What I'm talking about here is my favorite little toy, Web-TV, "The Little Black Box" We've used computers in our business for about twenty-five years now, so I'm not putting the PC or Mac down. They have their place. But if you just want to surf the web, the LBB is the product you want to use. I may sound like a commercial here, but trust me, I'm not the, "Got Milk" guy. I just want to give you my take on this remarkable little machine.

Back in 1998, all I heard from friend's and relatives was, hey! "You have to get online, it's the greatest thing since sliced bread." Well, being a "Yankee" trying something new takes years of research before making up one's mind. Those yankee's out there know what I mean.

So one night we were out with friend's, and the subject of the internet came up. Are you online yet? Are you online yet? "No!!" I said. "None of my computers are built to go online." I had no idea what a modem was, but I knew I didn't have one, and it sounded good. I thought, now they'll leave me alone. Then my friend's wife said, "We use Web-TV" Oh that's nice, "What the heck is that" She went onto explain how this little thing, that looks like a VCR and hooks up to your TV works. She said, "It's so simple to use, no skill needed, and it's inexpensive, perfect for you" She got me there. So to make a long story short, I got one.

I hooked it up one night, and in five minutes, "BAM!!" I was surfing. I checked out all my favorite hobbies, TV shows, news, weather, everything I could think of to do I did from my couch, yeah my couch. This was great. I thought of my friend's sitting at their desks, surfing the web, all the time looking at this 15" or 18" screen, sitting in an uncomfortable chair, and cursing everytime the computer froze up.

Well, the LBB has limitations, right now, there are a lot web sites we can't get into, we can't download anything, upgrades are few and far between, we can't open some files, and we are treated like second rate citizens of the WWW. Well who cares. The things I've learned using the LBB, far out weigh it's little problems. I've learned how to write HTML, communicated with relatives around the world, and also have done much research on topics that are important to me and my business. If anyone wants to go toe to toe with me and my LBB, they'll have a fight on their hands. Oh yeah, we have all our computers online now, but the only purpose they serve now is to upload files, download applications, and check our web sites, to see how they look in other browsers. That's it. I need my computers to do the hard work, but if I just want to be lazy, surf the net, get information, and read interesting articles, like those on Useless-Knowledge.com I can. Have fun sitting on your desk, I'm going on the couch with my coffee, my pillow, my blanket, and my LBB.

Email Artie Kutsumitis: kpgnews@msn.com

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