Thanks to Slashdot the empeg car is going to be listed as number 3 in a top-ten list of geek Christmas gifts in the next print issue of Wired:

details

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Unit serial number 47 (was 330 in the queue)...

Oh man... they are gonna get into Wired. Now every dot-com CEO is gonna guy an empeg, and there's no shortage of 'em in the Bay Area. Seriously, it'll be interesting to see how many sales are generated from it being in Wired....


|| loren.cox
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I wonder how much SonicBlue paid...

Frank van Gestel

It was a poll sort of thing done on Slashdot a long while back. Which isn't to say that someone didn't send CmdrTaco a free empeg to get on the list... wink wink... haha. Nah, congrats... that's a pretty big thing to be the third most wanted geek gift on the biggest geek site of them all... only behind a PS2 and a Beowulf parallel computing cluster. =]


|| loren.cox
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I looked through the poll replies and there were only six references to empeg and one anti-empeg reply. Off course any count for empeg counts double...

Frank van Gestel

Did you see the link to CNN's list of top gadget gifts?

It's kinda lame, but interesting none-the-less.

They have a Creative Jukebox at the same place on their list as the empeg is on /.'s, showing that the product is more for the average consumer and that, at least for now, Creative has alot of money to get their products known (but we knew this).

But the CNN list has a bunch of crappy stuff on it, including (IMO), the Sidewinder FF Wheel.

But it's cool to see empeg with the publicity. I guess that's what I was hoping for more than TV spots

DiGNAN

"But the CNN list has a bunch of crappy stuff on it, including (IMO), the Sidewinder FF Wheel."

Not to send this thread tumbling off topic, but why do you find this "crappy"?? I have several hardcore driving enthusiast friends who swear by the Sidewinder FF...

Brian H. Johnson
MK2 36GB Blue
"Born to Lose..."

Really? Well sorry I was just speaking from experience. I've used friend's controllers and even bought one myself. I just wasn't impressed with its performance. I also don't see why that particular device, of all the "toys" he had to pick from, deserved to be one of the 10 biggest gift gadgets. Plus, hasn't it been out for something like 3 years already?

ps-does anyone else find slashdot's BB...unintuitive, difficult to use, confusing, etc? maybe it's just me...

DiGNAN

CmdrTaco did get a free empeg - back in august last year when we started shipping. We all signed it and sent it off. They did get it, but I don't think they use it :(

Basically, we felt they deserved a freebie, because if it hadn't been for /. mentioning my mp3mobile, I would never have got such exposure and I never would have decided to start empeg. Fair's fair.

Actually, we did have almost a full page in wired about a year ago (in the just outta beta section I think, or maybe street cred) with the mk1.

I assure everyone nobody here paid any money to Wired to get us mentioned - c'mon, you all know that the empeg is a great geek toy, don't you?

Hugo

You're right Hugo, it is a great toy and I can imagine it will be on many christmas wish-lists, especially geek ones...

Frank van Gestel

third most wanted geek gift on the biggest geek site of them all...

A bit off topic here (surprise, surprise) but I noticed a bit further down the list some variations of Klein bottles. The interesting aspect of that was they were being offered by Clifford Stoll.

Some of the older readers on this bbs will remember Clifford Stoll's book "The Cuckoo's Egg." If you have not read this book, I HIGHLY recommend it. It is a true book about Stoll's inadvertant involvement in a computer hacking and international espionage ring that will keep your undivided attention first page to last.

tanstaafl.



"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Some of the older readers on this bbs will remember Clifford Stoll's book "The Cuckoo's Egg."

Is this the guy who did the Nova special about how he caught the hacker with packet traces? That was pretty cool.

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Tony Fabris

We've been in Wired at least once before, and I think maybe twice.

We didn't have to pay anything for the priviledge.

Rob

CmdrTaco did get a free empeg - back in august last year when we started shipping. We all signed it and sent it off. They did get it, but I don't think they use it :(


I knew it! Hahah. Yeah, i'd agree it was deserved. THEY DON"T USE IT!? What the hell is wrong with those bastards. Someone needs to give Mr. Malda a kick in the pants. I can't imagine why he wouldn't... hrm. Ah well. Cool, thanks for the info on that.
*digs in stack of Wired's trying to find the just outta beta on the MKI*


|| loren.cox
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According to this quick search of wired mag, you've been mentioned 3 times, in case you were wondering... =]


|| loren.cox
|| 080000446

THEY DON"T USE IT!? What the hell is wrong with those bastards. Someone needs to give Mr. Malda a kick in the pants.

Isn't that picture of the guy kissing the Empeg on the Geek site a picture of CmdrTaco himself? Or am I confusing who's who?

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Tony Fabris

Yep, that's him. Hugo happened to to catch the same flight as the Slashdot crew to the MP3 summit last year.

Rob

You should also consider his later book, "Sillicon Snake Oil", a healthly cynical look at the Internet and general computing issues. Recommended.

One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

I do remember the MKI being in Wired... It was right next to a review of Soul Calibur for Dreamcast. It was one of the issues very close to Y2K, in the November-December 1999 or January 2000 range, I believe.

I'll have to dig through the current issue and find the MkII. I didn't see it in their Xmas gifts section when I skimmed through... Guess I"ll have to look closer.

-Tony
MkII #554

Confusing as it may be, there was a gift section in both the Jan issue (Lime Green cover) and the Dec issue("The Art of the high-Speed Deal"). I looked for an hour in the Dec issue before realizing that...

_~= Dearing =~_
"WAY too happy about having #99."