Joshua Quittner's Home Page

Let's see. What can I tell you about myself?

Well, I write a weekly column for Newsday about the Internet. It's an incredibly fun gig and I can't believe I get paid to do it.

Of course, I've been saying that about my job being a reporter - fun, can't believe someone pays me to do it, et cetera - ever since I got into newspaper work, about a decade ago. That job was part-time, weekend-night, police reporter for the Albuquerque Journal, in New Mexico. I got to ride around in a big Jeep emblazoned with an American eagle (the Jeep was emblazoned, not me) and I would listen to two police radios and one hand-held one. I would surf the crime wave, waiting for a dispatcher to report something skeezy, then race like hell to get there.

Sometimes, I'd get to the scene before the cops, which was cool beyond belief. Once, I got to a reported hostage scene before the police, and my photographer and I slunked down in our seats, in the Jeep, which was quickly cordoned off inside the crime scene. We were giggling with excitement. It turned out to be a Vietnam War vet who was holding himself hostage. Finally, the police got bored and fired tear-gas ferrets into his house, and he came out after a while, coughing. Pretty sad. We got good pictures, though.

I've written a lot for Wired during the past year. My favorite story was "The War Between alt.tasteless and rec.pets.cats." I also own the domain name mcdonalds.com.

Oh yeah, I also write books with my wife, Michelle Slatalla. We've written two mysteries, now out of print, though they'd be perfect for the movies, in case any movie guys are out there. Seriously. Also, our first nonfiction book is about to be published by HarperCollins. It's called Masters of Deception: The Gang that Ruled Cyberspace, and it's about a bunch of New York City hackers who mix it up with a bunch of Texas hackers online.