Word: dotcomguy
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...titanic clash of wills. In one corner was DotComGuy, a silicon shut-in, living a life that is normally forced on felons as an alternative to incarceration. Not allowed to leave his home, and subject to round-the-clock surveillance by a battery of 16 cameras webcasting to computers around the globe, 26-year-old Dallas resident DotComGuy (known as Mitch Maddox before he changed his name) has turned himself into a sort of wired groundhog, vowing to spend an entire year ordering everything he needs to live, from food to furniture, over the Internet. Like a switched-on Thoreau...
...DotComGuy's adversary, his Luddite doppelganger, is Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn, 42, a.k.a. NotComGuy. Vaguely troubled by his dependence on electronics, NotComGuy cooked up his own experiment. Instead of withdrawing from human society into his computer, NotComGuy set out to withdraw from his computer--and his cell phone and fax machine as well--into human society. Reasoning that "this stunt has a difficulty factor 52 times greater than DotComGuy's bagatelle," he announced he would go cold turkey for a week, then report on his discoveries in print...
...futuristic DotComGuy, on the other hand, continues to live happily inside his cyberden. The equivalent of a 1920s flagpole sitter, he shows no sign of cracking; indeed, if his virtual exile goes as planned, he will earn more than $90,000 this year. His website, which features streaming video of nearly his every move, receives millions of hits a day and is laced with advertisements. What's more, he's lined up corporate sponsors that include online grocer Peapod.com and bookseller Borders.com Wrote an admirer in an e-mail to DotComGuy's site: "What you're doing...
...DotComGuy is more modest about his life as a homebound professional consumer. The idea came to him last year when he found himself growing restless during a shopping trip with his parents. "I'm fed up with this," he told them. Hoping that people will "learn from my experience," he leads a rich, if isolated life, with regular visits from an aerobics trainer to keep him from physically merging with his couch (bought online, of course). "I was able to go shopping in bed last night," he says. How long voyeurs will be willing to log on and watch...
...unimpressed by his rival's novelty act. "I don't think it's very hard what he's doing. It's like Bio-Dome. It's Gilligan's Island, except he has everything." Zorn may have a point. If his own experience is a guide, the true test of DotComGuy's character will come 11 months from now, when he will have to face the outside world again, no longer safely cocooned inside the Web. Perhaps he'll retreat when he finally sees his shadow...
| 1 |