Newspaper Page Text
10A
_JANUARY 8, 1998
A tentative invitation
from the computer industry
hen Steve Jobs,
interim CEO of
Apple Com
puter, was
asked at a re
' cent computer
industry con
ference why there were no women
in his new corporate board, his
reply was, “I don’t see color, or
gender. I just see people.”
Oddly enough, this took place
during the unveiling of a new ad
campaign called “Think Different”
featuring Mohammed Ali, Martin
Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks,
among a dozen other innovators.
If Jobs means what he says, he is
likely to miss what most consumer
productsindustriesexcept the com
puter industry understand tar
geted marketing gets the best re
sults among African-American,
Latino and Asian-American com
munities.
The Apple campaign is one of
several tentative steps that the
cyberbarons of the computer in
dustry are beginning to use to pro
mote their products to the Afri
can-American market.
Hewlett-Packard has the most
powerful campaign, a vignette with
Negro League’s star Buck Leonard
and an eight-year-old. The young
ster demonstrates to Leonard how
he can create baseball cards on the
computer and printer. That link
between technology and function
has never been presented to the
black market in such a graphic
way.
Sony Electronics is making
waves with a product Rappa
Paßappa for its new Play Station
video game. James Harris, an As
Breast-feeding extend beyond the baby
HOUSTON
Mothers whobreast-feed are not
only making life better for their
infants, but are also paving the
way for a healthier life for them
selves.
“Studies have shown women who
breast-feed have a reduced risk of
contracting pre-menopausal breast
cancer,” said Dr. Judy Hopkinson
at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nu-
Local “Warm Hearts
Coats for Kids” drive
underway
WJBF NewsCHANNEL 6—and
their Giving Your Best partners
Amoco Polymers, St. Joseph Hos
pital and Georgia Bank and Trust
—will kick off the fifth annual
“Warm Hearts Coats for Kids”
drive on Friday, January 9, 1998.
This drive supplies coats for thou
sands of young kids throughout
the CSRA.
Brickle’s Cleaners will dry clean
collected coats and will also serve
as drop off points. Other drop off
locations will be NewsCHANNEL
6, Amoco Polymers and all Geor
gia Bank and Trust branches.
Kicks 99 and Lite 98 will also help
sponsor this very worthwhile event
and all collected coats will be dis
tributed by the United Way.
The “Warm Hearts Coats for
Kids” drive will run through Janu
ary 30. :
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rican American who as vice presi
dent of sales for Sony Electronics
controls a $75 million advertising
budget, is aggressively looking for
similar products that specifically
appeal to African-American audi
ences and by extension the larger
market.
Sony’s motion picture division
hasalready learned that partnering
with Magic Johnson Theaters can
make movie theaters swell with
customers in markets which Sony
could never deliver on its own.
With 26 percent of movie tickets
sold to African Americans, it wasa
natural strategy.
However, most of the
cyberbarons do not realize that
the group of parents who index
highest, according to marketing
surveys, for the desire to buy a
computer for their children, are
African-American single moms.
That desire could translate into
trition Research Center at Baylor
College of Medicine in Houston.
“A woman'’s risk of bone fractures
from osteoporosis later in life may
also be reduced.”
Mothers who breast-feed also
benefit from hormones released
during breast-feeding.
“One of these hormones, oxyto
cin, helps a mother’s uterus re
turn to its pre-pregnancy state
(%I}l n celebrating the lfe o
DR. W. G. “CURLY” WATSON
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Triday, Sanuary 23, (998
Radlisson Rivergront Hotel
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Lanited seating
Living Better
“If the cyberbarons move
beyond merely using Black
images to get attention, to a
serious effort at providing
affordable and effective
products, the Black market
will reward them.” ¢
B S R B Y RSO
whole new markets if the infra
structure that Sony is creating in
the movie business becomes avail
able in urban markets—that in
cludes value added resellers of com
puters, retail shops and libraries
of software.
Many of the little-known Black
superstars of the computer indus
try—programmers, softwaredevel
opers and marketers—are gather
ing in San Francisco Jan. 10 to
chart a new course during a con
ference called African Americans
in the Digital Age. James “JT”
Thompson, principal engineer for
Macromind’s director software; Ty
Ahmad-Taylor, art director for
@Home, the cable Internet ser
vice; Javier Villalobos, educational
solutions director for Apple; Dean
Marsh of IBM’s Digital Library,
Hitachi’s Tom Dorsey and Lanette
Brown of Sonoma State Univer
sity will show educators and tech
nologists how state-of-the-art prod
ucts like World Wide Web anima
tion and faster transmission de
vices can create entertaining and
educational products for image
starved African-American chil
dren. Developers will learn how to
market products into distribution
channels. srlt
more quickly,” said Hopkinson, a
Baylor assistant professor of pedi
atrics. “Hormones also help moth
ers to relax and focus on their
infants. Many women who breast
feed report feeling a special close
ness with their babies.” While
mothersbenefitinmany waysfrom
breast-feeding, infantsare thebig
gest beneficiaries.
“Breast-fed babies are less likely
B
The industry is changing. One
dyr.amic is the price of a quality
computer is steadily comingdown.
Brother hasunveiled a $595 laptop
computer with a built-in modem.
Apple’s E-Mate at $795 also has a
built-in modem plus an infra-red
light transmission device that al
lows a whole classroom of comput
ers to communicate with each
other, without wires. Hewlett-
Packard now makes a printer that
receives commands and data
through an infra-red connection.
Given lower prices and lower
start-up costs for wires, home us
ers and school buyers can get three
or four machines for the cost of a
single box just a year ago.
If your plans involve making an
investment of several hundred or
thousands of dollars in a young
person, part of that imperative has
tobe a computer that has access to
the Internet.
The rapid response to pagers,
cell phones and digital recording
indicates how ripe the African-
American market is for construc
tive technology that improves their
lives instead of just entertaining
them.
If the cyberbarons move beyond
merely using Black images to get
attention, to a serious effort at
providing affordable and effective
products, the Black market will
reward them. If they don’t, we’ll
just have to do it ourselves.
John William Templeton is ex
ecutive editor ofGriot, the African-
American, African and Caribbean
business daily. For more informa
tion on the African Americans in
the Digital Age conference, call 800-
321-1990. - .- :
to develop allergies or serious ill
nesses, such as diarrhea, and bac
terial meningitis, and one-third
less likely to be re-admitted to the
hospital in the first year of life,”
said Hopkinson. “Other studies
suggest breast-feeding may pre
vent a child from contracting dis
eases such as diabetes, and lym
phoma.”
Recent studies have also found
@ & ® |
ili Opportunities for Adoption
D \
rik |
DEPARTMENT OF i
HUMAN RESOURCES i
Darrell, 8, born May 1989, has bigeyes and alovely smile. He has |
cerebral palsy, mental subnormality, seizure disorder, cortical . ;
blindness, and is hydrocephalus. He is non-verbal, making his s’@ |
needs/wants known with cries and laughter. He has a manual P v :
wheelchair. Darrell loves kisses and to flirt with the ladies. He Fans !
needs a family that will be able to meet his special needs and lavish |
him with love. |
Thereare many other children like Darrell who need permanent ; ” 3
homes. There is also a great need for foster homes to provide a £ 4
temporary care for children who cannot currently live with their ' :
families. If you think you might be able to provide a permanent or /
temporary home for a child or children, please contact Brenda W.
Brown at 706-595-2946. _
My Turn Now, Inc. can be reached by calling ;
1-800-603-1322 or (404) 657-3479 !
CONSUMER ,
WS Dol
10-digit dialing off to good start in Atlanta
ATLANTA
(AP) The first day of 10-digit
telephonedialingin metro Atlanta
went smoothly enough, but offi
cials say the real test lies ahead.
Thursday’s holiday provided a
quiet introduction of the extra di
aling in the 25-county toll-free re
gion surrounding the city,
Bell South spokeswoman Lynn
Bress said.
This week, when businesses gear
up after the holidays, things could
be different.
Thethree extra digits stem from
addingathird area code 678 to join
404 and 770 in the Atlanta area.
Ms. Bress said that because the
AT&T takes beating with federal ruling
WASHINGTON
(AP) Although a federal court
ruling doesn’t allow all five re
gional phone companies to jump
immediately into the SBO billion
long-distance business, AT&T
took abeating on Wall Street amid
worries the No. 1 long-distance
company could be facing more com
petition.
The decision overturning a key
provision of a 1996 telecommuni
cations law also may spur a flurry
of copycat lawsuits as Bell compa
nies scramble to win free entry
into the long-distance business.
There’s agreement among the
Baby Bells and the federal govern
Augusta Focus is a
Walker Group Publication
parents of babies who are breast
fed spend fewer dollars on medical
care.
In addition, breast-fed infants
may be more intelligent than for
mula-fed infants. New evidence
suggests that breast-fed infants
have higher IQs, and perform bet
ter in school than formula-fed in
fants, despite socioeconomic dis
changeover occurred in stages, on
Thursday “some folks might have
been able tb dial seven digits this
morning, but this afternoon or 10
minutes later, they couldn’t.”
John Looram, who answers con
sumer questions on a toll-free
hotline set up by Bell South, said
the phone company received about
120 calls during the morning shift
on New Year’s day — triple that of
a normal day.
Some callers completely misun
derstood the change.
“They think all the area codes
arebeingchanged t 0678,” Looram
said.
ment that last week’s surprise rul
ing gives only two of the Bell tele
phone companies —SBC Commu
nicationsand US West — anunob
structed path to compete in the
long-distance market, assuming
the ruling withstands certain ap
peals.
Lawyers for long-distance com
panies and federal officials they
will seek postponement of imple
mentation of the ruling, and ap
peal it. In the meantime, shares of
AT&T and other long-distance
companies lost ground after the
ruling, while SBC and US West
rose.
ferences.
“Mothers who breast-feed are
providing their infants with the
best possible nutrition,”
Hopkinson said. “They are also
protecting them from disease and
maximizing the chance for opti
mal neurological development, re
ducing their health care costs, and
improvingthe mother’s long-term
health outlook.” |