He’s Not Just the Science Guy

Technology that works at its potential is something Bill Nye, a fan of Palm beaming, can get excited about.

Baby boomers got their early science lessons from television’s Mr. Wizard. Their children are getting theirs from Bill Nye the Science Guy.

The effervescent Nye, whose show runs weekdays on the Noggin cable channel, loves science with a passion. It is evident in his gleeful, highly effusive presentations on physics, chemistry, biology and astronomy. The show has won Nye seven Daytime Emmy awards and made him a much sought-after speaker at science fairs, corporate gatherings and events promoting environmental awareness. He also provides the engineering commentary on Comedy Central’s “BattleBots” show.

Nye, 45, recently produced a series of 42 brief science segments that will be available this fall on his Web site, at https://www.billnye.com. Known for his trademark sky-blue lab coat and bow ties, he resides in Seattle and Santa Monica.

COMPUTER: I have a Mac G4, the titanium portable one. It’s OK. It’s very fast and it’s apparently not as subject to being attacked by viruses, which is very important to me. I had a little Sony Vaio that I was very pleased with and then it got a virus that destroyed it. And I mean it just ruined it. I spent hours and hours on the phone with Microsoft and nothing could be done. It was so bad that Microsoft sent me a fruit basket.

I was told that we could get everything off the hard drive, but it would cost about $2,500, and for that, I thought, “Why not just get another machine?” The Vaio just sits in a box, and I long for it.

Don’t get me wrong, the Mac is great. I love that big ol’ screen that is sharp and beautiful. The Sony screen was only half as tall, but then again it was less susceptible to getting smashed when the person sitting in front of me on the airplane suddenly decided to put the seat back.

No computer is going to ever be just right. Making a computer is like ordering pizza for 150,000 people. Everyone wants something different.

Q. What do you want?

I’d like it to handle documents well and handle pictures in a way that is straightforward without creating any unusual or surprising files. I’d like a computer that did not get confused by .doc or .exe at the end of a file name. And I would like all keyboards to have both back and forward delete keys.

It needs to do the basics well. I mean, it’s great that I can watch a DVD movie on my Macintosh, but that’s a gimmick for me, not why I would buy it.

For about 15 minutes last year I had one of the IBM ThinkPads. I had seen one a few years back and liked it. But I got a new one mail-order and it was just claptrap--full of sharp edges and connectors that faced down. I sent it back that day and paid the restocking charge.

[Nye excuses himself to talk to his assistant, who is heading out of the office.]

When she goes out, she switches the office phone over to her cell phone. That’s an example of the kind of technology that really works.

Q. What kind of cell phone do you use?

A Nokia 6160. It’s not one of the really tiny ones. My dream is that this thing not try to do too much. My phone has a game on it. I don’t ever play it.

HAND-HELD: The Palm V. It’s another example of technology that really works.

I use it for addresses and my calendar, and I am kooky for beaming. It’s fun and it fulfills the potential of this kind of technology. If you write someone’s number down on a piece of paper, there’s always a chance you will mix up a couple of the numbers. But when you beam your information to a guy or a gal, it shows up in their Palm exactly the way it was in your Palm.

Q. Do you have any trouble with the handwriting recognition?

No. But I don’t use the little stylus that comes with the machine. I have other ones I use that are much better.

Q. Which one is your favorite?

I have four or five. It’s so personal, but I liked the Colibri DataPen until I dropped it when I was on a ladder. I like the Pilot Dr. Grip [from the makers of Pilot pens]. And the DoubleClick [made by Avery Dennison] is good, but I think the look is a little too self-important. Design is so important to me--it’s another thing the Macintosh titanium computer has going for it.

BOOKMARKED SITES: Lots of them. I have them all divided into folders with about 10 sites each. And I have 25 folders. There’s NASA, AskJeeves, Yahoo, CNN and EV1 because I have one of the electric cars. I have Amazon and places to buy movie tickets online. I have both the Dodgers and the Mariners and several bicycle sites. [He owns six road bikes.]

And I know this sounds strange, but I have government sites about solid waste. I keep track of the tonnage and such. It’s an interest of mine.

One of my favorite sites is from Sphere Research [https://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/sruniverse.html] about slide rules. I love slide rules. I carry one in my briefcase all the time, and one in the glove box of my internal combustion machine that I use to figure out gas mileage.

I can do it faster than you, even if you have a calculator. The slide rule rules, hands down. To three figures.

--As told to DAVID COLKER