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Games don't kill people -- do they?
Before we rush to damn the video-game industry, let's remember: There's both bad and good in blowing up pixels.
By Greg Costikyan
[06/21/99]

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Half-baked long distance learning schemes.
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Books
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[06/18/99]

The Silicon Valley myth with a life of its own
In "Pirates," HP, Xerox and other big companies play the fools of the PC revolution, and only the lone visionary "gets it."
By Michael Mattis
[06/17/99]

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On a recent visit, Sotheby's was conducting tours of the private collection of Mr. & Mrs. John Hay Whitney (yes, those Whitneys), an extraordinary assemblage of Impressionist artworks, most going up on the block for a cool million -- or $25 million. "This is probably your last opportunity to get a fine Seurat," admonished the refined and decorous curator, chuckling over its hefty price tag. "Don't we all wish we were still collecting art in the 1950s?"

This hushed, moneyed spectacle is a far cry from the ragtag realm of eBay, the capitalist empire built on Pez dispensers and Beanie Babies, where the average objet d'art might set you back $40 or $50. Or is it?

Also Today Elvis, live on the auction block Streaming video will bring the online world to Vegas to bid for the King's never-before-sold clothes and contracts.

Sotheby's is gambling that the two worlds aren't so far apart, and is poised to launch not one, but two major online auction ventures by September. One is a $25 million project at Sotheby's.com and the other is a just announced joint venture with Amazon.com's fledgling auctions division.

The leap from the world of fine antiquities to the frenzy of digital bidding may seem odd, but it is an act that Sotheby's expects will pave its way to 21st century success. And Sotheby's isn't the only venerable auction house with this vision: Its biggest competitor, Christie's, is also planning an online auction venture for later this year. And even as Sotheby's imitates eBay's online success, eBay is itching for some of Sotheby's real-world clout -- it bought the California auction institution Butterfield & Butterfield in April. The common gamble here is that the online market is ready and willing to become fine art collectors.

"On the one hand, there has been more wealth created in the last several years than in any time in history. People have at their disposal so much more income to go out and buy collectibles," explains Diana Brooks, CEO of Sotheby's. "Set against that is that people are so much busier; there is so much less leisure time than there ever has been in the past that it's hard for a busy professional to become a serious collector. The Net takes down all those barriers to entry -- we know people have the appetite, it's just a matter of how we get them to actually do it."

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