Shooting Star
Bad guys shoot her, grrrl gamers champion and criticize her, the media - ahem - overexposes her, but Lara Croft has a longevity that turns fleshier sex symbols green. Her popularity, well, "it's probably got to do with my independence and ease with a gun," she explains from her offices at Eidos Interactive. "Oh, and having a ponytail that swings." That swinging hair will be everywhere this holiday season, when Tomb Raider III hits PC screens. And in 1999 her big-screen début will doubtlessly draw gangs of salivating teens (and adults). The latest rumors have Demi Moore standing in for the synthespian, to which Croft offers a very human reaction: "My only concern is the extent of her plastic surgery."
Gal Gamer
Among other accomplishments, Julann Griffin founded online game company BoxerJam Productions, cocreated Jeopardy, and started First Women's Bank of California. "I was much more of a feminist then," the 69-year-old says. "When I was turned down for credit after my divorce from Merv Griffin in '73, I decided to start a bank." Nowadays, she takes her skill at creating game shows to the bank. Visitors finish 5.2 million games each month at BoxerJam.com and the BoxerJam site on AOL, her two online ventures. That's some three times the number on a similar area on The Microsoft Network. But doesn't Griffin miss LA life? "Not at all," she shrugs from her new home in Charlottesville, Virginia. "All my friends come to visit my farm. I have a pig as big as a sofa."
Groundbreaker
"You'll know it's the Microsoft campus," says Alfred Quezada, who designed the empire's new Silicon Valley outpost, slated for a fall '99 opening, "but it's not going to jump out and bite your car." With 1,800 employees - including those from WebTV, HotMail, and a Windows development lab - the 32-acre ecofriendly complex in Mountain View will feature an electric-car recharging station and access to wetland trails. The new campus won't look like Redmond, insists Quezada, nor the neighboring Netscape digs. "We're going for timeless dignity - not the billboard approach."
Drug Czar
"We're building a new online-commerce business. It's called DrugStore.com," Peter Neupert says, reticently describing his new venture, an online pharmacy to launch next month. And the devil will be in the details: After all, would you buy your Zoloft online? But such circumspect divulgences are de rigueur for founders of Internet companies - especially those who learned the trade at Microsoft. Neupert toiled for Bill for 12 years, most recently as VP of news and marketing, where he managed properties like MSNBC and Slate. Now, with considerable funding from Kleiner Perkins and rumored deals with Amazon.com, Neupert's eager to test his own business acumen. "At Microsoft you never knew if success was a result of your decisions or the company's decisions," he explains. "Although I'll miss having the brand to throw around."
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