Pssssst! Hey buddy! Wanna buy some crystals?

April 14, 2003 2:02 PM

Who Is J. Hutton "Jovan"?Good question, since on every other page on this site he calls himself "J. Hutton Pulitzer," with a prominent Joseph Pulitzer quote to imply he's family. See, he "changed his birth name ... to shake the hold he felt his "Family Name" had over his life." Gosh, was it that, or maybe the fact that under his real name, J. Jovan Philyaw, he's the bozo behind the huge CueCat boondoggle? You be the judge! After all, 'J. Hutton has created many "first".' And look at his impressive company headquarters! Oh wait, that's just an office building that remains unnamed on this page. Still, you can take his word that "The Pulitzer Collection represents Gods’ devine communication of Himself and beauty to humanity." (via Dallas Observer, via Romenesko)
posted by soyjoy (20 comments total)

From the site: "J. Hutton Pulizter is proud to announce he is nearing completition of two new books!"

Let's hope Pulizter's proofreaders are nearing completition of his web site.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 2:08 PM on April 14, 2003

Yeah, the typos, even when talking about God (or is it "Gods"?) seem to suggest a very quick slap-together, but even more fun can be had counting the number of times, and different ways, he links to the same page of Computer World Heroes finalists from the CueCat's early (still in high-bamboozle) days, as evidence of all the great things he's created and all the accolades received for them.
posted by soyjoy at 2:23 PM on April 14, 2003

At least he's modest.
posted by zpousman at 2:24 PM on April 14, 2003

I got a year's free Internet access from Jovan's show, NetTalk Live, when he was still affiliated with a local ISP in Dallas called InternetAmerica. He used to have this great porn star mullet haircut, and for a while was known simply as "Jovan." If I were an investor, I can't imagine a person I'd be less confident giving money to.
posted by rcade at 2:25 PM on April 14, 2003

Since 1987, J. Hutton Pulitzer has been rewriting Media, Marketing, Entertainment and Publishing history.

Indeed.
posted by gwint at 2:37 PM on April 14, 2003

J. Hutton's obvious "Invention and Passion Gene"

If it's as tumescent and purple as his website's prose, I'm outta here.
posted by LinusMines at 2:45 PM on April 14, 2003

That picture, according to the image name, is of the Providence Towers in Dallas, which is where the address says he's located. This page for another tenant has a different picture of the same building. The address says "Suite 400E" which anyone ought to recognize as an office within a big office building, and not uncommon at all.

The guy's a tool and a fraud and all, I agree, but like Communism, the office building thing is only a red herring.
posted by rusty at 2:48 PM on April 14, 2003

Check out this alternate-universe history of the :Cue:Cat:.
posted by mr_roboto at 2:55 PM on April 14, 2003

I remember, as a UK subscriber, being briefly annoyed that my copy of Wired didn't come with a cover-mounted CueCat. Only briefly...
posted by punilux at 3:09 PM on April 14, 2003

Oooh! I think I found some plagiarism! On the "Pulitzer Collection" page, there's this spiel about Michelangelo:

There has never been a more literally awesome artist than Michelangelo....not so much being terrible as being awesome.

This is lifted, with a minimal rearrangement of sentences, directly from the WebMuseum's Michelangelo page; second hit on a Google search for "Michelangelo". The rearrangement makes the text significantly less coherent.

Material at the WebMuseum is under a Creative Commons license, which Pulitzer, or Jovan, or whoever, has violated by failing to attribute the quotation. In addition, Jovan has failed to note that the material on the "Pulitzer Collection" page is available under a Creative Commons license, which I'm pretty sure is an additional violation of the license. Maybe I'll email the museum about this...

Jesus, I just Googled the stuff on Edison, and it's from the Encyclopaedia Britannica. I'd be suprised to find an entire page on this site without an instance of plagarism.
posted by mr_roboto at 3:38 PM on April 14, 2003

tumescent

\Tu*mes"cent\, a. Slightly tumid; swollen, as certain moss capsules.
posted by y6y6y6 at 3:50 PM on April 14, 2003

as certain moss capsules

Hey!
posted by moss at 4:14 PM on April 14, 2003

Sounds like a man after Kimball's heart. Meet the new hustle, same as the old...
posted by Dean_Paxton at 4:15 PM on April 14, 2003

The CueCat was great...once you figured out how to use it for something rewarding, that is, and ditched the spyware...er, software that came with it. There's quite a bit of code out that allows you to make use of the CueCat as a really cheap UPC barcode reader in your own apps.
posted by FormlessOne at 4:27 PM on April 14, 2003

Or as a wicked cool pez dispenser.
posted by yhbc at 6:53 PM on April 14, 2003

rusty - yeah, it seems like a cheap shot, but look at the photo on the right: That's the lobby of Providence Towers (it couldn't be on the 400 level), but it's captioned "J. Hutton Pulitzer - Business With Meaning!" to further push that grandiose envelope. It's a small thing, I agree, but for me it pushed it over the top.
posted by soyjoy at 6:53 PM on April 14, 2003

It's a small thing, I agree, but for me it pushed it over the top.

Yeah, I'm here in Dallas and have been in that building...that shot is from near elevator banks, looking towards the entryway.

And yes...he's a dweeb.
posted by dejah420 at 7:24 PM on April 14, 2003

My friend's toilet seat wouldn't stay up. Not a huge deal except on nights of much beer drinking and the inevitable pissing... drunken pissing with one hand while holding up the seat with the other hand makes for a wet floor. So, we tied the trusty CueCat around the towel rack over the toilet and through the toilet seat to keep it up. Only useful function we found for it.
posted by thatweirdguy2 at 9:10 PM on April 14, 2003

I used to work at the tv station whose studios Jovan used to film Net Talk Live. Oh boy, was that man mocked.
posted by LeiaS at 11:51 PM on April 14, 2003

CueCat today.
posted by pekar wood at 4:46 AM on April 15, 2003