weblog / illustration / writing / resume / mark@well.com / phone 818-475-1350

I'm a writer and illustrator living in Los Angeles. I co-founded bOING bOING magazine, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Wired Online. I write a monthly column for Playboy called "Living Online," and was the co-editor of The Happy Mutant Handbook (Putnam-Berkley, 1995). I'm a ukulele fanatic. (Click on my picture for a bigger version.)

NEW BOOK!
I wrote and illustrated a science experiment book called THE MAD PROFESSOR. It went on sale today! Every page is in full color and loaded with illustrations, and it's printed on easy-to-clean laminated paper, so you can make your Goon Goo, hovercrafts, portal paper, spool-bots, and other experiments without fear of staining the book.

If you buy a copy and send me a self-addressed stamped envelope, I will send you a handsome sticker with an original drawing and my signature that you can stick on the front page of the book. (My address is 11288 Ventura Blvd #818, Studio City CA 91604) Link Discuss

You can read my articles below. To see my illustrations, click here.

Latest Article: LA Weekly. King Kukulele's Tiki Paradise (February 6, 2002)
If the original Trader Vic had owned an apartment complex, this is how it might have looked.

THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE

Self-Cooling Buildings (December 9, 2001)
Self-cooling buildings use strategically placed vents, atria and other architectural features that take advantage of simple physical principles to keep interior temperatures comfortable.

Social Norms Marketing (December 9, 2001)
Social-norms marketing is the science of persuading people to go along with the crowd. The technique works because people are allelomimetic -- that is, like cows and other herd animals, our behavior is influenced by the behavior of those around us.

MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

ONE

BUSINESS 2.0

My Sweet Embraceable Uke (June 2001)
Suddenly the ukulele is hot again. But please don't play "Tiptoe Through the Tulips."

Remote Possibilities (June 1999)
Can a group of high-powered former TV execs create a new entertainment network on the Internet?

WIRED

Death Match (May, 2001)
Your Guide to the Box Wars.

Superformer (October 2000)
Part sprocket science, part high design, Biomega's glow-in-the-dark plastic aluminum bike is redefining the art of the wheel. Now put it back on the wall.

Revenge of the Know-It-Alls (August 2000)
Inside the Web's free-advice revolution.

Machine Translation's Past and Future (May, 2000)
A renewed international effort is gearing up to design computers and software that smash language barriers and create a borderless global marketplace.

Never Say Die (March, 2000)
For countless TRS-80 faithful and Commodore 64 loyalists, the trailing edge is the high ground of technology.

Snips and Snails and Ribosome Tails (January, 2000)
Every kid's dream come true. A dog that never dies - and a best friend who can be unplugged.

Retro-a-Go-Go (January, 2000)
In Bungalow Heaven, the glow of the 1950s never fades.

Ask the Love Engine™ (January, 2000)
Our AI sexpert makes love a little less difficult.

The Back-Door Director (October, 1999)
David Douglas was too cheap for Hollywood. They'll be sorry.

Hollywood's Head Case (August, 1999)
Inside the runaway brain of f/x guru Kevin Mack.

Gross National Product (June, 1999)
Extreme candy is the fastest-growing segment of the $23 billion US market. Kids want gross, sour novelties with special effects - and they'll pay for it.

Do It Yourself Darwin (October, 1998)
Karl Sims invites you to play God among the machines.

Houses of the Future (August, 1998)
A user's guide to out-of-the-box living.

Transformer (June, 1998)
Mechanical magician Chuck Hoberman makes ever bigger creations that get smaller all the time.

SMALL TIMES

Cryonics Conference Brings Out Nanotech's Extreme Optimists (December 6, 2002)
At Alcor's fifth annual Conference on Extreme Life Extension, two well-known scientists presented their visions for the far-out future of nanotechnology.

Veeco came, saw, acquired majority of the AFM market (October 8, 2002)
When Veeco was founded in 1945, the name was an acronym for Vacuum Electronic Equipment Company. Today, it might stand for Very Enormous Electronics Company. Recently, its acquisitions have revealed a move toward nanotechnology and MEMS. Most notable are VeecoÕs purchases of three companies that manufacture atomic force microscopes.

Electronic Nose Sniffs Out New Markets (May 06, 2002)
Cyrano Sciences Inc. makes an $8,000 electronic nose the size of a large walkie-talkie. Just wave the Cyranose 320Õs sniffing tube over a vat of petrochemicals, a barrel of wine or a pallet of fish, and it will inform you of the substanceÕs quality by flashing the information on an illuminated LCD monitor.

Hasbro's Hit Robot Creator Awaits Mass-Produced Mems (March 18, 2002)
Mark Tilden, a robot physicist and creator of last holiday season's toy sensation "B.I.O. Bugs," would love to use MEMS in his toys. But first, the industry needs to bring down the cost. If that happens, he and other toy makers can have MEMS in millions of interactive dolls, robots and toys in a matter of months.

THEFEATURE

First Look at the Smart Display (November 11, 2002)
TheFeature takes a quick look at the first examples of Microsoft's Smart Display concept.

Say Anything (Within Reason) (October 27, 2002)
Call it wishful thinking. For centuries, people have dreamed of machines that could converse as easily as people do.

Mob Rule (September 27, 2002)
An interview with Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs, a book about the next social revolution.

Outsmarting the Tragedy of the Commons (August 5, 2002)
The spectrum is finite, but as a resource it is not limited. So, what seems to be the problem?

Welcome to the Metaverse (June 12, 2002)
Suddenly, my image is replaced by that of a slightly manga-esque looking young Japanese woman with a sensible haircut and an expensive business suit...

You Are Your Password (May 13, 2002)
Are biometrics the key to mobile security, or would the technology go too far?

Point, Shoot, Share! (April 22, 2002)
Imaging comes to mobile devices, but there'll be a few hiccups along the way.

Wireless Games: The Next Two Years (March 27, 2002)
Venture capitalists who've been pouring money into the coffers of wireless game developers can stop worrying about whether or not handhelds are too small to be successful game devices.

The Wireless Living Room (March 25, 2002)
Smart new appliances promise to help you master your own domain. But which technologies will win out?

Boingo's Wireless ISP Strategy (March 4, 2002)
Boingo plans on winning the wireless ISP game "with a killer combination of software and schmoozing..."

The Symbian Crowd Plays Nice (February 11, 2002)
The Open Mobile Architecture promises compatibility, interoperability, and a level playing field.

I Want My SWE! (February 6, 2002)
Streaming Wireless Entertainment promises to simplify mobile life, and lighten the burden gadget geeks bear every day.

Can a Few Tablets Cure Industry Ills? (January 14, 2002)
Tablet PCs promise to change the way you think about mobile computing. But can they follow through?

SSSCA: Copyright, or Copywrong? (December 10, 2001)
Legislation now being considered in the US Congress will have far reaching consequences if passed.

Peering into the Aether (August 23, 2001)
Three things are needed: better hardware, more compelling applications, and better, faster, cheaper networks.

G-Cluster Makes Games to Go (November 6, 2001)
You've heard of distributed computing. But what about a centralized model for mobile devices?

Checking into the Habbo Hotel (October 23, 2001)
Finnish company Sulake has developed some pretty cool stuff: Mobile commerce, community, and more...

Augment Your Reality (September 25, 2001)
Adding a layer of computer generated information on top of real things and places isn't science fiction anymore.

Infrared Networks: Something to Beam About (August 7, 2001)
Companies are using infrared kiosks to deliver some very cool mobile data services.

Wayport Goes Widespread (July 26, 2001)
Using Wi-Fi technology, Wayport has become the world's largest supplier of wireless networks for airports, hotels, and convention centers.

THE INDUSTRY STANDARD

Cell Out (Aug 10 2001)
Check in at one of these resorts and tune out the din of wireless devices.

Standard of Living (Aug 10 2001)
Have some outdoor fun with these digital technologies.

Cleaning the Digital Device House (July 16 2001)
Feel overburdened when carrying all of those 'necessary' wireless gadgets? Well, try this out.

Look Ma, No Hands! (Jun 02 2001)
New York bans talking on a handheld cell phone while driving, and your state may be next. Meanwhile in California, tech execs fear legal reform could force them to forfeit their intellectual property .

The Father of Invention (Jun 25 2001)
When the man who invented the Ginger/IT scooter wants to bring shape to his ideas, he calls on dear old dad.

Hairy Beasts and Malevolent Aliens (Jun 25 2001)
New DVD titles chronicle the golden era of low-tech special effects.

Deep-Net Fishing (Jun 18 2001)
New search tools are fishing in the Web we never see.

Science Friction (Apr 02 2001)
Legendary sci-fi author Harlan Ellison is fighting a lonely battle against e-book pirates. Will he take Usenet down with him?

Just the Text, Ma'am (February 12, 2001)
Frustrated by the eternally slow Internet, tech-savvy news junkies are peeling away Web sites to get to the juice: Words.

The New Encyclopedia Salesmen (November 20, 2000)
A fresh crop of Internet-based encyclopedias hope to harness the best information sources on the Net: Know-it-all users

Nouveau Niche (October 23, 2000)
Meet Cory Doctorow: Disney freak, science-fiction novelist and self-described "happiest geek on Earth." His peer-to-peer dream is to help obscure artists find their audience.

Digital Publishing: An Open E-Book (July 31, 2000)
Two e-book standards are duking it out for dominance. Publishers don't much care which one wins, as long as one of them does.

To Be Continued: Serials Return (June 26, 2000)
Publishers and other content providers are discovering a new way to distribute their work: Old-fashioned installments.

Cherry-Picking The Web (April 17, 2000)
Metabrowsers let surfers select whatever content they want from anywhere on the Web and gather it all on one site.

Everything But the Kitchen, Synced (January 24, 2000)
Wish your PDA, computer and smartphone could chat? Three companies are developing the means to synchronize all your networked devices.

Sorry, No Vacancy (September 20, 1999)
Forget about Y2K. Ten years from now you might not even be able to get on the Internet.

The Next Great Thing (July 12, 1999)
Computer companies and smart-phone makers compete to build the next generation of handheld devices.

The Future Is at Hand (July 09, 1999)
Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky started a revolution with their PalmPilot. Now, a newer generation of handheld devices is about to create the Net's second gold rush.

Home (page) on the Range (May 24, 1999)
Not since the industrial revolution has the farming industry seen the kind of change brought by the Internet.

Turning Crime Into Commerce (April 26, 1999)
Visitors poaching your content? Make them partners

Psst -- Want to Buy a Keyword? (March 19, 1999)
Search engines have been selling advertisements against keywords for some time. They may be breaking the law.

LP to CD to MP3 (December 04, 1998)
No matter how hard the record companies try to stop it, the MP3 audio format is the future of music.

Life After Jon Postel (October 26, 1998)
The death of one of the Net's guardians comes at a critical time. He'll be sorely missed.

The Future of Search Engines (September 25, 1998)
It's not always easy to find what you're looking for on the Web. Three new players offer technology to make the search process a whole lot less painful.

Master of Your Domain: Jon Postel (July 10, 1998)
You may not have heard of Jon Postel, but you can't surf the Web without him. An inside look at the man behind the Internet's address system.

MetaCreations Streams Onto the Net (May 04, 1998)
New CEO Gary Lauer, with a little help from Intel, hopes to build the RealAudio of 3D.

YAHOO INTERNET LIFE
Camgirls (June, 2002)
They're online and underage. And they'll trade you a peek if you fulfill their Wish Lists.

To The Bidder End (October, 1999)
Net auctions are changing the economy.

The Net's Chop Shops (October, 1998)
Welcome to The Home Shoplifiting Network.

LA WEEKLY
King Kukulele's Tiki Paradise (February 6, 2002)
If the original Trader Vic had owned an apartment complex, this is how it might have looked.

Seduction of the Degenerate (December 12, 2002)
Rebel Visions and the underground-comics revolution.

Me and Ukie Against the World (February 1-7, 2002)
An ex-British Invasion pop star delivers Tin Pan Alley on demand.