WIRED’s rock 'n' roll origin story

PLUS: Join us at LiveWIRED! [View in browser]( | [Your newsletter preferences](newsletter=wir) [In defense of the future]( PRESENTED BY WIRED’s Rock 'n' Roll Origin Story Before smartphones, Google, and even Wi-Fi, back when Mark Zuckerberg was just a kid in Westchester, partners in business and love Louis Rosetto and Jane Metcalfe had a vision for a new publication. It was the early ’90s and digital media seemed like the cutting edge, very rock 'n' roll, though no one knew how big it was about to become. They wanted to create a magazine to cover this new world. First they thought of calling it Millennium, then Digit. (“Dig it,” get it?) Finally, Rosetto later recalled, they came up with a name that “captured the punch—the edge” of the world of technology: WIRED. That was 1993, and this year WIRED is celebrating its 30th birthday. When the magazine turned 20, it got in touch with Rosetto, Metcalfe, and other early staffers to compile [an oral history of the birth of WIRED](, and now that we’re hitting another milestone birthday there’s no better time to look back. One remark, from designer Barbara Kuhr, strikes me as particularly prescient. “All the computer magazines we’d seen to date had pictures of machines or people sitting with machines,” she pointed out. “We said, ‘No machines. We’re taking pictures of you.’” I’m biased, obviously, but Kuhr’s comment feels like a pretty apt synopsis of the best use case for tech journalism, in the early ’90s and now. A magazine story about technology should tell you something about what it means to live in a world that has been revolutionized by these devices. I hope you’ll give the whole oral history a read, because it’s fun but also because it’s such an interesting window into how conversations around technology have and haven’t changed in the past few decades. [Portrait of Alan Henry] Eve Sneider, Deputy Ideas Editor [Wide angle photograph of WIRED office in 1996]( [Step Behind the Scenes of the Frantic, Madcap Birth of WIRED]( [An oral history of WIRED (from 2013).]( You Might Also Like [Collage of Earth, an 8-ball that says outlook good, and a cracked computer screen]( [The Curse of the Long Boom]( [I run into a lot of incorrect predictions when reading through the WIRED archives. What should the takeaway be?]( [This image may contain Universe, Space, Astronomy, Nebula, and Outer Space]( [25 Years of WIRED Predictions: Why the Future Never Arrives]( [To write the history of how our culture thinks about tomorrow, one obsessed academic read every issue of WIRED in chronological order. Here are his findings.]( [Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us]( [Our most powerful 21st-century technologies—robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech—are threatening to make humans an endangered species.]( [Person holding WIRED tote bag in a tennis court]( [Like WIRED? Like Merch? Guess What: WIRED Now Has Merch]( [Our own store for branded merchandise, SHOP.WIRED, is now live. Go ahead, share the love.]( WIRED30 Raves Iconic Stories Our Editors Love [The remarkable story of the world's first brain surgery... on a bear]( [Romain Pizzi operates under unique constraints, often in the field using equipment he has designed himself. It's about a person with a deep affinity for animals who has pioneered new techniques in an attempt to play a small part in slowing the destruction of our natural world.]( —Greg Williams, Deputy Global Editorial Director [Illustration of a film marque with a display that says “Now Playing: Every Movie Ever Made”]( [The Long Tail]( [Nearly 20 years after it's publication, this piece from WIRED contributor Chris Anderson still sits in my mind as a cornerstone of how I think about content on the Internet, whether it's movies and music like he discusses, or even articles, impactful journalism, or even a good meme.]( —Alan Henry, Special Projects Editor   For the best and weirdest stories from WIRED’s archive, sign up for the [WIRED Classics]( newsletter. ADVERTISEMENT LiveWIRED Celebrating 30 Years Join us at [LiveWIRED]( on December 5 in San Francisco for a thought-provoking, in-person only event, featuring some of the most influential people in tech, business, science, entertainment, and beyond. Celebrating WIRED’s 30th anniversary, we’ll explore technology’s impact on our past, present, and future—and dig into solutions and our optimistic vision for the next 30 years. [Find out more]( [GET WIRED]( [Get WIRED for just $29.99 $5. That includes subscriber-only content like Steven Levy's Plaintext column, plus free stickers!]([Subscribe now.]( ADVERTISEMENT [WIRED]( [(image) WIRED on Facebook]( [(image) WIRED on Twitter]( [(image) WIRED on Instagram]( [(image) WIRED on LinkedIn]( [(image) WIRED on YouTube]( [Podcasts]( Have questions or comments? [Reply to this email](mailto:hello@wired.com?subject=WIRED%20Newsletter%20Questions,%20Comments%20or%20Feedback). This email was sent to you by WIRED. 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