__ People __
__ Cisco Queen __
Long before it was hip to be square, Judy Estrin was the prototypical Valley entrepreneur, founding small but influential companies such as Bridge Communications, NCD, and Precept Software. So why forsake two decades of the start-up life for the buttoned-down job of chief technical officer at Cisco? Could it be the company's near-monopoly on networking hardware and software, the dominance of IP, and the responsibility for guiding Cisco's technical vision? That would make Estrin a titan, right? "I hate it when individuals in the Valley are turned into stars," she says. "As CTO, I won't change the world - I'll work with a team of people who will change the world."
__ Computer Analyzer __
It took 30 FBI agents, five federal departments, and one very pissed US attorney general to nab the hacker from the Holy Land, Ehud Tenebaum (aka Analyzer). Online, Tenebaum was an egotistical trash-talker, but once outed, he proved to be a well-liked, overachieving 18-year-old. So what does the future hold for Tenebaum? If he survives his stint in the army and can stay out of jail, he'll make a decent network security consultant. Tenebaum has good hands-on experience and solid references: Benjamin Netanyahu called him "damn good, but dangerous, too."
__ Cyanara __
"I've never been moved by multimedia," claims Robyn Miller, "and I've been touched by Kodak commercials." A surprising attitude for someone who, with his brother Rand, founded Cyan and created Myst and Riven. Yet Robyn recently flew the coop to start a movie development firm called Land of Point. What will he produce? Miller demurs, saying he'll concoct "meaningful linear stories about people." Anyway, his faithful shouldn't mourn the egress. "I'll still build places like those in Myst and Riven," declares Miller. "I just want to go there in film."
__ Word Nerd __
"At least I don't have to deal with the newsstand mafia," jokes a melancholy Marisa Bowe, comparing a magazine's recipe for success with the challenge of finding investors for her damaged-but-not-dead ezine Word. Any other editor in chief would be depressed by the turn of events - after all, Word put its parent corporation, Icon CMT, on the map, then the New York Internet company paid Bowe back by cannibalizing her labor of love. But she has a perspective that belies new media's early optimism and later quest for profitability. "I never believed content was king," she says, "and I don't think content is dead." Word.
__ Crypto Gadfly __
Conservative Christian crusader Phyllis Schlafly says she's proud to be "pro-God, pro-country, pro-family, pro-life" - and pro-cryptoprivacy. "I don't want Janet Reno reading my email - do you?" snaps the 73-year-old activist, who's signed on with Americans for Computer Privacy. Known for her opposition to the ERA, sex education, and porn, Schlafly says the "multiple outrages at Waco and Ruby Ridge" led her to mistrust the FBIon digital privacy. "Big Brother wants police-state surveillance of our daily lives," she asserts.
