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T A B L E_T A L K

Microsoft vs. the feds -- who'll come out on top in this clash of the titans? Place your bets in Table Talk's Digital Culture area

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R E C E N T L Y

Live! From my bedroom
By Simon Firth
"Homecam" operators broadcast their daily lives to Web voyeurs
(01/08/98)

Apple's profit and gloss
By Scott Rosenberg
Steve Jobs offers a Macworld progress report -- with some glaring omissions
(01/07/98)

Virtual machine dreams
By Scott Rosenberg
Virtual PC software makes your Mac impersonate a PC -- slowly
(01/06/98)

Top 10 new jobs for 2002
By Wendy M. Grossman
Bot therapist, anyone?
(01/05/98)

No boom, no bust
By Scott Rosenberg and Andrew Leonard
Salon 21st reviews the year in technology and the online world
(12/24/97)

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BROWSE THE
21ST ARCHIVES

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EDITOR'S NOTE:Welcome to the 21st Challenge. Every two weeks, Charlie and Jim will devise a new challenge and offer some examples of what submissions might look like. You e-mail us your responses to the challenge. The winning response this round will receive a signed copy of Salon technology writer Andrew Leonard's new book, "Bots: The Origin of New Species." We'll publish the winning entry and other select entries. Then the whole thing will start over again.

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C H A L L E N G E_N O ._3

In today's allegedly competitive telecom marketplace, you'll see an increasing emphasis on the extras. Services created to aid your chosen lifestyle, priced just low enough so you can't say no. Here are two we expect to see soon. Send us yours (limit 75 words).

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E X A M P L E S

CALLER IQ: Easy-to-install unit scores callers on verbal acuity, idea processing speed and socioeconomic status, displaying results instantly on miniature LCD screen. Automatic disconnect feature activated if caller repeats him/herself more than twice.

EMOTIONAL SCRAMBLING: Uses CIA voice-encryption technology to transform your tears into laughter, your anxiety into jollity, your rage into bemusement. Keep friends and coworkers off balance! Add a dash of the unexpected into long-term relationships!

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R U L E S

Send your submissions via e-mail only to salon21st@salonmagazine.com. Please include your full name and an accurate e-mail address so we can contact you if you're a winner. By submitting your entry you give Salon permission to publish it. Deadline for entries is Jan. 19, 1998.

In two weeks we'll publish a winner and some selected entries -- and start over with a whole new challenge.

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N E X T_P A G E | Results of Challenge No. 2: Spell-check additions of the rich and famous