Home > Halt and Catch Fire

So It Goes

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[Telephone ringing]

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Happy New Year.

How's Tokyo?

Cameron: Good.

Cold.

Good. Good. Well, uh...

Is that her?

We got some first steps for the browser that we want to walk you through so we can, uh, you know, hit the ground running when you get back to town.

Gordon, I'm gonna be working on this project remotely.

I-I need to talk to Joe.

Just me.

Yeah. Okay.

Wants to talk to you.

Hello?

How you doing?

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I don't understand.

I told Tom what happened.

And he and I, uh, we both agreed that it would be best if I worked on the browser remotely -- from here.

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[Keypad beeping musically]

What time is it there?

They're 17 hours ahead, so whatever time it is here...

[Hammering]

Look, she doesn't need to be on the phone for us to upload it to Gopher.

She wrote it. She needs to be available.

Guys, I need -- I need --

Stop hammering!

Please!

You know it's midnight there.

This is the time she specified.

Maybe Godzilla's fighting Mothra again.

We're gonna try her again in 20 minutes.

[Saw whirring] Guys!

Guys, guys, please!

All right?

It's too early in the morning for this.

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That is because nobody is downloading it at all.

No, you're right. Forgive me.

69 downloads last quarter. Is that better?

[Chuckles]

A year and we are barely a ripple in the pond.

Of course it has to do with the bugs.

I'm tracking them as fast as I can, but you take forever to --

Okay.

Okay, fine.

That would be fine.

-How's Cameron? -Never available.

Or if we do somehow manage to get her on the phone, she's busy or defensive or --

Stuck at 69 downloads.

Look, Joe, we're building the core ISP business upstairs by the day, which means we don't need overnight success with the web browser.

But why do you keep putting yourself through this with her?

This work is important.

That's not what I asked.

I'll make sure those bugs get fixed.

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[Clears throat]

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[Telephone ringing]

[Indistinct conversations]

Shep, have you talked to Cameron?

Uh, Gordon, this is Mike Houseman from America Online.

-Great to meet you, Gordon. -Yeah, likewise.

Yeah, I want to talk about acquiring your user base.

Is AOL really that afraid of the open Internet?

[Chuckles] Well, it's either that or we crush you when we expand west.

Ah, well, let me tell you something, Mike --

I need to show you something right now.

Mike, this is Joe MacMillan. He's our Web Services division.

Impressive. You're into the Web.

It's where everything's headed.

Gordon.

Excuse us.

It's called Mosaic.

All right, so there's another browser in the game.

We still got Nexus, Viola, Midas --

Don't forget Millennium, thanks to Donna.

Who's got just as much of a right to this idea as we do.

But those aren't this.

Inline images, Web forums support, available on every platform.

If Cameron hadn't been radio silent for five months, if she had fixed the bugs, helped us iterate...

I don't mind losing, but we're not even gonna get a chance to compete.

Where the hell is Cameron?

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Now we do our own chip.

[Pages rustling]

Over here.

You all right?

Yeah.

Fine.

I bet it was her new game.

I'm sure she just got wrapped up in it, forgot all about us.

What if we uncapped usage?

You know, unlimited access for every customer -- you know, no more hourly rates, just a, you know, flat monthly fee?

That's a good idea, smart.

Look, I don't mean to harp on it, but what galls me is that she still owes us a final version.

We had a first-mover advantage.

Now Mosaic is the front door to the Web.

Mm.

Yeah, I heard they had a million downloads in the first six months. Those numbers have to be inflated.

Meanwhile, Loadstar stands at a whopping 431.

Well, maybe that's okay.

But we can build a Mosaic-killer.

She couldn't do it.

We'll find someone who can.

Joe, how many times do you have to be right?

Maybe we should just be grateful or something.

I mean, this is technology that we could only have dreamed of back in that garage.

[Sighs]

You should've brought Ozzie.

I wouldn't have minded.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What?

[Chuckling] Nothing.

We broke up three weeks ago.

Oh, man.

Hey, Gordon... happy 40th.

Cheers.

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[Keyboard clacking]

Try the corridor again.

We were just there, and all we found was this rusty walking-stick thing.

Can you equip it?

"The stick particulates in your hand"?

Cool.

Dude, what?

[Sighs] This feels like homework.

Seriously, I'm getting cold just watching this.

Oh, good -- another puzzle.

Good thing we haven't seen anybody in like 10 minutes.

You can't even kill anything.

Ah, shoot.

[Keyboard clacks]

Ah.

[Keyboard clacks]

Okay.

[Musical chimes]

Wait. What the hell? We're back at the beginning?

This is bullshit.

Who are you?

Hi.

What's your favorite video game right now?

-Mortal Kombat. -Yeah, Mortal Kombat.

I prefer Street Fighter II for the superior controls and graphics.

Okay. Thank you, guys, for coming in.

Here's your Pioneer Chicken gift certificates.

We appreciate your feedback.

Guys, this is not our target demographic.

We need to be going after higher GPAs, readers with immersive fantasy and sci-fi interests.

This isn't a game you play. It's a game you live.

How many websites now?

561.

And I found a new one for you.

Look, if this is the one that translates your name into Hawaiian, I already did it.

And?

Kolekona.

Hey, look at this one.

It's a, uh -- It's a coffee pot.

That is a coffee pot at he University of Cambridge, 5,000 miles away.

That's not a picture. That's a live video feed.

Well, it looks really alive.

It's...fascinating.

Listen.

Joe, I actually came down here to chat with you about something.

Shoot.

Well, I was wondering if you'd consider moving upstairs.

Why?

Well, the Web Services division hasn't originally grown the way we thought it would, and, you know, we could really use the server space.

And -- And now that the browser's dead --

Dead? We might have stalled a little bit, but that's because we're just getting started.

[Chuckles] I'm not moving upstairs.

If anything, you're moving down here.

Listen, Joe, you've been down here for almost three years, and it's still just you, an ergonomic chair, and 500 Post-its.

Listen. I'll say it again.

You did it. You and Ryan called it.

You said the Internet would be the next great public utility.

Well, guess what? We're here.

We did it. We are Thomas Edison.

We built the power company.

So why don't you come upstairs and run the power company with me?

Gordon, nobody remembers the power company.

Came free in the mail with my Popular Mechanics this month.

AOL is carpet-bombing.

They're going after our entire territory.

They're trying to take down CompuServe and Prodigy, but we could get caught in the crossfire.

All I'm saying is, if we're about to go to war, it'd be nice to have you in the fight.

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[Elevator dings]

[Telephone rings]

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Jesus. It has video now.

Mother--

[Whirring]

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No, Abe, you needed to fully implement

-the updates this morning -You try reformatting HTML with a screaming 6-month-old in your arm.

Oh, that's just great timing, isn't it?

-Oh, yeah, it is. -Yeah. Okay, good.

♪♪

She'll be right with you.

Thank you.

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Carrot, grapefruit, little bit of ginger.

Mmm.

Microsoft didn't get the bump they wanted from the Home announcement.

I know. Two hundredths of a point.

Well, Windows is still the official O.S. of the White House.

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[Sighs]

Good morning.

First off, thanks for calling us in this morning.

Believe me, if you hadn't had reached out, we would've --

You know, we would've been bothering you to get in here because we are just so darn excited about some of these steps we're taking to surpass Mosaic.

By the time we are done fully implementing, it'll be like, "Mosaic? What's Mosaic?"

So, just to catch you up,

Millennium now supports...

Right.

Uh, inline images.

Yeah, we got a stop button right there to halt web-page loads. See?

And, uh, we should have our very own "hotlists" soon.

Video?

Yes. Yes, of course.

We are hard at work on that. Matter of days.

We've also been proactive with our branding efforts -- you know, getting our name out there.

Greg, the mouse pads, please.

Greg, the mouse pads, please.

You know, to spread the word, and, um, our download numbers, while not Mosaic's, are really starting to edge out Loadstar, so...

But we don't want to be just chasing Mosaic, do we?

You guys are too talented for that.

You need to be pursuing your own vision, not aping somebody else's, right?

We couldn't agree more. Yes.

[Chuckles] Wonderful.

Then we are all set.

I was really rooting for you guys.

Thanks, Donna. We really appreciate it.

Did we just get defunded?

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Ahh.

-Get your hands off me. -You asked.

I said don't touch me, Abe!

Jesus!

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[Drumming]

[Cheers and applause]

[Cheers and applause]

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Oh, oh, oh! All right!

All right. [Laughs]

[Cheering]

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Yeah!

[Cheers and applause]

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[Cheering]

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[Cheers and applause]

Yeah!

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[Cheers and applause]

Wow.

Look who it is.

I was on the company invite list.

Mm.

So you do get e-mails.

-Have you seen Mosaic? -I saw Mosaic.

I haven't heard from you in five months.

Now you're just here.

Honestly, I didn't even know you were in the country.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I should've --

You know, I-I thought I was gonna find time to talk to you.

I didn't know the party was gonna be so --

Look, look, look. Don't worry about it.

To be honest with you, I'm not even that mad.

Joe's gonna kill you.

Is he here?

Joe MacMillan at a party?

You've been out of the loop for a while.

Bosworth: Well, come on! [Laughs]

Ah!

Hey, what the heck are you doing here?

My God! Look!

I'm -- I'm doing some, um, promotion for my new game.

Yeah, The Pilgrim, sure. I've seen it.

Ooh, looks spooky. Ooh.

By the way, John absolutely loved that sailing compass.

Oh, oh. Sure. I got it mounted right on the bulkhead.

You know, we got to get over there and see these guys some time. Soon?

Once Diane figures out how to make it business write-off.

[Chuckles]

Gee, John, thanks.

I'm kidding.

Oh, I mean, you guys are welcome whenever you want.

I just saw Joanie, so I'm gonna go say hi.

Okay. Good to see you.

Hey, uh... when are you gonna take me out on that boat?

Oh, we'll get out there soon, Cap'n.

I'm gonna go get cleaned up.

Okay. You need it.

See you guys in a little bit.

[Chuckling] Okay.

By the looks of all this,

CalNect pulls down, what, 50, 60 mil a year?

60.

Well, hell, 75 now that they're down in Arizona.

Still, 25 ISP competitors in the landscape and growing, and CalNect isn't a member of the C.I.X. and won't be anytime soon.

Well, yeah.

Gordon's pretty good at watching his henhouse.

I wouldn't worry.

John, all I'm saying is that with AOL coming to town, all of this seems overly optimistic, don't you think?

[Applause]

♪♪

Cameron?

[Both laugh]

Oh, my God. Oh, my God!

-I can't believe you're here! -Okay.

Oh, my God! Guys, listen.

This is Cameron. Like -- like, the Cameron Howe.

-Yes. -Nice, dude.

-She invented Space Bike. -Mm-hmm.

What's the other one called?

Pilgrim.

Right.

That is so cool.

Do you wanna play Mortal Kombat?

Yeah. [Chuckles]

Oh...no. You guys go ahead.

♪ That's how we do it every single day ♪

Haley?

Hi.

Hi!

Um, o hisashiburi desu ne.

Oh. Impressive. [Laughs]

I've been, you know, practicing off those CDs you sent.

Yes. Well, gengo o hitotsu wa kesshite tarinai.

Um...

Anata wa subarashi ninjindesu.

-[Laughs] -No?

-No. -No, what?

You said I was an awesome carrot.

[Laughs]

Oh.

You don't have to worry.

My mom's not here.

[Indistinct conversations]

-Hey, man. -Hey.

Good to see ya.

I didn't think you'd make it.

Glad to know I can still surprise you.

So, um, no present?

Actually, I did get you something.

I was kidding.

A whole box of them at the front counter at Blockbuster.

Jesus. AOL's everywhere now.

I'm, uh -- I'm in this fight with you.

But I want Shep's office. It gets the most sunlight.

Done.

Um...

Cameron's here.

Okay, so I've got http//cad.ucla /edu/repository/bonsai/html.

Yep. That's it.

You're a fellow bonsai enthusiast, I take it?

No.

But I'm gonna check out your website.

Okay.

[Indistinct conversations]

I heard you didn't come to parties anymore.

It's Gordon's birthday.

How's Tom?

Tom is good.

He, um...

He just got promoted to head of development at Sega, so...

That's great.

You're mad at me.

["Happy Birthday" playing]

♪ Happy birthday, happy birthday ♪

Wouldn't you be?

♪ Happy birthday, happy birthday ♪

♪ Happy birthday, happy birthday ♪

Yeah.

[Cheering]

♪ Happy, happy birthday in a hot bath ♪

♪ To those nice, nice nights ♪

♪ I remember always, always I got such a fright ♪

♪ Seeing them in my dark cupboard ♪

I got to go.

♪ With my great big cake ♪

♪ If they were, if they were me ♪

Thank you all for coming!

[Cheering]

["Doll Parts" playing]

♪ I am ♪

Can I have a whiskey?

♪ Doll eyes ♪

♪ Doll mouth ♪

♪ Doll legs ♪

♪ I am ♪

♪ Doll arms ♪

♪ Big veins ♪

♪ Dog bait ♪

♪ Yeah, they really want you ♪

♪ They really want you ♪

♪ They really do ♪

♪ Yeah, they really want you ♪

♪ They really want you ♪

♪ And I do, too ♪

♪ I want to be the girl with the most cake ♪

♪ He only loves those things ♪

♪ Because he loves to see them break ♪

♪ I fake it so real, I am beyond fake ♪

♪ And someday, you will ache like I ache ♪

♪ And someday, you will ache like I ache ♪

♪ And someday, you will ache like I ache ♪

♪ And someday, you will ache like I ache ♪

♪ And someday, you will ache like I ache ♪

Am I cruel?

Of course not.

♪ Someday, you will ache like I ache ♪

Why would you ask that?

♪ And someday, you will ache like I ache ♪

All right.

♪ And someday, you will ache like I ache ♪

♪ And someday, you will ache like I ache ♪

♪ Someday, you will ache like I ache ♪

[Video game music playing]

[Groans]

What time is it?

Crack of noon. Rise and shine.

Oh, God. You're a monster.

Pete can give you a ride home if you need one.

Who's Pete?

My driver. You'll love him.

He used to be a city tax planner and loves books on tape.

[Sighs]

Is it dark in the car?

Can I sleep in there with the A.C. on?

Of course.

As long as you're all right with the dulcet tones of Robert Ludlum thrillers.

Man, Donut Plains 3 is impossible.

Battle mode?

[Sighs]

Yeah, you're on.

All right.

Oh, Jesus.

All right, you got to pick a guy.

What, Toad? Really?

Mm-hmm.

He corners the best.

Interesting.

Okay, there's a decent chance this is gonna make me barf.

You and Joanie are in the same boat this morning.

[Sighs]

Whoa! You can throw banana peels?

How'd you get so good at this?

I got my hands on a prototype cartridge about a year and a half ago.

Man, you really brought the Southwest in here, didn't you, Gordon?

Easy.

How much longer are you in town for?

I don't know.

Oh.

But if you want to see the craziest thing, you should swing by the focus-group testing for my new game.

It's like "Altered States" but with market research instead of LSD.

That damn game better be good.

Of course, right when I get a red shell.

Here.

You tell me if it's good.

"Pilgrim."

Hm.

I'm glad you're doing so well, Gordon.

[Sighs] Thanks.

Yeah.

I'm doing really, really great.

I mean, last night, I got to be a human paintbrush.

I saw that.

You know, CalNect is -- it's kicking ass.

Well, I'm sorry that Loadstar has to be the exception.

-I -- -Come on.

You know, if I'm being totally honest, as time wore on, the browser just became more of a side project for me.

It's always been Joe's baby.

Joe.

I saw him last night.

And?

Oh, Gordon, it didn't go that well.

Well, that's probably for the best.

For who?

For him.

[Horn honking]

Oh, shit!

What?

The girls haven't left yet.

Haley, Joanie! Come on! Let's go!

Gordon?

No, she never comes in. Don't worry.

[Honking resumes]

All right, well, um, I'll see you Wednesday.

[Door opens]

Mm-hmm. Love you, too.

[Door closes]

Joanie, let's go!

[Knock on door]

Gordon?

[Door closes]

Oh. [Chuckles]

Uh, have you seen Mosaic?

Yes.

I was surprised it wasn't you.

Hey. Uh...

She may have gotten into the [clicks tongue]

Dad.

Get out here.

Thanks for this.

Yeah.

Anytime.

[Door closes]

She rarely comes in.

[Sighs]

Shep: As expected, the flat fee and unkept usage dinged the overall revenue initially, but now we're in the volume business.

The user base just keeps going up.

Then this isn't a rebound. It's sustained growth.

That's good.

Only problem is the pipe's getting tight.

We're starting to clog a little bit with all that data.

MCI hears how well we're doing, they're gonna want to renegotiate the sweetheart deal before they give us more bandwidth on their twisted pair network.

We could balk and try PacBell, but at the end of the day, we'd want to keep our backbone provider happy, whoever they are.

What do you think, Gordon?

Uh, if MCI wants more money, fine.

We've got it. Let's give it to them.

AOL's not the only one with deep pockets.

Let's stay ahead of this.

Shep, get a call in.

And, uh, Joe, thanks for sitting in today.

[Door closes]

What is this?

Loadstar.

Is that the finished browser?

You've just been sitting on this?

Couldn't get around to handing it in?

No. I finished it last night.

So, it was, what, a day of work?

Joe, I've been working on this for weeks.

You know, you didn't have to sit around and wait for me.

If you were in such a rush, you could have hired somebody else to do the coding.

You don't get it. I needed you.

We needed you to care, and you didn't.

We had almost a year on the Mosaic guys, but we blew it, and now...

If you had just been here, actually been available...

Well, I couldn't be here. That was the deal.

And it was a raw deal for me.

And it's just a shame.

It's a shame that 5,000 miles away wasn't far enough.

[Scoffs]

What is this about?

Look, I made this better than it had any right to be, and I did so while dealing with a lot of my own stuff.

Oh, right, your game.

I'm sure that was tough, being funded, promoted, coddled.

I've been alone on this, working by myself for three years.

Do you want to talk about what we're really talking about?

♪♪

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If we had worked on this... together... it could have been amazing.

[Sighs]

What do you want me to do?

Nothing.

It's too late.

And I, um, got to get back to work, so...

[Sighs]

You know, the way things are growing... you're gonna run out of Post-its pretty soon.

Well, tell Oregon they're not a big enough market for Digital Subscriber investments.

Let's get started.

Well, first off, let me just say, on behalf of the Rover brain trust, it's great to see you again.

We're moving past the beta phase.

We are already underway in three med schools, with requests for two more.

A little more sobering, though, is that we've gone through our seed round just a hair faster than expected, and now...

Now you need more money.

Vera: Well, yes.

It's either that or we let some people go -- interns, mostly.

But this is still enterprise software,

B2B currently focused only on medical records.

Yes, through binary queries into the data pool, but we're refining comparisons to make things more versatile.

Okay, I'll just cut to the chase here.

I've given you enough funding for a medical database program.

If you want more funding, I will need a bigger idea.

Let's talk again in 24 hours.

Uh, that's a mighty quick turnaround.

[Chuckles]

Yes. Yes, it is.

Joe: Gordon.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

What's up?

I've got something.

We can still be the door.

Maybe it's not a browser. In fact, it shouldn't be.

We're gonna build a website that is accessible from any browser.

Like a -- Like a website of websites, an index of everything, like a directory.

What, like the Yellow Pages?

Yes, but more than that.

I don't have the full thing yet, but --

Look, Joe.

Joe, let me stop you right there.

I thought you were back on the business, our business, this business.

When are you gonna wake up?

What?

You're sleepwalking.

I mean, what the hell was that party, Gordon?

I wanted to celebrate our success.

You're trying to convince yourself that it's okay to stop when every fiber of your being is telling yourself to keep going.

I've been telling you for years that you are a builder.

You need to build.

You know what, Joe? I built this.

I built all of this when you were downstairs in the basement screwing around with Post-it notes.

Did Cameron put you up to this?

I noticed that she stopped by today.

Of course she did.

[Door opens, closes]

Look, all we're asking is that you put the game's controls in the manual.

-No. -That's it.

No, the worst thing you can do with a magic trick is explain how it works.

No matter how much the audience asks, it's so much more rewarding if they get to discover it for themselves.

You have to respect the player.

Hey!

[Door closes]

[Door opens]

So?

[Door closes]

It's a trip, huh?

Cameron, what are you doing here?

I told you. I have to promote the game.

No, I mean, what are you doing here?

This shit was all behind us.

The browser?

Joe.

You have no idea how hard he's worked to get back to where he is -- how hard I've worked.

And now, all of a sudden, you know, you feel guilty about no-showing on Loadstar.

You come back into his life and you got him spinning.

-I didn't do anything. -Look, you spent five minutes with him in the basement, and now he's convinced that you've handed him fire from the mountaintop.

Look, I'm not saying that you're doing this on purpose, but every single time that you come back into his life --

I owed him that work.

I owed both of you.

You know, yesterday you asked me if you were cruel.

[Knock on door]

Sorry. We only have the room until 10:00.

[Door closes]

It was great to see you, Gordon.

♪♪

[Door opens, closes]

Gordon: Yeah. I mean, isn't that why God created hangovers -- teach teenagers not to drink so much?

Drinking is one thing.

Okay, well, it's better off at home with one of us than somewhere else, right?

Gordon, it's fine.

She told you she's not going to college yet, or is she still just torturing me with that one?

It's a positive that our daughter has such a free spirit.

Well, Joanie is certainly resourceful.

You wouldn't believe the variety of household items -- fruit, even -- she's found a way to smoke pot out of.

Well, there's your selling point right there.

She'd love Berkeley.

I'll talk to her.

Thank you.

It was weird to see Cameron the other day, especially in your sweatpants.

Oh, well, you know, she's always had a major, major thing for me.

No.

Yeah, well, I liked that you thought it was even a possibility.

You know what she said to me about Mosaic?

She said, "I was surprised it wasn't you."

What is that supposed to mean?

I don't know.

Her latest visit's got Joe jumping up and down

-about some new idea. -Of course.

Yeah, I mean, he suddenly thinks he should index every website in existence.

How would you even do that?

Trust me, he's been meticulously building a list of URLs -- by hand -- for the last three years.

That sounds awfully tedious.

Yeah, well, you know.

Joe -- dog with a bone.

That he is.

And Cameron loves to shit out rainbows to distract from her asshole behavior.

Wow. [Clears throat]

I'm gonna do the salmon. You?

Sounds good. I'll do the same.

Here's to Mosaic... and the respective death of our competing browsers.

Good news. We nailed it.

Magazines.

We use the algorithm to index back catalogs of major publications one magazine at a time.

Voilà -- a trove of text documents with an unstructured data problem just waiting to be solved.

No, that's not it.

Oh. Uh, we also discussed legal service -- backlogs of briefs and precedents.

-Well, we -- -Look, this is all dead data.

What's growing?

What can we apply the algorithm to that's dynamic?

We're in the future business here.

I don't know how we index live data.

Ah, well, then that's unfortunate.

Cecil: Uh, well, what about the Web?

The -- The number of websites has grown 500% this year alone.

By next year, it could grow exponentially.

At that point, the data pool's theoretically limitless.

We'd have to adjust the algorithm, but we could endeavor to index the entire Web, make it searchable.

And how would you index it?

W-With the algorithm.

It'd be fully automated and computerized.

That means it'd be up to date almost instantly with every new site addition.

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[Sighs]

♪♪

That's it.

That's the idea.

♪♪

[Telephone rings]

Joe: Don't tell me the reward for solving Enso puzzle was getting transported back to the beginning of the game.

[Chuckles]

I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you.

Oh.

So the Enso is a zero, and I've got to start over.

Or maybe it means everything.

Now you can approach the path you've taken in an entirely new way.

Mm.

I'm sorry about the other day.

I was just having trouble believing that the browser was done, and I know that that is...over now.

I do.

Regardless, I don't want five months or five years to go by before I hear from you.

[Sighs]

So don't disappear again.

I want to... know you in my life.

You already know me, Joe.

[Chuckles]

I'm not going back to Japan.

Tom left me.

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