Wired Top Stories

Gallery: Star Wars, Aliens and Outta-This-World Lines at Comic-Con

Lewis Wallace — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:00:00 GMT

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

SAN DIEGO -- More people, more lines and more crazy costumes. Welcome to Day 2 of Comic-Con International, where even hot pretzels can command an impressive line.

Left: Mina Castillo, 7, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, dressed up as Jupiter and attended Comic-Con with her grandmother, Cynthia Lucia of San Diego, at left, dressed as Saturn. Her aunt, Cher Delacy of San Diego, came along as Mars.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

“Masquerade is a big thing for us,” said Nicole Roberts, 32, of Van Nuys, California. “Packing for Comic-Con is always a nightmare.” Roberts is dressed as Barf from Spaceballs and is having lunch with her friend Kent Elofson, of Pasadena, California.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

The line for autographs wraps all the way around the DC Comics booth Friday morning.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Two stormtroopers ascend to the second level of the Los Angeles Convention Center on Star Wars day.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Ray Park, who played Darth Maul in Star Wars, signs autographs Friday afternoon.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

“Awesome,” said Dwight Boyd, 47, of Palo Alto, California. This is his second year in a row attending Comic-Con. Even the caped crusader needs a little relief sometimes.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Kaan Toy, 23, of Turkey, sports a Superman cape while working Comic-Con. The cape was great for business, but didn’t make pedaling the bike any easier.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Leroy Harper eyes a potential buyer at the Dale Roberts Comics booth Friday. The vintage comics sold by the store fetch big bucks, with some going for thousands of dollars.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Jay, aka Christopher Duncan, and Silent Bob, aka Robert Boughuer, take a little break from the action.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Kathy Valdoria, 25, and Ben Peterson, 26, both of San Diego, came to the show to look at all the crazy toys.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Mavrick Roberts, of Salt Lake City, is one of an estimated 35 Ghost Busters in attendance at Comic-Con, and he proudly chairs the Salt Lake City Ghost Busters branch.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Bobba Fett, aka Wayne Riehm of San Diego, stands guard at the entrance to the show floor at Comic-Con.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Greg Nelson of San Diego makes the perfect Shrek, with his big green head, tattered brown outfit and mildly grouchy personality.

New Open Web Foundation Has Open Source Technology's Back

Scott Gilbertson — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:30:00 GMT

The Open Web Foundation, founded by Six Apart's David Recordon, will attempt to fill in the legal and business gaps prohibiting the adoption of advanced Open Source technology. The question is, is it just another level of bureaucracy?

Geeky TechShop Founder Plans National Franchise Rollout

Brian Little — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:00:00 GMT

The founder of TechShop, the Maker Faire-favorite, shared-workshop space in Silicon Valley, says that he's planning to roll out franchises across the country to make the business "like Kinko's for geeks."

Blind Taste Test Shows XP Users Love Vista

Adam Duvander — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:40:00 GMT

Microsoft invited a bunch of XP users in to test "Mojave," a new version of its Windows operating system. They loved it. What they didn’t know was Mojave was Vista in disguise.

Wrong! 5 Reasons Why Lossless Formats Will Not Destroy MP3

Eliot Van Buskirk — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:30:00 GMT

Tales of the imminent demise of the MP3 format are greatly exaggerated, even though lossless formats have plenty of advantages. Here are five reasons why MP3s will be us for a long time to come.

Why Won't Google Video Just Die?

Betsy Schiffman — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:00:00 GMT

As YouTube's dominance of the video market grows, it seems increasingly likely that Google Video will eventually get folded into the mammoth site.

'Last Lecture' Professor, Randy Pausch, Dies

Alexis Madrigal — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:36:00 GMT

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon computer science professor whose inspiring "Last Lecture" became a viral video hit on YouTube last year, has died at the age of 47.

A Dot-Com Banker Who's Stuck in the Past

Megan Barnett, Portfolio.com — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

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Frank Quattrone thinks the dearth of startup IPOs in today's market is due in large part to the Wall Street research reforms made after the tech bubble burst.

He's wrong.

At a technology conference at Stanford University yesterday, Quattrone said the industry should petition to remove the regulations that prevent sell-side research analysts from being compensated for their efforts in getting startups through the IPO process. "It hurts the competitiveness of our country to deny companies access to research analysts," he said.

The reforms were made after then New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer went after research analysts including Henry Blodget and Jack Grubman for publicly recommending stocks they privately disparaged.

Quattrone, who was arguably Silicon Valley's top investment banker during the dotcom boom, spent years fighting federal charges relating to an investigation into his allocation of IPO shares. He eventually prevailed, and he now runs a technology boutique bank called Qatalyst Group.

To understand why Quattrone is wrong, it's helpful to remember how Wall Street research worked before the reforms. I witnessed it firsthand as a research associate at Hambrecht & Quist in the mid-1990s, when startup software companies were practically lining up at the door for their chance at the public markets.

Research analysts back then were more like startup consultants, doing everything from working with bankers to pitch new business to IPO candidates to hosting roadshow presentations with institutional clients ahead of the offering.

There was no "Chinese Wall" between banking and research. I once had a banker ask me for the models for two companies we covered, because they were weighing a merger. In fact, bankers and research analysts worked so closely that it was difficult to determine where one department stopped and the other started.

Both groups received bonuses based on the business they won and the performance of the stocks after their debut. That's all well and fine for the bankers, who moved on to other deals after celebrating at the closing dinner. But 25 days after the IPO, the research analyst was supposed to initiate coverage using his objective analysis.

Invariably, this recommendation would be a "buy" or a "strong buy."

At H&Q, only once did I see an analyst initiate coverage of a hot IPO the bank had underwritten with a "hold" recommendation. The stock, i2 Technologies, had simply climbed too high in the first few weeks of trading to justify an investment recommendation.

The morning his report was issued, the analyst faced a stream of irate institutional sales staff and perturbed bankers. They flooded his office, screaming at him behind closed doors, reminding him how much i2 had just paid the bank.

Under the new rules, this scenario would seem preposterous. Bankers and research analysts are physically separated, and they must clear legal hurdles even to speak. Research analysts rightfully play no role in pitching the startups or in selling the stock to institutional investors. And they also don't receive additional compensation for business the bank gets from companies they cover.

Quattrone argues that this is all wrong, and that startups can't attract investor interest without the expertise of the research analysts. He thinks that's partly to blame for the fact that we're not seeing many IPOs in Silicon Valley these days.

He argues that small companies can't get coverage because the few research analysts left on Wall Street only focus on large cap stocks.

The fact is, startups shouldn't have to rely on their bank's analysts to sell their story for them. If their business model is sound and their valuation reasonable, their stocks will get noticed by institutions.

And why should any bank's institutional clients be subjected to a sales pitch from an analyst who is fundamentally incapable of providing an objective opinion? Individual investors aside, it's the banks biggest clients who should be thankful they no longer have to hear a used-car sales pitch from their brokers every morning.

The IPO market isn't thriving for many reasons. But bringing back the old sell-side research scheme to revive it isn't the answer.

IPhone 2.1 Update to Bring Turn-by-Turn GPS?

Charlie Sorrel — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:01:00 GMT

Looks like the already-overdue iPhone 2.1 software update will extend the functionality of GPS: the device will know not only where you are, but in which direction you are going and how fast you are moving. This is being interpreted by many as the coming of turn-by-turn navigation.

Did the U.S. Army Arrange a 'Sweetheart' Deal to Sell Russian Helicopters to Iraq?

Sharon Weinberger — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Earlier this year, the Defense Department quietly gave a U.S. company a contract to provide 22 new Russian-made Mi-17 troop transport helicopters to the Iraqi military in a deal worth an eye-brow raising $325 million, DANGER ROOM learns.

China Asserts World Domination -- in Web Surfing

Associated Press — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:43:00 GMT

China asserts it has the largest internet population in the world, the first time any country has surpassed the United States in that metric. With 253 million people online despite strict government restrictions and blocked sights it deems subversive or pornographic, China's surfers grew more than 50% in the last year alone.

Net Neutrality Gains Traction In '08 Senate Races

Sarah Lai Stirland — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:36:00 GMT

All 16 of the Democrats running for the U.S. Senate say they support the concept of net neutrality as a fundamentally important issue that underlies the future of ideas and the economy.

Review: X-Files Flick Falls Short of Show's Glory Days

John Scott Lewinski — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:31:00 GMT

"The X-Files: I Want to Believe" is little more than a two-hour TV episode -- and not a particularly compelling one at that.

Nokia E71 Is a Legit iPhone Killer — We're Serious This Time

Steven Leckart — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:29:00 GMT

There may be a glut of devices trying to beat the iPhone out there but none of them come close to eclipsing the Jesus phone. Now we have a true contender. The Nokia E71 is everything the iPhone 3G isn't: open source, easy to type on, loaded with a decent camera and great business apps. Oh yeah, it's unlocked too.

New York Times' Derek Gottfrid and NPR's Dan Jacobson Discuss APIs

Brad Stenger — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

NPR and The New York Times shook hands at OSCON and took the opportunity to talk about new programming interfaces. Wired.com sat down with programmers Derek Gottfrid and Dan Jacobson to discuss content distribution and the next generation of news syndication.

July 25: Four Women Who Made a Difference

Tony Long — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

July 25: In science and technology, spheres of society where women are woefully underrepresented, this day in history offers a bountiful exception. Here are the milestones:

In 1865, "James Barry," the first woman physician in modern times, compelled to disguise herself as a man in order to practice her profession, dies.

In 1920, Rosalind Franklin, the unheralded co-discoverer of DNA, is born.

In 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, is born.

In 1984, cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space.

James Barry

Barry, whose actual identity remains unknown, was born somewhere around 1795. After finishing medical school (at the age of 13, and already in disguise), "James Barry" waited a few years before joining the British army in 1813, where "he" served with distinction in a number of colonial postings, including India, South Africa and Canada.

While in South Africa, Barry became the first doctor-surgeon in the British Empire to perform a Caesarean section in which both the mother and child survived. Prior to that, C-sections were generally performed only when the mother was dead or dying.

Barry rose to the rank of inspector general in the army, but also worked with the Royal Navy, while stationed in Malta and Corfu, to improve the harsh conditions for sailors at sea.

It wasn't until Barry died in 1865 that it was discovered at the autopsy that "he" was really a "she." Somehow, Barry had managed to conceal her actual sex (and to give birth to a child herself) for more than 40 years. She was also the first woman to receive a medical degree, although the dons had no idea they were handing their sheepskin to a woman.

The first woman to earn a medical degree when her sex was known was Elizabeth Blackwell, who received her diploma barely two months after Barry died.

Rosalind Franklin

In April 1962, three men -- James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins -- shared the Nobel Prize for their discovery a decade earlier of the structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin, a chemist whose X-ray diffusion photographs of DNA molecules showed their essential structure and paved the way for the trio's work, received nothing.

The extent to which Franklin was dismissed by her peers varies in the telling, although it was real enough: In his memoir, Watson wrote unflatteringly of her and downplayed her role in the discovery. Wilkins, a colleague of Franklin's who disliked her feminist attitudes, was equally critical. He'd also provided Watson, without Franklin's knowledge, with her key photograph, which showed -- for the first time -- the double-helix shape that underlies the structure of DNA. The photograph caused Watson to remark later: "The instant I saw the picture, my mouth fell open and my pulse began to race."

Crick was far more gracious, crediting Franklin with having done "the key experimental work." He also said that Franklin's early critique of their theoretical work caused them to rethink things, helping to set them on the right path.

The most recent scholarship, a 2002 biography (Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, by Brenda Maddox), paints Franklin neither as a feminist hero nor a spurned woman. Her role in helping to solve the mystery of DNA is unquestioned, and her place in science history is secure.

Unhappily, Franklin died of cancer in 1958, only 37 years old. This has been cited as the reason she was not included with the others: The Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously.

Louise Joy Brown

Today is Brown's 30th birthday. Brown, a British postal worker, is married and the mother of a 19-month-old boy. She is also the first person ever to be conceived by in vitro fertilization: the world's first test-tube baby.

Louise is the daughter of John and Lesley Brown, who had tried for nine years to conceive, before an infertility expert referred them to Patrick Steptoe, a gynecologist. Steptoe, working with physiologist Robert Edwards, had also been trying -- and failing -- to conceive a child since 1966. The difference, of course, is that Messrs. Steptoe and Edwards were hoping to conceive theirs in a laboratory petri dish. ("Test-tube baby" was a media invention, but as long as it's in glass, it's in vitro.)

They did succeed, however, in developing the method for fertilizing an egg outside a woman's body, which gave them hope.

Enter Lesley Brown, whose fallopian tubes were blocked, a condition that makes it impossible to become pregnant through sexual intercourse. Steptoe surgically removed an egg from one of her ovaries on Nov. 10, 1977, fertilized it in his laboratory and returned two nights later (after a dinner party for his wife's birthday) to find that the egg had evolved into an eight-cell embryo.

Steptoe implanted the embryo into Lesley Brown's uterus and hoped for the best. For nearly four years, every attempt at in vitro fertilization had failed, a fact the physicians didn't bother mentioning to the Browns during their interview. But in December, they were able to confirm that their patient was pregnant.

The most difficult part of Lesley Brown's pregnancy was dealing with the British tabloid press, which hounded the prospective mother and father unmercifully until the Browns wised up and sold the exclusive rights to their story to one of the jackals.

Louise Joy Brown was delivered by Caesarean section at 11:47 p.m. July 25. She weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces: small, but not exceptionally so. As Steptoe described it: "I laid her down, all pink and furious, and saw at once that she was externally perfect and beautiful."

Steptoe died when Louise was 10, but Edwards attended her wedding. She told the Daily Mail earlier this month, "It's nice to have a close relationship. He's like a granddad to me."

Svetlana Savitskaya

Cosmonaut Savitskaya carried on the socialist egalitarian tradition by becoming the first woman to walk in space. She accomplished this while serving as flight engineer aboard the Soyuz T-12 mission to the Salyut 7 space station. Her EVA, or extravehicular activity, came 19 years after cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to leave an orbiting spacecraft, and she beat American astronaut Kathryn Sullivan out the door by three months.

Comrade Savitskaya was, simply, born to be a cosmonaut. Her father was a fighter pilot during World War II, later becoming deputy commander of the Soviet Air Defense, and was twice named a Hero of the Soviet Union. Without her father's knowledge, Savitskaya, who took an avid interest in flying from childhood, learned to parachute. She made 450 jumps by her 17th birthday.

She applied to pilot school at age 16, but was rejected because of her age. At 17, after jumping from 46,750 feet and free-falling more than eight miles before deploying her chute -- a record at the time -- Savitskaya began training as a pilot. By the time she was 24, Savitskaya was licensed to fly 20 different types of aircraft, including the MiG-21, which she piloted to a speed of 1,667 mph.

Savitskaya became a cosmonaut in 1980 and was the second woman to go into space, preceded only by fellow cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

Savitskaya was accompanied in her 1984 EVA by cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov. The pair performed external experiments on the Salyut station and remained outside their Soyuz capsule for more than three-and-a-half hours.

Following her return, Savitskaya was selected to command an all-female Soyuz crew for a visit to Salyut 7, in observance of National Women's Day. The mission had to be scrubbed, however, because of problems aboard the space station.

Source: Various

How to Make Friends With Celebrities

Wired Magazine — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

With most stars you want to befriend, all it takes is simply buying yourself a basketball franchise and offering the VIP courtside seats.

How to Look Good on TV

Wired Magazine — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

The Daily Show's Samantha Bee explains that in order to look good on television, it's okay to come across as a douche -- if you're funny.

Gallery: Scenes From Comic-Con 2008

Wired.com Photo Department — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Get ready for the wild incongruity of elaborate costumes and vacuous, sterile hallways that is Comic-Con. At this yearly sci-fi fanfest, convention-goers must use every ounce of their mental stamina as their imaginations are simultaneously piqued and suffocated by their surroundings. In addition to the mental trials, simply attending the convention is a geek triathlon of not sitting comfortably, Mountain Dew-chugging contests and enthusiastic reenactments of nerdy movie scenes. Luckily, Wired.com is bringing all the action to the safety of your computer screen

Click through the gallery for the first scenes from this barbaric event.

Left: Matthew Kuhlman waits for the elevator at the Los Angeles Convention Center with his parents, Tennille, left, and Thomas during the first day of Comic-Con. His parents are better known to the Comic-Con community as Xyon and Zarah Koreen.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Obi-Wan Kenobi, aka Mike Lewer, 20, of Encinitas, California, wheels through the hallways of the Los Angeles Convention Center on his way to the next panel.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Jacquelyn Crinnion, 19, of San Ramon, California, dressed as Sailor Mars from Sailor Moon and Samantha Scharlach, 19, also of San Ramon, dressed as Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, take a lunch break.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Taylor Long, 16, of San Diego, right, gets some help from his father/bodyguard Byron Long (not pictured) during a break in the action. "He's roasting," said Byron Long. Comic-Con volunteer Daniel Scott, left, 21, of Camp Pendleton in California checks out who is behind the mask.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

RJ Moskop has devised a clever strategy for taking in all the Comic-Con sights as he attends the Stan Lee panel.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Jeri Ann Boyd, of Beverly Hills, California, leaps into action to capture the lazy loitering of a few Star Wars characters.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Cecelia Bryant, 19, of Chula Vista, California, dressed as Harle from Chrono Cross, rides the escalator with Tommy Metropoulos, of Jamul, California, who wonders whether everyone else can see her, too.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Jibran Iqbal, 9, of San Diego, and his brother Ameer, 6, attend their first Comic-Con and slowly realize that they are the coolest people there.

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

With Wookiees in short supply at this year's convention, this stormtrooper apprehended the next best thing.

Gallery: Comic-Con's Costumed Crusaders

Jon Snyder — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

SAN DIEGO -- Maybe they should call it Comic-Con Intergalactic.

An astonishing number of people dress up like space aliens, superheroes and videogame characters when they attend Comic-Con International, the annual pop-culture convention that draws comics and sci-fi fans from around the globe.

The elaborate costumes, many of them handmade, transform the fanboys and fangirls into their favorite pop-culture icons, at least for the day. This year's Comic-Con sold out in advance, with organizers expecting 125,000 people to cram into the San Diego Convention Center through Sunday.

Here are some of the more eye-catching costumes spotted at Comic-Con on Thursday.

Name: Demir Oral

Age: 23

Hometown: San Diego

Times at Comic-Con: Nine

Geekiest hobby: Making costumes

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
Seeing all the imagination that goes into everything.

Day job: Web designer

Dream job: Inventor

Describe your costume and how you made it:
It's something that I just made up throwing various items together.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Cathy Clark

Age: 28

Hometown: Anaheim, California

Times at Comic-Con: Seven

Geekiest hobby: Attending Comic-Con!

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
I just saw The Freakazoid panel, and I'm excited to see Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Day job: Designer

Dream job: Artist

Describe your costume and how you made it:
It's Steampunk, based on an illustration that I did. I had my friend sew it for me.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Amanda Raymond

Age: 29

Hometown: Santa Clarita, California

Times at Comic-Con: Four

Geekiest hobby: Costuming and watching Darkwing Duck.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
The Disney panels.

Day job: Production secretary

Dream job: Producer

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm Mrs. Incredible, and she can stretch! I commissioned a seamstress to make it.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Zachary Lytle

Age: 21

Hometown: Chico, California

Times at Comic-Con: One

Geekiest hobby: I build combat robots. I'm actually the three-time world champion of RoboGames.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
The Transformers display.

Day job: Machinist

Dream job: Robotics engineer

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm Link from Zelda. All my equipment is real metal -- 80 pounds of steel, bows, arrows and a 12-pound sword.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Diana Tarlson

Age: 23

Hometown: Chico, California

Times at Comic-Con: One

Geekiest hobby: Collecting Disney movies. My favorite is Sleeping Beauty.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
Tiny Toon Adventures and Freakazoid -- it's the most-anticipated new cartoon.

Day job: I work at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Dream job: To work in a machine shop.

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm Kid Icarus. The two daggers that click together are what he's most known for. I sowed feather boas, cut felt and pinned up the tunic myself. I crafted the entire thing by hand.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Names: Nick Evans, Jason Sunday and Kyle Sunday (clockwise from top left)

Ages: 20, 21 and 19, respectively.

Hometowns: Orange, California; Portland, Oregon; and Ashland, Oregon

Times at Comic-Con: One

Geekiest hobby: We love Star Wars. It's at the top, but nothing is off-limits -- Jason

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
The Watchmen movie, I'm a big fan of the book -- Nick

Day job: Students

Dream jobs: Lawyer (Nick), computer technology (Jason) and chef (Kyle)

Describe your costumes and how you made them:
Cyclops, Gambit and Professor X based on the '90s classic X-Men. We just bought different pieces and put them together. I had to get my glasses on the internet. -- Nick

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Tom Paige

Age: 38

Hometown: Los Angeles

Times at Comic-Con: Two

Geekiest hobby: Music, especially hard-core heavy-metal comedy.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
Seeing hot chicks in spandex.

Day job: I'm a facilities manager in the motion-picture industry.

Dream job: Musician

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm wearing a really gay, royal blue, spandex rocker costume that is a combo of wrestling and music. I pieced it together from dance clothing.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Christian Benavides

Age: 14

Hometown: Houston

Times at Comic-Con: One

Geekiest hobby: Dressing up as the Joker and making costumes.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
I want to meet Stan Lee, maybe meet someone from the Watchmen and see the Punisher panel.

Day job: Student

Dream job: Movie director

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm Joker dressed as a nurse from the new Batman movie. I stitched it together myself.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Raymundo Benavides

Age: 25

Hometown: Houston

Times at Comic-Con: One

Geekiest hobby: Watching movie trailers.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
I want to see Stan Lee and probably Kevin Smith. He's speaking at the Scream Like a Girl contest.

Day job: Cable guy

Dream job: Movie director

Describe your costume and how you made it: I'm Tommy, the Green Ranger from the original Power Rangers. I bought the majority of it, and my girlfriend made the rest.

: Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Name: Jonathan Corpuz

Age: 26

Hometown: San Diego

Times at Comic-Con: 15

Geekiest hobby: I'm a videogame nut. Action, RPGs, everything. I was raised on videogames.

What are you most excited about seeing at Comic-Con?
I'm a big Lost fan. Basically I want to see the entire Saturday TV slate.

Day job: Photographer

Dream job: Videogame designer

Describe your costume and how you made it:
I'm the original 8-bit Super Mario. I'm even carrying around a plunger. This is a Halloween costume from last year, and I made the star myself.

Are You Internet Famous? Get Your Score

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:00:00 GMT

Using a nifty, Wired-created widget, find out just how much of a positive web presence you have. Compare your scores with those of your favorite celebs.

Internet Endangers Big-City Tradition: The Bike Messenger

David Kravets — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:00:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO -- Here along Market Street, heavily tattooed bicyclists with too many piercings in too many places weave through traffic, ducking subway steam vents, trolleys, motorists and a sea of jaywalkers. They're bike messengers -- a fixture in most large cities -- slinging satchels stuffed with legal documents, blueprints, executives' lunches and eviction notices.

But the internet is gaining on these roadsters faster than they can pedal their fixed-gear, brakeless bikes. In a world where documents travel by e-mail and the web, and electronic signatures are legally binding, the business of moving physical wood pulp from point A to point B is struggling.

Anecdotes from the Big Apple to San Francisco and parts in between suggest the click of a Send button is undermining the bike-messaging trade.

In the last two years, three messaging companies in San Francisco have folded. Courier service Bucky's of Seattle trashed its bike fleet last year. And there are nearly 1,000 fewer bike messengers in New York than a decade ago.

"There is really not much left. It's dying," says Matt Flores, co-owner of Wheels of Justice, a San Francisco courier service. Flores recently halved his full-time bikers -- "document clerks," as he calls them -- from eight to four. His top runner earns $50,000 a year, he says.

By far the biggest broomstick through the spokes of the bike messenger comes from the nation's court systems and their embrace of electronic filing. The millions of pages of paperwork generated by trial lawyers were once the bread and butter of bike messaging. Now about half of the U.S. state courts have some form of electronic filing. And under guidelines adopted by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, an electronic filing system is now available in about 99 percent of the nation's federal courts.

Federal bankruptcy courts went electronic beginning in 2001, followed a year later by the district courts. Federal appellate courts started following suit in 2005. The last holdout was the nation's largest federal appeals court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which began testing an electronic filing system in January.

While many district court judges still demand paper "courtesy copies" of some filings, which are usually hauled by bike messenger, many state court systems are moving online completely, according to the National Center for State Courts. In California, home to one of the world's largest judicial systems, electronic filing is expected to be mandatory statewide by the end of the decade.

"We've seen about a 30 percent decline in our use of bike messenger services, due largely to electronic filing," says Kevin Livingston, a spokesman for Thelen Reid, a nationwide law firm.

Years ago, phone books in the nation's largest cities were shot through with page after page of courier-service listings. Now the phone book itself is obsolete.

"The total pie of courier services has been shrinking," says Christine Chan, a co-owner of Urban Express in New York, which contracts with hundreds of bike messengers. "Obviously, the need for couriers to carry items is declining."

But bike messenger Lon Cook of San Francisco, like many others in the business, is philosophical. He says there will always be a need for bike messengers in big cities, even if their backpacks aren't as full as they once were.

"First we had the fax machine and now e-mails," says Cook. "There's always something new. A bike messenger is part of the scenery in the road."

Fergus Tanaka, a five-year veteran now riding in San Francisco, shares Cook's optimism.

"What is really necessary for the industry is adaptation. Clearly, if we branch out to other realms and other parts of the economy that need transportation, bike messengers can stick around for another 50 years," the 28-year-old says.

It's a lifestyle, he adds, like no other.

There's a reason, he says, that messengers' bodies are often pierced and inked -- that their hairstyles are often improved with helmet hair.

"There's a freedom associated with bike messaging," the tattooed Tanaka says. "Nobody requires me to wear a suit and tie to work. They just want to make sure you can ride a bike and know where you are going."

The dangers of the job are obvious. And then there are the lesser-known perils.

"We used to have this one run. I called it the piss run. You went around to different homes where elderly people lived, to collect their samples," he recalls. "I went to this one lady's house, threw it in my bag and, when I got back, I reached in my bag and my hands were all wet. There was piss all over my bag."

The internet, he says, can't do what he does.

Senate Introduces IP-Reform Bill Bolstering Enforcement

David Kravets — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Legislation bolstering intellectual property enforcement by increasing penalties, expanding the power of the attorney general and creating a new FBI piracy unit was proposed Thursday in the Senate. Intellectual-property-rights groups applauded the measure while online-rights groups said it went too far.

Spam King and Family Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide

Kim Zetter — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:57:00 GMT

Edward Davidson, who was known as the "spam king," has been found dead in Colorado, along with his wife and 3-year-old child, apparently in a murder-suicide.

How to Use Templates in Django

Scott Gilbertson — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:30:00 GMT

If you've been through our Django tutorials thus far, you've installed and built your first application using the web framework. Part four of our Django series takes you through the process of creating templates. The template system is an extensible way to separate design, content and Python code. Roll up your sleeves and let's get started.

Jokers, Jokers Everywhere at Comic-Con

Lewis Wallace — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:30:42 GMT

FBI: We Don't Have Tesla's Death Ray

Kevin Poulsen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:23:23 GMT

The bureau releases a top-ten list of FBI myths, debunking some common misconceptions. The FBI has no X-files, didn't seize Nikola Tesla's plans for a particle weapon, and doesn't routinely spy on Americans. Wait ... what?

Brad Pitts (Note Spelling) Floats Naked in Zero-G

Wired Science — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:00:00 GMT

An artist and MIT aerospace engineer takes a ride on a Russian weightless-training vehicle outside Moscow, wearing his birthday suit instead of the more traditional spacesuit favored by most astronauts.

Blowing Up a $60,000 S.U.V. to Save the Planet

Keith Barry — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:09:00 GMT

Ryan Mickle doesn't just hate his wallet-sucking, carbon-spewing, planet-killing Range Rover. He wants it dead. And he wants you to tell him how to kill it.