Digital museum showcasing the collection of worldwide legends over the years! 千古不朽博物館展示多年來收藏的世界傳奇故事!
YAHOO! INTERNET LIFE
1999.11
《雅虎網路生活》
1999.11
Item number: C140
Year: AD 1999
Material: Paper
Size: 26.5 x 20.0 cm
Provenance: 美國私人收藏 2024
This is a November AD 1999 issue of the magazine “YAHOO! INTERNET LIFE,” a publication established by the renowned American media company Ziff Davis. Published from AD 1996 to AD 2002, the magazine primarily explored the internet boom and its accompanying pop culture phenomena during the 1990s and the turn of the millennium.
The magazine’s editor, Barry Golson, was a former executive editor of the American adult magazine Playboy, which influenced YAHOO! INTERNET LIFE’s style to include noticeable adult themes and sexual undertones. For example, the cover of this issue features Canadian model and actress Estella Warren, dressed minimally to exude allure, with a black cursor tattoo on her left shoulder. Accompanying this visual is the provocative tagline: “Without the Net this model would be naked…”, a suggestive hook designed to grab readers’ attention while introducing the featured topic: “WEB FASHION ’99.”
The magazine includes multiple photographs featuring Estella Warren as the model, showcasing her as a central figure for its visual theme. Additionally, it contains an advertisement and specifications for Apple’s then-upcoming Power Mac G4 Cube, a personal computer slated for release in the year AD 2000.
Additionally, on page 132, the magazine features an advertisement for “beenz,” an early pioneer in virtual currency. The advertisement draws upon Aesop’s fable “The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs” as its central metaphor. It suggests that while the allure of golden eggs is undeniable, owning the goose that produces them offers a far more sustainable source of wealth. Beenz is thus likened to this metaphorical goose, representing an ongoing opportunity for generating value.
The accompanying text provides an overview of how beenz can be collected and utilised. It explains that users can accumulate beenz for free by visiting various websites and later redeem them for desired goods. The advertisement emphasises the simplicity and practicality of this process, presenting it as a superior alternative to the elusive pursuit of mythical golden eggs.
Beenz, often regarded as the first widely recognised form of virtual currency, was introduced by British entrepreneur Charles Cohen in March AD 2000, during the height of the dot-com bubble. Leveraging the domain beenz.com, Cohen launched this innovative currency in the United States. Together with his associates, he secured $86 million in funding from prominent venture capital firms, including SoftBank, Apax Partners, Vivendi, and Oracle. This substantial investment enabled the rapid establishment of 13 offices worldwide within a short period.
The operational model of beenz involved partnering with websites to distribute a designated amount of virtual currency. Visitors to these participating websites could collect beenz at no cost and subsequently use them for purchases on the same platforms. However, just eight months after its launch, the rapid expansion of beenz began to face significant challenges. The service struggled to maintain its momentum due to its accelerated growth and the emergence of competitors like Amazon and Visa, which introduced more straightforward and widely accepted online payment systems using credit cards.
Ultimately, on August 26, AD 2001, beenz and its parent company declared bankruptcy and ceased operations. The collapse of beenz serves as a quintessential example of the unsustainable growth and volatility that characterised the dot-com bubble era.
The dot-com bubble, which occurred during the late 1990s and the turn of the millennium, was characterised by a surge in investment surrounding emerging internet technologies and concepts as the internet became increasingly mainstream. This period saw numerous speculative investments, many of which ultimately ended in failure. However, some of the companies that emerged during this time—such as Google, PayPal, and Amazon—have since become household names and global industry leaders, illustrating the lasting impact of the era despite the financial turmoil it caused.
物件編號: C140
年代: 公元 1999 年
材質: 紙
尺寸: 26.5 x 20.0 cm
來源: Private Collector, USA, 2024
這是一本公元1999年11月號的《YAHOO! INTERNET LIFE》(雅虎網路生活) 雜誌,雜誌由美國的老牌媒體公司「Ziff Davis」創立,其發行時間為公元1996至2002年,主要探討上世紀90年代和千禧年之際的網路熱潮流行文化。
雜誌負責人貝瑞·高爾森為美國成人雜誌《花花公子》的前執行編輯,因此雜誌風格帶有明顯的成人色彩或性暗示。例如這一期雜誌封面找到加拿大女模兼演員艾斯特雅·華倫,以些許清涼的穿著和左肩有一個黑色游標紋身,搭配左邊的文字「Without the Net this model would be naked…」(沒有了網路這個模特兒就會變裸體…) 用性暗示吸引讀者和帶出「WEB FASHION ‘99」(網路時尚 1999) 主題。雜誌有多張以艾斯特雅·華倫為模特兒的照片,尚有蘋果公司準備在公元2000年上市的最新麥金塔個人電腦「Power Mac G4 Cube」的廣告和規格表。