The selling of computer technology has gone far beyond ads in "Byte" and the
occasional taxicab placard at Comdex.
This year, computer companies are getting more aggressive with their marketing dollars.
The proof? These planned product placements in the upcoming summer blockbuster movies:
1. In "Batman and Robin", the Bat Signal is replaced by Internet Explorer logo.
2. In "Speed 2: Cruise Control", Diba's belly-button Internet appliance worn by Sandra Bullock.
3. "The Lost World": Microsoft pays to have Jeff Goldblum eaten by T. Rex while waiting for PowerBook to boot.
4. Netscape pays Bruce Willis to discover "The Fifth Element": JavaScript.
5. "Titanic": IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer predicts path of icebergs; ship changes course; and they all live happily ever after.
6. "Men in Black:" Will Smith replaces CPU in alien mothership with flawed Pentium II; ship misses Earth, crashes into Venus instead.
7. "Austin Powers": uses Palm Pilot to keep track of sexual conquests.
8. Apple puts all its summer marketing money into product placement in the guaranteed mega-smash, "Free Willy 3" (targeting the wealthy 8 to10-year-old, computer-buying demographic).
9. "Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation": free AOL CD-ROMs used as deadly throwing stars.
10. "Air Force One": Harrison Ford launches thermonuclear attack on Seattle with brand-new Oracle Network Computer; Larry Ellison in cameo as Secretary of Defence.