for Mel Gibson’s new film, “The Passion of the Christ.” In the final book of the Bible, Revelation, the number 666 is referred to as the “number of the beast,” who is usually understood to be either Satan or the Antichrist. According to the Associated Press (AP), Gary Smith, owner of the Movies at Berry Square in northwest Georgia, 666 is the first of a series of numbers listed underneath the movie name, date, time and price. “It’s from our computer and it’s absolutely a coincidence,” Smith told the AP. “It has nothing to do with the film company or any vendor. It’s completely our computer.” Some patrons have made comments about the tickets and at least one person, uncomfortable with carrying a ticket with 666 on it, asked for a movie pass instead.
Just don’t throw it in the tub
Denver, Colo.-based TikiMac recently unveiled its Devil Duckie flash drives for Macintosh and PC computer systems. The red, horn-toting four-and-a-half-inch rubber duck with “hypnotic blinking eyes” is a high-speed USB 2.0 (1.1 compatible) personal data storage device, according to the firm, which calls itself a “manufacturer and distributor of interesting, odd and useful computing products.” In a statement the company said the drives are plug-and-play compatible with Macintosh systems running Mac OS X 10.1.2 +, and OS 9.2.1 +. It will also operate with PCs running Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The drives are available in 128, 256, and 512MB capacities, come pre-initialized in either Mac OS or DOS/FAT formats, a six-foot data cable for desktop machines or systems with “hard to reach” USB ports, free technical assistance and a two-year limited warranty. Retail prices start at US$71.00. www.tikimac.com.
If the world only knew
Michael’s Computers, owned by Michael J. Gonzales in Marina Del Rey, Calif., recently sent out a slightly over-the-top press release announcing that its users are “the only fortunate customers to experience INSTANT performance.” The firm claimed that it has had no competition since 1996, and that its MX517 17.1-inch widescreen notebook has become “the most desired laptop sold online” since its introduction early this month. Even more exciting was the company’s assertion that its MX8 system is “the most popular tower (desktop).” The release quoted a letter from a user, identified only as “Shawn Rodgers, IT manager,” who was apparently playing a live concert recording, decoding another audio file to .WAV format, burning a CD, downloading multiple files, working on high resolution photos in Jasc Paint Shop Pro, and launching Norton’s virus scanner “just for fun,” all at the same time, while writing to Michael’s.
