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Tuesday, June 20, 2000
She's a cute little heartbreaker with a thing for rock musicians and a 6 gigabyte hard drive
by John Zebrowski
Seattle Times staff reporter
She's cute, ain't she? Dressed in baby blue, she sings the songs of youth and talks - so much! - about all kinds of things. We can hardly keep up. She's light, about three pounds, which is good because she likes to be carried. Her name is MEG and her new parents think you'll like her. How could you not? She's so smart.
Her smarts come from an internal 6 gigabyte hard drive, enough memory and power to hold more than 40 hours of audio and video, although she'll start with just 10 hours of audio. Point her at a guitar pick on the wall and she'll tell you a story. Like how Jimi Hendrix spent time in Nashville before moving to New York and fame. Or the evolution of gangsta rap from NWA to today.
MEG - short for its more generic description as a "Museum Exhibit Guide" - is the centerpiece of the museum experience. Many museums have audio programs; others allow people to interact with exhibits. MEG is designed to do both.
Hang her from your shoulder, put on the headphones and go. Take her to the Hendrix gallery, say, and she'll tell you all about his life and career. An infrared beacon tells her where you are.
Find something of particular interest, such as the cloak Hendrix wore on stage and you can hit the "bookmark" function on MEG. Then later, whether in the Digital Lab or at home, you can look up even more information. MEG's smarts are downloaded right into the EMP computer system. Armed with the number on your ticket stub, you can access all your information in EMP's Digital Lab or from home on its Web site. From your head to MEG to your computer. Quite a little thing, she is.
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