MeowMail: A Sign of the Wired Times
Have you noticed how ubiquitous the Internet is these days? Does it seem as though anyone who is anyone has an email account? Does everyone you know seem to be surfing the Web, at any hour of the day, for information, business, and entertainment?
Well, the Internet will become even warmer and fuzzier as it captures a whole new audience: cats.
"We believe that every cat in the world deserves access to the World Wide Web," asserts Steven Bennett, a communications consultant and technology journalist. "In the new millennium, cats will have to be fully wired in order to compete." Toward that end, Bennett has co-created (with Director of Critter Communications Stacey Miller) MeowMail.comÅ, which he calls, "the first online feline colony."
MeowMail offers fully functional email accounts, free of charge, to cats whose humans are kind enough to register them as members (these are real, free email accounts that their humans can use, too). Bennett, whose serves as MeowMail.com¼s Chief Executive Feline, explains, "You get Email. Your cat deserves MeowMail.Å"
Member cats automatically receive copies of "The Morning HairballÅ" ã an interactive newsletter written by felines, exclusively for felines ã in their emailboxes. Hairball columnists include, among others: Sir Smashalot, who is as good natured as he is destructive; Felinnadonna, whose vanity never gets in the way of her cooking sprees; Reboot, who reviews cat-appropriate software and hardware; and Miss Hissy, who utterly loathes human beings and everything related to them. Subscribers are encouraged to submit their own thoughts, questions, and mewsings to the appropriate columnists.
Cats can also paw their way through MeowMail.com¼s rich array of offerings, such as e-cards and multi-media, digital entertainment features. "We especially recommend our Claw Pilot™, which is part of our Paw Pilot™ family of PDA's (Paw-held Data Appliances)," Bennett enthuses. Cats can view animations designed to stimulate them and keep them awake for more than five minutes at a time. Two of our popular animations are "Bubbles the Digital Fish" and "Doofus the Digital Mouse."
While cats are busy using their Claw Pilots and other MeowMail features, their human valets will find an assortment of interactive games and other goodies on the site to keep them out of trouble and out of the cats' fur.
Bennett emphasizes that, to be a player in the 21st century, a cat simply must be plugged into the digital world. "Don¼t let the mice pass your cat by while other felines are interacting with their online friends and colleagues, immersing themselves in matters of global significance, maximizing their productivity through sophisticated electronic organizers, and getting tuned into all the news that¼s fit to spit," Bennett warns. "After all, your cat only goes around 9 times."
