MUST READ
The Queen of Trash TV
Who: Cathy Rogers, cocreator of The Learning Channel cult hit Junkyard Wars.
Woman Of Parts: Teams of JW contestants compete to build contraptions - a monster truck, a minesweeper - out of items scavenged from a junkyard. Rogers conceived the idea watching the scene in Apollo 13 in which astronauts fashion a CO2 filter from spare parts. The show moved from London to Los Angeles last year.
The Natural: A shy Brit, Rogers took on hosting duties after her coproducers realized their dream emcee - a smart, fun, hardware-loving woman - was right under their noses. The 33-year-old is remarkably relaxed in front of the camera. "I sort of find cocktail parties more intimidating," she says.
Ballsy Move: The Oxford grad was a med student in London when she dropped out to produce TV science shows. An early assignment: asking male members of Parliament whether they check themselves regularly for testicular cancer.
American Know-how: Next season, she wants to produce a celebrity episode. Rogers tried it back home, but found UK stars "useless," she says. "They don't even do their own cleaning much less make something out of a junkyard."
Big Name, Small Games
Who: John Romero, once and future game-programming legend.
Pocket Rocketeer: He pioneered the first-person shooter with id Software's 1992 Wolfenstein 3D and pushed the limits of the PC with Quake and Doom. Romero's new venture, year-old Monkeystone Games, is all about handhelds, from PDAs to cell phones. Just out: Hyperspace Delivery Boy! for the Pocket PC.
Calm After Storm: His last company, Ion Storm, faltered under a bloated staff, missed deadlines (Daikatana shipped a year late), and unmet promise. Monkeystone employs all of six people. Games go from conception to launch in six weeks. "It reminds me of the early days of programming," he says.
A Little Bit Country: Romero, 34, has shed the trappings of a rock-star lifestyle. Sort of. He put his yellow Ferrari on eBay, cut his hair, and moved to the small town of Quinlan, Texas. He drives a BMW 740iL and a Hummer. He and girlfriend Stevie Case, Monkeystone's COO/production coordinator and onetime Playboy model, care for three dogs, three cats, and two peacocks.
Who Was That Masked Man?
Who: Adrian Lamo, nomadic whitehat hacker.
Flaw Finder: Using only a Web browser, 21-year-old Lamo digs up private customer information hidden in plain sight. Poking around WorldCom last winter, he found URLs leading to unprotected Social Security numbers and payroll data. Lamo reported the flaw to WorldCom and helped fix the hole.
Off The Grid: For being so wired, Lamo is almost untraceable. He lives out of a daypack and works at night from free laptop stations at Kinko's stores all over the US. For sleep, he prefers abandoned buildings or friends' floors.
Under The Radar: To skirt WorldCom watchdogs, Lamo routed his datastream through a dozen different countries. "I pictured them sitting in a control room like the one in Mission: Impossible, backtracking my links on a big screen," he says. "Now I know they were oblivious to me."
Zen And The Art Of Hacking: Serendipity is an article of faith with Lamo. He rides Greyhound for the chance conversations and plays random hunches when exploring corporate servers.
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People
Home Entertainment Smackdown
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