RANTS & RAVES
The New Diamond Age
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Jill Greenberg
Ten hours, eight hands, and 11,952 lead crystals made the September cover sparkle. Scores of letters riffed on the evils of De Beers, the joys of our model, and the magic of what was holding up all those rocks. The photo is by Jill Greenberg, who shot our Matrix cover in May. The stones were applied by artist Mary Schook and secured with glue. Our New York-based cover girl, Cammy Kinney, sat for hours half-naked and nursing a cold (she's feeling much better now, thank you). Photoshop was used only to highlight Kinney's eyes and skin and to pump up the faux diamonds' shine.
With this issue, we welcome Lawrence Lessig as a columnist. His debut, on the power of campaign blogs, appears in View on page 136. One of the world's foremost thinkers on copyright and Internet politics, Lessig is no stranger to our pages. In Wired 10.10, writer Steven Levy called him "the Elvis of cyberlaw." Happily, regular sightings are now guaranteed.
Diamonds Are a Reader's Best Friend
I have no sympathy for De Beers and others who profit from the manipulation of scarcity on this planet ("The New Diamond Age," Wired 11.09). As we are able to synthesize more and more substances that are traditionally valued for their rarity, our world will have to evolve to handle this. I can't wait to see the changes of the next few decades. Hello, future, here we come. And for all those who would stand in the way of progress for the profit of the very few – step aside. Susannah Redelfs San Jose, California
I can honestly say that I would pay more for a diamond that I knew was 100 percent free of the evil of De Beers. The idea that my fianc�e's engagement ring could come from the suffering of another human being is unacceptable. Firms like Apollo and Gemesis should market their diamonds as being free from taint and watch their sales go through the roof. Edward Domain Chicago, Illinois
So diamonds are the next big thing in integrated circuits, huh? Then why did your cover show so much silicon(e)? William L. Berkowitz Prescott, Arizona
Shame on you for digitally enlarging your September cover girl's breasts into grotesque monstrosities. Your model's Photoshop-inflated boobs are absurdly out of proportion with her lithe body; you've given her the breasts of a middle-aged Russian babushka! Is your design department completely bereft of taste? Are you trying to appeal to the mouth-breathing Maxim readership? Truly, your lack of class saddens me. Lars Kongshem San Francisco, California
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Craig Maxwell "Return Guaranteed," by Tom Conally
PowerPoint Good, Users Bad
I have sat through as many bad PowerPoint presentations ("PowerPoint Is Evil," Wired 11.09) as the next fellow – including one that featured the sound of an explosion. This was not only totally irrelevant but scared the bejesus out of me and cultivated in the audience the Pavlovian response to cringe every time the slide was changed. I will scream the next time someone's presentation consists of them reading their slides to me (after all, what did I go to first grade for, if not to learn to read). Still, to paraphrase the NRA, PowerPoint does not make bad presentations; bad speakers make bad presentations. Mike Zellers Amherst, Ohio
Anyone who wants to experience firsthand the nature and limitations of PowerPoint should try the following two-step exercise. First, pick any recent PowerPoint presentation you have made. Second, turn this presentation into an article for publication. I believe most of you will be shocked at how difficult you'll find this seemingly simple task. It's sobering to reflect on what we are really doing when we practice the corporate ritual of PowerPoint presentations. Thorir Bjornsson St. Davids, Pennsylvania
Risky Cargo
Your two items on airport security (Start, "Flight Risk," and "Confessions of a Baggage Screener," Wired 11.09) both missed one important item also being ignored by the government and airlines because of how much it costs: air cargo. According to several reports, the airlines are filling up baggage holds with air cargo that is not subject to the same scrutiny as passenger items. Rich Hall Valencia, California
Piracy Isn't Such a Big Deal
Bruce Sterling's article "Freedom's Dark Side" (View, Wired 11.09) makes a mountain out of a molehill. Arkan commits mass murder, and Bosnians retaliate by redistributing his wife's song. Instead of being horrified by this, we ought to commend the Bosnians for their restraint.
We should also remember that if you buy the typical commercial CD, neither the lead nor the backup musicians will ever see a penny of your money. Internet music sharing should be legal for the sake of music lovers and music. And published software should be free software, so users can freely cooperate and control their own computers. Richard Stallman President, Free Software Foundation Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Robyn Twomey
Multi Strikeout
Larry DeMar designed Robotron ("A Piece of the Action," Wired 11.09)! Forget about Multi Strike Poker (although it sounds like he came up with a great idea there), Robotron is the greatest arcade game ever! We're not worthy. Mark Mandel Austin, Texas
Pulling the Plug
"The world's most useful commodity" is not electricity (Start, "Power Up!" Wired 11.09). It's water. Ask yourself which one you'd rather live without. It's obvious that human activity in the wired world grinds to a halt when the flow of juice is cut off.
But the euphemisms juice and flow are themselves telling, drawing parallels between electricity and the most useful and irreplaceable commodity on the planet. In my neighborhood of Hoboken, the halt in power this August led to an impromptu holiday (and some inconvenience) for thousands. A cutoff of water would have resulted in a far graver situation. Jeff Faria Hoboken, New Jersey
Gnawing at Apple
Josh McHugh bemoans the fortunes of poor Apple (Start, "Why Is Apple So Tempting?" Wired 11.09). Sure, Jobs and company have long set the standard for form and function. But despite McHugh's wonderment, there is little mystery to the fact that "somehow, after all its time at the creative helm, Apple clutches a meager 3 percent of the computer market." Um, because their cooler stuff always costs five times as much as the rest of the PC world? Eric Walusis Dayton, Ohio
Although Josh McHugh brought up some good points, his comment that innovation ceased at Apple when Steve Jobs departed in 1985 is not accurate. Jobs' departure actually triggered an incredible renaissance at Apple. We developed HyperCard, the color Mac, 32-bit QuickDraw, QuickTime, slot architecture, studio-quality sound, FireWire, video I/O, PowerPC, balloon help, and dozens of other innovations. It is true that Apple went into decline from about 1990 onward, and there is no question that Jobs' return brought innovation back to the company. But the media-rich Mac (with Windows following in its footsteps) was developed while he was away. Steve Perlman CEO, Rearden Studios Former principal scientist, Apple Computer Palo Alto, California
UNDO
Sunk Costs, Part 1: Tommy Thompson discovered the SS Central America in 1986 ("The Bounty Hunter," Wired 11.09; see Start, Updata, in this issue). Part 2: The USS Reagan cost $4.5 billion ("The Best Defense Is a Good Upgrade," Wired 11.09).
Rewind: The image featured with "TiVo's Turning Point" (Wired 11.10) was of company president Marty Yudkovitz.
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