2600: The Hacker Quarterly, Fall 1999

The Answer Is: Way over my head and fear of reprisals. Or in Jeopardy parlance the question is "Name two reasons why you haven’t reviewed this magazine."

Not only that, but the Hacker Quarterly looks amateurish. Haphazardly typed. Abominable layout. Mondo 2000’s Evil Twin. The other annoying aspect about it is that it’s clear that the writers are smarter than you are. This is a prose full of Rift Representations, Edgar Databases, HyTeK pseudonyms, Protel cocots and other stuff meant only for the deeply wired. I’ve come to the conclusion that these people are smarter than I am.

(I might note that since I’m publicly admitting my inferiority there’s no need for you to hack my site and scrawl silly things across the pages. You’re too good for that. Besides, if I remember correctly, I believe my host is Antionline, and they can’t be broken into!!!)

That stated: I highly recommend the Fall 1999 issue of 2600. True, it’s not pretty, not reader friendly in any conceivable fashion, but I read some stories that I know that I won’t be reading anywhere else.

For example, you may have read about quantum computing and how it might represent a great leap forward. Well, in 2600 you get an article by a guy who’s created a computer simulation of a quantum computer and posted it on his website. (The simulation is called OpenQubit and the site is called www.openqubit.org if you’re interested.) You know, it’s called Quantum Hacking, but the story is really more of a primer as to how quantum computing works and how it would make all secrets, all encryption pretty much worthless. It doesn’t go into, say, how encryption would work in a universe of quantum computing or how those computers might be hacked. The other interesting question raised but not answered: could a quantum simulation be as good as the real thing?

Yet another interesting piece, broadening the definition of hacking to that of curiosity and minor mischief, dealt with walking around the underground tunnels at Disneyland. It didn’t involve any arcane commands but simply knowing where the hidden doors were and who to avoid when you’re walking in the tunnels. They even provided a map. Another related story explained how to get into computer kiosks that are littered throughout Magic Kingdom.

The letters pages are always a lot of fun. Several themes seem to emerge. One theme is that Kevin Mitnick got railroaded and here’s why. The other theme is The Tortured Hacker. I found this theme to be much more compelling and quite scary from a civil liberties viewpoints. In fact, after reading this I would recommend that you not even carry an issue of 2600 into a high school. You’ll definitely get the Columbine Prevention Treatment. Just for carrying 2600 one kid got banned from all programming classes and is no longer allowed to visit the computer lab. Editor Emmanual Goldstein (Yeah, the same guy from 1984.) urged that kid to report his problem to the ACLU. I hope he takes him up on it.

Red Herring, October

Red Herring this month featured a profile of Silicon Valley’s most public UFO’s Are Here spokesman, Joe Firmage.

They not only interview him but they publish one of his letters as well. Big news in the feature story is that Joe is creating a company that looks and sounds a lot like Bill Gross’ Idealab, the insatiably profitable company whose main goal is to build other companies—Etoys and Goto are former highly valued creations. Joe’s company is called "Intend Change" and would do similar things. If past history is any indication, then he’ll probably be pretty successful.

Conversation then veered off into Mr. Firmage’s personal life and the fallout of his publicized beliefs and his subsequent resignation from his high profile job at USWeb. "It was a very very painful process. But I was willing to roll the dice and give up what I had invested to be able to participate openly in what I consider to be one of the greatest revolutions in history." He explains his point further in his letter where he claims institutional science has lost it’s spirit of discovery. In response to an argument asking why the extraterestials haven’t bothered to call home Firmage makes the lucid point that we’re making the assumption that intelligent life communicates by way of radio. (Wouldn’t quantum communication be more reasonable since there’s a hint that it’s instantaneous. Just a random thought.)

So, if you’re already a Firmage fan, that alone makes this issue for you. Have to be honest though, the other stuff didn’t appeal to me so much. Their lead stories on failure and internet appliances just didn’t do it for me. There were some interesting profiles on ten top moves and shakers. Technohypist George Gilder was there and the aforementioned Bill Gross. Except for the Firmage stuff, not an interesting read this month.

Business 2.0, October 1999

As per usual, the biz trend stuff in this month’s Business 2.0 didn’t interest me that much, but when they do science reporting they do it well. Their feature on Molecular reporting gave some depth and perspective to some stories that you’ve probably already read if you’ve been following the Sporadic Meme section consistently.

It has to do with a pair of scientists who’ve built molecular sized logic gates for computers. This would mean the reality of something tantamount to wristwatch Crays. Or as it’s quoted in the story: "We’re not talking about wristwatch computers. They are literally so small they’d be woven into your clothing or spread on the wall embedded in paint."

Further, there’s Drexler-inspired speculation about what you could do with such small computers: "Molecular computers could be dispatched into the bloodstream to combat illness, painted on walls, mixed into asphalt to create smart road surfaces or even in nail polish." The article even goes on to mention other promising molecular technologies such as MIT’s attempt to program e coli bacteria into becoming nanochip factories.

The other interesting story for me, or for someone who dreams of getting a penny a read for some of the reviews that he writes, is a story about the possible comeback for micropayments. On paper and in this article it sounds like a pretty good idea: Just arrange deals with the ISP’s so that you can bill each surfer’s ISP. They’re struggling to get their plan off the ground but their initial marketing shows some promise. During their trials real people actually used their product and even though they weren’t spending much they were spending enough if you imagine large numbers of transactions.

Finally, in the Will I ever see broadband internet access in my lifetime department, there were two good stories about wireless transmission possibly offering a solution and also Lucent’s new fiber optic tech making an inroad. The advantages of wireless is that you wouldn’t have to spend a lot of time digging up city infrastructures. Lucent’s new technology—Wavestar Optic Air Unit—could theoretically be used by wireless transmission stations to transmit messages. There’s a theory that these kinds of devices could beat DSL or cable technologies to the punch. That just might be true.

Digital South, October 1999

My personal dream is to listen to Steely Dan, The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa on the same CD.

Turns out, according to a short piece with a similar lead that I read in Digital South—kind of a Wired/Red Herring styled magazine dealing south of the Mason Dixon line—there is a company doing that right now and they’re called Musicmaker. They’re located down south and they specialize in custom made CD’s. You can get five songs for $9.99 and I’m going to make one of my dreams come true very soon.

That isn’t the only cool story I read in what I’m guessing is the magazine’s 12^th issue.

One story dealt with a company that believes that it can revolutionize fiber optic transmission. Situated in a place these inventors have renamed Photon Beach (which sounds like a John Varley novel and is really Boca Roton). They think they have a plan to make fiber optics transmission more efficient. Somebody is betting that they’re right because they’ve already secured millions in funding.

Yet another story that I thought was kind of interesting was a company that builds rich media software. Apparently, they want to become a cheaper more accessible alternative to Macromedia. These stories kind of read mostly like promo pieces, nothing quite as hard hitting as Red Herring which routinely and derisively debunks certain business plans.

The overall feel of the magazine is quite good. The stories were quite readable and there was no technobabble to speak of. There were also some profiles of southern movers and shakes in high tech. Just to show you how ignorant I am of the region I wasn’t aware there were any despite Dell being in Texas.

I can't say I was blown away by it, but it looks promising. I think it will get better.

Wired 4.1, October 1999

For those of us who worship at the burning chrome altar of William Gibson, the October issue of Wired is a must read.

His issue featured a number of meaty stories about the rise of the digital film industry. Mr. Gibson’s contribution involved reviewing a number of digital short films in his own uniquely stylish way.

Keep in mind that the modern and relatively inexpensive nature of digital filmmaking has given rise to quality from unexpected places, namely PI and Blair Witch as of late. You get the sense from Gibson, who watched these shorts with his daughter, that even though they weren’t great they were extremely interesting and that the future will be even better.

As always, his praise is stylish and hip. Here he commends the directorial approach of Hal Hartley in his short :

"The film displays a fine nervous energy, heightened by loose-limbed camerawork, Hartley seemed to relish the so-called limits of digital filmmaking: His images smear, blur, judder, pixilate, and twist. It’s a weirdly compelling grammar he assembles, and the film is funny, tender, and vertiginous."

This is kind of must reading this month for anybody who’s curious about the future of film. Lot of other good stuff as well. There’s a profile on what’s wrong with the economy of Japan, a sober Forbes like piece on AOL, and even a review of Gibson’s newest book: "All of Tomorrow’s Parties". Which apparently is a sequel to both Virtual Light and Idoru. Yep. Worth every penny this month.