Wired, March 2010
I conceived of and edited this 8-page feature package commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the dotcom bust.
(Download PDF.)
I later discussed the package for Wired‘s Storyboard podcast.
Author: Joanna Pearlstein
An Epidemic of Fear: The Aftermath
Wired, November 2009
In 2009 Wired published a brave piece by Amy Wallace entitled, “An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All.” The piece was hugely controversial — a year later, readers were still sending letters about it.
In the weeks following the story’s publication, Wired launched a blog, which I edited, providing some of the background reporting that didn’t make it into the story. A group of reporters also answered readers’ questions and covered news of a mumps epidemic in New York.
As the editor of Wired‘s letters section, I was also charged with condensing close to 1,000 reader responses into two pages in the print magazine. Read that letters section here. I discussed the challenges of editing that section in this Storyboard podcast.
Anatomy of a Google Auction
Wired, June 2009
How do Google ads work? This diagram, which accompanied a feature story by Steven Levy about Google’s advertising technology, explains how the search giant’s scoring system ranks text ads.
Organics Are Not the Answer
Wired, June 2008
Organic isn’t just Farmer John; it’s Big Ag. Plenty of pesticide-free foods are shipped thousands of miles in carbon-dioxide-belching trucks. In some cases, conventional agriculture can be kinder to the planet. This article was part of a Wired cover package.
Why Things Suck
Wired, February 2008
Journalists love to kvetch, so it’s no surprise that Wired published a cover package called “Why Things Suck.” The package, which I co-created, aimed to explain the scientific reasons that, for example, office printers jam or human knees fail. In addition to editing several pieces, I explained why your tomatoes taste terrible (short answer: because you’re eating them in February!) and why fertility treatments fail so often (short answer: gametes are fragile).
Talk of the Nation: Return to Sender
National Public Radio, November 2008
For years, Wired invited readers to send us artwork through the mail, sans packaging. It was partly a test to see what the USPS would handle. Over the years we received everything from a surfboard to a giant DNA helix to a navel orange. When we discontinued the contest in 2008, I wrote about its demise in the magazine. Then I discussed it with Neal Conan on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation.
Talk of the Nation: The Age of Photoshopping
What does it mean when our celebrity icons are Photoshopped within an inch of their lives? I discussed what the age of digital image editing means with Neal Conan, host of National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation, in November 2008.
New York Times
After leaving Red Herring and before joining Wired, I wrote a couple of technology articles for the New York Times‘ erstwhile Circuits section:
Web’s Tin Cups Find Soft Touches Aplenty: February 13, 2003
The Finale as Rerun: Spoiling Survivor: March 27, 2003
Red Herring
I joined Red Herring, a monthly magazine about the business of technology, during the ascent of the dotcom bubble. First I managed the magazine’s sizeable editorial research team, which provided data-driven stories to the print and online divisions of the magazine. Later, I edited Forward, the magazine’s front-of-the-book section. Below, some of my writing clips:
The battle over digital television, September 2002 [PDF]
Branding for dummies: August 2002 [PDF]
Palm’s recovery strategy just might work: January 2002 [PDF]
How to protect your DNA from unauthorized use, October 2001 [PDF]
Dinner with The Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell: March 2001
Venture capital in Washington: October 2000 [PDF]
Scandal at Utah tech company Cimetrix: September 2000
Oxygen Media goes for gold: May 2000
Joanna Pearlstein 
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