So what does ““the perfect synthesis of innovation and ultimate luxury’’ get you? If you already suspect that the future might look less like ““Star Trek’’ and more like dialing 777-FILM, then the Century Plaza’s Cyber Suite probably won’t change your mind. During our night’s stay, the room often seemed determined to thwart our every cyber desire.
Take Alexander, the ““Butler in a Box.’’ Alexander is a voice-recognition system built into a small metal box in the entryway. He will, in response to a verbal command, perform a number of menial tasks. Say ““Alexander, good night’’ as you leave, and a robotic voice will bid you adieu as he closes the drapes, turns out the lights and shuts the door behind you. The system also recognizes ““good morning,’’ ““let’s do business,’’ ““romance mode’’ and ““party time,’’ and adjusts the ambience accordingly.
The problem with Alexander is that he’s a little too eager to please. The system picks up ambient noise. So if you’re carrying on a normal conversation across the room, you are prone to hear, out of the blue, ““Very well, Master’’ from the British-accented electronic valet. Alexander once interpreted an offhand remark as a command to prepare the room for party mode. There was no stopping him:
““Alexander, NO!!''
““It will be done.''
With that, the drapes closed, the lights brightened and disco music on the state-of-the-art Bang & Olufsen stereo system began blasting. (It turns out that some pieces of equipment are prototype units, which may explain the dodgy performance.) The master bathroom has had some problems with flooding when guests have asked Alexander to draw their tub; occasionally the water fails to turn off.
Some of the more mundane problems included Internet access. Your line out to cyberspace is supposed to come from a 37-inch NetTV with an ISDN connection to the Net, the kind of access that puts you in league with bigwigs like Bill Gates. Sadly, no dice. We tried for hours to log on but repeatedly got the cryptic message ““The server does not have a DNS entry,’’ even though it worked perfectly for Frank Wasmer, the hotel’s chief engineer, when he demonstrated it earlier. It was Wasmer who later took our distress call when we tried to set up the room’s virtual-reality game system. It took an hourlong step-by-step walk-through on the phone to get it going. Once it was up, though, the two 8-year-olds who came over to test it out had a blast.
The fax machine worked. And walking around the hotel making free cell-phone calls is a cool idea. But we would have gladly traded in being able to flush the toilet using the television remote control for a coffee maker that was situated near an open electric outlet. A final note: don’t leave home without your laptop … just in case.
Chat rooms are among the most popular destinations in cyberspace. Warning: Though it’s easy to find conversations on almost any topic, it’s just as easy to run across teenagers asking, ““Hey, any babes out there?’’ and dialogue that sounds like a bad X-rated movie.
KEYWORD: PEOPLE CONNECTION: The mother of all chat, with 8 million people to talk to. Its real-time chat is very easy to use; chat on the Web is just catching up.
CHAT WORLD: Plain text or ““comic’’ style. You can chat in multiple rooms at the same time. Nonmembers can check out V-CHAT at http://vchat1.microsoft.com.
WWW.CHAT.YAHOO.COM: Its approach is to center chat on the categories in the directory. Interface is well designed and easy to use.
WWW.TALK.COM: Created by HotWired; the uncensored chat here is in keeping with Wired’s cyber-libertarian philosophy.
WWW.WBS.NET: Chatters on this popular system can put a picture of themselves next to their typed text. A favorite of role-playing aficionados.
WWW.TALKCITY.COM: 300-plus chat rooms. It also provides a calendar with the dates and times when special-interest chats are taking place.
