CIA - Aliens, Area 51 & the Newton (fwd)

[Boris Groendahl <boris@berlin.snafu.de>]

Eine wunderschöne Anekdote cum Bedienungsanleitung für alle
Verschwörungstheoretiker und Newton-Besitzer.

Gruß, Boris.

>Keywords: themselve perhand airporary concertaining datatraffic liticalled
>Precedence: list
>List-Server: info@fringeware.com
>Cc: Jamie Thompson/Tivoli Systems
><Jamie_Thompson.TIVOLI_SYSTEMS@notes-brahms.tivoli.com>
>Subject: CIA - Aliens, Area 51 & the Newton
>Date: 31 Jul 96 13:00:56
>From: FringeWare News Network <email@Fringeware.COM>
>X-Www-Page: http://www.fringeware.com/msg/sub.html
>Reply-To:
>Jamie_Thompson.TIVOLI_SYSTEMS@notes-brahms.tivoli.com,email@Fringeware.COM
>Status: O
>X-Status:
>
>Sent from: Jamie Thompson/Tivoli Systems
><Jamie_Thompson.TIVOLI_SYSTEMS@notes-brahms.tivoli.com>
>
>> Forwarded-by: Peter Langston <psl@langston.com>
>> Forwarded-by: Dan Tenenbaum <dante@halcyon.com>
>> Forwarded-by: Julian Jiggins <julianj@microsoft.com>
>
> From http://www.thesite.com/0796w3/thebin/dev.html
>
>Dev's Page
>
><Picture>So you must be wondering about that Newton Easter Egg? Here's
>the original email from one of the Newton team members who seems to want
>to be anonymous. Here's a clue: Do a search on the cryptography software
>called "Stego." I've got a hunch that a certain Extropian had a little
>to do with this. If you can ID the source of this email, let us know on
>The Big Board
>
>The email follows:
>
>"There's an Easter egg in the 2.0 Newton (MessagePad 120) which was
>"censored" by, yes, the CIA.
>
>Back in '94, one of the Newton software types made a trek to the (very)
>small town of Rachel, Nevada, located at the edge of a secret government
>airbase. The base, called "Area 51," is thought by UFO-enthusiasts to be
>filled with alien technology which the government is in the process of
>reverse engineering. Meanwhile, the government denies the very existence
>of the base, in spite of widespread media coverage ("Larry King Live
>>from Area 51", etc).
>
>We figured it'd be funny to put a reference to Area 51 in the Newton --
>especially given the substantial overlap between conspiracy buffs and
>computer nerds. In the "Time Zones" application (including a world map)
>we put an entry for Area 51 in its correct location. Later, we added a
>twist -- if the user picks Area 51 from the map, the icons in the
>datebook application take on an alien theme. Normally, meetings are
>represented by an icon of two people face-to-face, events are
>represented by a flag, etc. When Area 51 has been chosen, the icon for a
>meeting is a person facing an alien, the icon for an event is a flying
>saucer, a to-do task is represented by a robot, and so on.
>
>Okay, cute enough. Now cut to August 1995, when the 2.0 ROM has been
>declared final, seed units have been in customers' hands for a little
>while, and the release is just about ready to go. One of the seed units,
>it turns out, was sent to a cryptographer working for the CIA. When he
>found Area 51 listed at the correct latitude/longitude, he complained to
>Apple, demanding the removal of the Easter egg and threatening to have
>his superiors take the issue to Spindler if necessary. In the end,
>Newton management caved in to the demand and decided to pull the joke
>out of the system.
>
>But the ROM was already done -- so the feature was hidden by a software
>patch ("System Update") -- but this part of the patch can itself be
>removed, and "Area 51" returned to its rightful glory. Here's how to get
>the Easter egg back:
>
>1) Open the Extras drawer. 2) Switch the folder of the Extras drawer to
>"Storage". 3) Tap on the icon "Time Zones" and press the "Delete"
>button. Warning -- any cities you've added to your Newton will be lost.
>4) Switch the folder of the extras drawer back to "Unfiled icons." 5)
>Tap on "Time Zones."
>
>You'll find that Area 51 is on the map -- just tap near Las Vegas and
>choose Area 51 from the popup. Now look at the icons in Dates. (To purge
>the aliens from your PDA, open the back and press reset).
>
>Check in again later this week for more bits and bytes from me and the
>Web kids...
>
>--dEV nUL
>

-+----+------------------- Boris Groendahl
-----+----+-+------++----- Texte Und Konzepte Fuer Medien
-+------------------------ boris@well.com
---------------------+---- voice +49-30-68 83 43 58
--+----------------------- cellular +49-172-322 13 58
-----+-------------------- facsimile +49-30-68 83 43 57