BLATANT PLUG

"Everybody loves monkeys. They're such cute, funny little animals. They like to smile, dance, eat, bite, and throw warm clumps of feces when they're angry. They're like little people.

Now you can have your very own screeching pet primate with PocketMonkey."

I MISS WiReD

Once upon a time there was a magazine that had the best stuff about the best people doing the best things.

It was in a loud hypermedia style with just enough slickness to be professional. Designers loved it and hated it, which was a good sign.

It was also the thin edge of a wedge being driven by people who had a definite vision of what the world should be, and who were taking the time to try to make it happen.

It lasted about three years at full speed, then the slipping started. Issues couldn't be taken for granted; you began asking people if it was worth reading this month. Earlier you never had to ask -- you had to buy one before it sold out. More recently [it's in year 8 now] it got bought by the GQ people, and really, that was its final and very deep burial. We will never see that fantastic magazine under the original name again.

But I'd buy the successor in a second.

Where is it?

Don't tell me that era's past. Wired MADE it's own era. When it was started in 1993 the racks were filled with the same dreck they are now. Don't tell me, "it's all on the Net now." It sure is -- which is why everybody is scrambling to be a portal. With that much info we need editors. Trusted editors. And we need a clear time frame on what we're reading -- ie, "Wow, this is a great site, but how old is the info? Is there better info out there?" So you surf and surf and surf ... and pretty much forget why you started, and never get back to reading the content that got you interested. People will continue to buy magazines because a magazine has a visible style, a grouping of information that indicates its bias, and regular issuing. The web is great. I love the web. But the web doesn't have the tell-tale bulk a magazine has -- what I use to budget my time with. And I can't flip through the web nearly so easily to grok the contents of a site. And we like regularity: structure is an illusion we will always drape over the chaos in order to stay sane. A monthly shot of good stuff is a highly manageable dosage. A magazine is a good, developed form.

A magazine is a portal. And because a magazine is a portal, advertisers will want access to those eyeballs. With that advertising a magazine can pay writers and photographers and designers and editors. Dead tree media is made no more dead by the web than pencils are by pens. We want 'em both.

I just miss having a good tech/art/science/future/now read once a month. I've got my $8.95 just waiting for that content again. Hell, that's a full quarter of what I pay for web access. There's a market here.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Louis Rossetto

Jane Metcalfe

John Plunkett

Barbara Kuhr

Kevin Kelly

Nicholas Negroponte

John Perry Barlow

Stewart Brand

Art Kleiner

Steven Levy

Howard Rheingold

Paul Saffo

Michael Schrage

Bruce Sterling

oh the list goes on...