Seedling Capitalist
Maine governor Angus King is pushing a bold plan to help cultivate the state's economic future: Give every 7th-grader enrolled in public school - about 14,000 students per year - a free notebook computer with Net access. The initiative, now being considered by state legislators, has drawn criticism because it requires setting aside at least $50 million in taxpayer funds. But the politically independent governor is convinced that the program is essential to the state's financial health. Maine's per capita personal income ranks 37th among the 50 states, and the manufacturing and logging industries - its traditional economic base - continue to abandon the region. "Eighty years ago, I might have wanted to give every kid a chain saw," says King. "But now there's no doubt the people with the highest level of digital competence win."
Interdisciplinarian
Journalist Denise Caruso wrote her final Digital Commerce column for The New York Times last March, warning that the dotcom bubble was bound to burst. Two weeks later it did just that. These days, Caruso is lending her insight to the Hybrid Vigor Institute (www.hybridvigor.org), an online think tank she launched to support interdisciplinary collaboration among scientists. This summer, Hybrid Vigor - the name refers to the hardiness that results from crossbreeding - expects to publish its first quarterly newsletter highlighting a topic being studied by scientists from several disciplines (one issue is likely to be devoted to human vision, drawing on work from neurologists, physicists, and artists). The institute is also working on a browser that will help scientists turn up unexpected connections. "We're trying to automate serendipity," says Caruso, "and bring it to the desktop."
Method Man
F/xpert Alex Frisch is the man behind those eye-popping PlayStation2 commercials that feature gamers in the year 2078 maneuvering on a "PS9" using eye movement and even telepathy. Visual effects director at Santa Monica, California-based Method studio, Frisch is among a growing number of Tinseltown techies taking a starring role in the creative process. His vehicle:a laptop loaded with everyday effects apps and Method Software "sparks" (www.methodsoftware.com/nsoftware.html) - plug-ins for tools like Discreet Logic's flame, inferno, and combustion. "Digital artists used to be in the shadows, with no creative voice," Frisch says. "Now technology has freed us." Next on Frisch's desktop: creating visual effects for Brad Pitt's latest, The Mexican.
Lieutenant Kernel
Linus Torvalds has become a household name, but few have heard of Alan Cox, his right-hand man. The affable programmer is gatekeeper for the Linux operating system that's shipped on hundreds of thousands of corporate servers. Working from his home in Wales, Cox spends his time "keeping the kernel rock-solid" by incorporating bug fixes from developers around the world. This leaves Torvalds free to focus on the next version. Industry insiders single out Cox, who's now on Red Hat's payroll, as heir apparent should Torvalds grow tired of leading the movement, but Cox says he enjoys keeping a low profile. "At trade shows I can just hide my badge," he says, "and only the right people bother me."
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