Face to Watch

PC Magazine glamorizes the sleek lines of computers, not people.

But a few months ago the first human—Ted Huang '98—made it onto the cover of the magazine. For an issue devoted to readers' most frequently asked questions, editors turned to Huang, senior producer of sister publication PCMagazine Online, to help humanize the answers. In doing so, the editors elected to forego the magazine's usual approach—and a cover boy was born. While Huang is often cornered at parties for advice on what kind of handheld to buy, he owns few of the high-tech gadgets his magazine reviews.

Still, here's what he says will be hot this year: converging technologies such as cell phones with digital cameras, and handhelds that make digital movies. "It will be interesting to see how the media industry will handle the increasing popularity of digital video recorders, [which] allow you to record various shows onto a hard drive so you can view them later," Huang says. Whatever unfolds, you can bet he'll be on top of it.