This was Amiga history in the making, for on this fateful weekend, the now famous Penn & Teller Toaster video was made. Lou and I ate the food and got in the way of just about everyone. That was our contribution. And we saw the Toaster in action for real! I won’t repeat the jokes. I can’t tell you if Teller has a last name or vocal cords. But 1 will say this: We wanted a Toaster, That wish has been granted. There is now a new item lurking in the recesses of Lou Wallace's cave-like confines. A real NewTek Video Toaster is now attached to several monitors, a Super VHS deck, and a video camera that’s mounted on an electric motion-control device. This is the real deal, pal. This is why we decided it was sale to do another cover story about the Toaster. The Toaster is just the beginning. We are hearing from a wide variety of vendors about other breakthrough products. People are starting to think big. And we will cover these as they appear. But for this October issue, we’re having toast. You Did It: Sue West of Commodore recently dropped me a line commenting on the AmigaWorld letters drive. That’s where we coerce and cajole our readers into writing to important publications that ignore the Amiga. If you read this column regularly, you’ve heard about this tactic a million times. According to Commodore, which tracks the press, it’s working. Sue sent me letters from six publications, all singing the Amiga’s praises. About a week later, she sent me the best one of all. The July issue of Computer Graphics World had three letters about the Amiga, along with an editor’s note. Here’s a brief excerpt. “These are just a few of the comments we’ve received lately, encouraging us to include more information about the Amiga. As a result, we plan to step up our coverage of new and significant advances in Amiga technology.” Hats off to Amiga owners and letter writers George Bailey, Victor Osaka, and George Knocheland, and to Computer Graphics World for listening. Mass Market: As you may have read in Last Licks, Commodore has picked up a variety of high-end mass merchandisers to carry the A500. Some who are still smarting from the game-machine stigma are distressed. They see it as a step back. 1 don’t. I’ve talked to people who bought Amigas to play games. Now they are entering our animation contests, they are genlocking, and they are writing their own programs. I’m for anyone who is willing to sell an Amiga, and 1 congratulate Commodore on these new outlets. While Commodore is picking up outlets to sell the A500 to the home market, IBM and Tandy are getting serious with low-end DOS machines. Put an Amiga next to an Intel 8086-based wimp of a PC and see which the consumer will buy. AW Video Studio: Lou’s cave is generating excitement for reasons other than the Toaster. Sure, he’s got Tequila and Planet Lust. But we’ve also got a ton of video equipment on the way. Time-base correctors, tape decks, more genlocks, edit decks. You name it, we’re bringing it in. New Employees: Along with new equipment come new employees. We added two new jobs and hired two dynamite people to fill ’em. John Wolfskill is our new Senior Writer, Technology.