Reviews Team In The Trenches Of Coolness

Dec. 21, 1998 is a date THAT will live in infamy, for that is when the InternetWeek Reviews staff will define the concept of "cool" as it relates to high-tech wares. Well, OK, we admit that there hasn't exactly been a groundswell of readers demanding to be told what's cool, but we're doing it anyway. In fact, we're trying to define what's best of all the products out there, as well as which are the coolest.

To that end, Oliver Rist, Suzanne Harnos and I got to work to determine an award for the best of anything, the "Coolest Of The Cool." First, we asked our art department to come up with a couple of snazzy logos so that we'd have a way to identify which award we were giving.

Next, we sat down to take care of a couple of important issues. "How do you decide exactly what constitutes 'cool'?" Suzanne asked. That stopped Oliver and me in our tracks. After all, don't you just know when something's cool?

"Cool," I said, "is something that's so useful or desirable that other people just have to have something like it."

"Like my new Ducati," Oliver suggested. I said that we should probably stick with products that had at least a tenuous connection with information technology. "You know, like the 3Com PalmPilot," I said.

"Is that on the list?" Oliver asked. I said that it should be and within a few minutes, we had the first try at a list. Here's what we picked:

1. 3Com Palm III

2. Cobalt Qube

3. Compaq ProLiant 6000

4. Conversa (Lingo, Web and the overall technology)

5. Eudora 4.1

6. IBM DB2

7. Linux

8. Macromedia Dreamweaver

9. Metrowerks Code Warrior

10. Optivision LiveSystem

You also will note that we're not making any differentiation between hardware and software. The products we think are cool are just that, and it doesn't matter to us whether they exist in bits or atoms. Of course, the criteria for what actually is the coolest are a little on the fuzzy side; but this is a strictly subjective award, so it's up to us, anyway.

For a product to even be considered for the cool award, though, it must actually be examined by us. Already, I've been receiving e-mail from companies that want me to decide on a product's coolness on the basis of a press release. Let's face it, folks, no product on the planet is so cool that its inherent coolness can be determined from a press release alone.

We've also gotten a few e-mails and at least one phone call from companies that say they'll contact someone we work for and get them to convince us that their product is cool. Well, let's just say that force isn't cool and, in fact, causes a product to accumulate so many negative cool points that a product that might have been cool now clearly is not.

Of course, we'd like a little help deciding, so our readers are welcome to let us know which of these products are totally cool and which simply approach coolness. We'll even listen to the companies and their PR agencies, which are welcome to try anything they like to convince us of their penultimate coolness. Give it your best shot.

Then, a week from today, you'll see what actually wins. In addition, you'll see the logo that the art department has slaved over for weeks. The logo for "Coolest of the Cool" is itself so cool that it's hard to look at it directly without shivering, but do your best. Besides, the winner of this coveted award will no doubt display it on their ads, packaging and trade show booths for the rest of time, because only they will have been sufficiently cool to be the first.

So now's your chance to help make history. Play your part by stopping by www.reviewbunker.com and see the latest about what's the best and what's the coolest. Then let us know what you think. Next Monday, all will be revealed.

Wayne Rash is managing editor/technology at InternetWeek. He can be reached at wrash@cmp.com or wrash@mindspring.com.