Sumner Redstone, the Forbes Fax, and Mazatlan Vacation Packages
Many of you will have already read Viacom chair Sumner Redstone's letter to Forbes laying out the reasons (kinda) for his current fight with daughter Shari. I was more intrigued by the format than the content.Because it's a fax. Yes, really, a fax. You remember those?
(A brief primer for the young'ns out there: "Fax" involves printing stuff, cramming it into a stubborn fax machine slot, and then sending the pages veeeeery slowly over phone lines -- accompanied by lots of Kraftwerk-ish noises -- to someone else with a fax machine. Yes, it's as dumb as it sounds. More importantly, it was even harder to get out of work by claiming you didn't get the fax than by claiming you didn't get the email. Last I checked, most remaining fax machines now mostly receive unsolicited toner offers, interspersed with the odd Mazatlan group vacation package.)
Anyway, here's my question: Who, other than lawyers and real estate agents, still use faxes anymore for day-to-day communications? I don't, and haven't this century, as is the case with most people I know. And that, if for no other reason, should be sufficient cause to send Sumner to the nearest floating bit of ice.
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As an aside, Sumner (aka Cryptkeeper) has helpfully included his fax number on the missive to Forbes. So, if you've still got one of these "fax" thingies, feel free to let Sumner know how you feel about other stuff, like his company's copyright suit against Google, at 212.921.4728. (Valleywag has noticed this as well.)
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