ECIFFO

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the interview

In the summertime of 1996, I was living on Waller Street in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. I was spending my days in The People's Café, writing a book.

I was approached by a Japanese reporter who had heard about my penchant (fetish?) for portable computing.

Remember please that this was long before things were internetworked. (Tech note: I was using an Apple PowerBook connected to the 'net via a specially configured Ricochet radio-modem. The signal bounced back and forth from the café throught the buildings and the tree-lined streets to my house, where another specially configured Richochet was perched precariously high in the front living room window, waiting to pass my bits through a Multitech Z-DX 28.8 kbps modem to my Internet Service Provider). The throughput would vary inversely to the density of tree leaves - I never knew they were radio-opaque.)

Getting back to the story, the reporter and I exchanged email and worked out an agenda and schedule. On the appointed day I was met by five reporters and two photographers. Another fifteen minutes of fame.

Here's what the interview looked like.

Here's what it begat: an article published in the autumn 1996 issue of ECIFFO (the English word "office" spelled backwards). Clicking on any thumbnail image will bring you to a full-sized scan of the article. Enjoy!