Niall McKay has worked for Wired.com for over a decade. In 1999, Niall was on staff and covered digital politics and culture. He then worked as contributor for Wired.com and Wired magazine. In 2007, Niall pioneered Wired’s online video offerings creating the magazine first video podcasts with his production company The Media Factory.
Wired News — Movie Mashups Take on Trailers
2006-05-01
Hollywood is waking up to the marketing potential of bootleg video remixes of its movies: It’s starting to commission them. By Niall McKay. Online Version HERE. Download article pdf WiredMovieMashups.pdf
Wired News — Art Flicks Sparkle on Cell Phones
2006-04-27
For an idea of where mobile entertainment might be going, watch a few indie movies made especially for handheld gadgets’ miniscule screens. By Niall McKay.
Online Version HERE. Download article pdf WiredArt.pdf
Wired News — Peer-to-Peer Goes Legit
2005-11-03
The old-school peer-to-peer network iMesh has left the murky world of illegal file swapping behind with the launch of a new service that enables users to share up to 2 million tracks from the four major record labels. Wired News article Here. Download PDF of article WiredPeer2Peer.pdf
Wired News — Current TV: Fast but Treacherous
2006-06-19
Al Gore’s new cable network, Current TV, is a media smorgasbord of quick, slick and sometimes very interesting short-form video segments targeted at the iPod generation. But it often leaves you feeling cheated out of the main course after a tasty appetizer. Wired Article Here. WiredCurrent TVFast.pdf
Wired News — Bigwigs Seek Short-Form Scorsese
2005-07-20
When Keith Thomson’s animated film Annibelle Scoops logged a million hits online, he had little idea what further success it would bring. Six months later, the screenwriter and amateur animator landed a deal to write an MTV pilot based on the cartoon about a cute but dumb starlet who used breast implants to augment her talent. Wired News article here. Downloard article WiredBigwigs.pdf
Wired News — Gore’s TV Seeks Northern Insights
2005-04-14
Former Vice President Al Gore’s new cable TV channel will go live in August, promising to mix elements of the internet and TV. But the 24-hour cable channel, called Current TV, will be based in part on a 3-year-old experimental TV show from Canada. Wired News article here. Downloard article WiredGores.pdf.
Wired News — The Vee Pee’s New Tee Vee
2005-04-06
Former Vice President Al Gore unveiled a new interactive cable TV channel for the Internet generation Monday that blends the immediacy of video blogging with the voyeurism of reality TV. Current TV, formerly known as IndTV, will be launched Aug. 1 and will aim to combine the interactivity of the Internet with the couch-potato pleasures of TV. Wired News article here. Download article WiredVee Pee.pdf.
Wired Newss — Borneo Forest Faces Extinction
2004-02-13
Illegal logging is destroying the equatorial rain forests of Indonesian Borneo, bringing the island, once known as the lungs of Asia, to the brink of an ecological disaster. Not only has 95 percent of the forest legally set aside for logging been cleared but nearly 60 percent of protected national parkland has been illegally logged, according to a new report in this week’s Science by professor Lisa M. Curran of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Wired News article here. Download article WiredBorneo.pdf.
Wired News — Matrix Imploded: Trouble in Zion
2003-11-07
As a special-effects romp,The Matrix Revolutions may keep viewers glued to their seats for a couple of hours. But as a follow-up to the allegorical tour de force of the first Matrix film, it’s a dismal failure. By Niall McKay. Wired News article here. Download article Wired News_matrix.pdf
Wired News Termites Inspire Paper Pusher
2003-09-23
Xerox engineers need a sophisticated alternative to the wheels and rollers in copy machines. Their inspiration came from not-so-sophisticated creatures — termites. Nature is inspiring scientists in many other fields, as well. Wired News article here. Download article WiredNews;biologyinpired.pdf
Wired Magazine — Honey, I Shrunk the HMO!
January 2000  The next generation of preventive medicine is in the hands of nanobots. Online Verison Here. Download PDF
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More Wired News Articles
DOD Scientist: Lose the Humans
3:00 a.m. 20.Aug.1999 PDT The Department of Defense’s chief scientist wants to take people out of the computing equation and give more control to smart processors that control robots. Niall McKay reports from Seattle.
Microsoft Shows Off at Mobicom
4:10 p.m. 17.Aug.1999 PDT Microsoft research was on parade at the Mobicom technical conference in Seattle, where attendees looked into the future of wireless. Niall McKay reports from Seattle.
Wireless in Seattle
8:25 a.m. Aug. 17, 1999 PDT Wireless transmitters for automated airport check-in, particle-sized communicators called Smart Dust, and a new e-book are among the technologies to debut at MobiCom 99. Niall McKay reports from Seattle.
Coming Soon: Back Orifice 2000
3:00 a.m. 30.Jun.1999 PDT The Cult of the Dead Cow preps a new, more powerful release of its notorious hacking program — just in time for Def Con 7. By Niall McKay.
Microsoft Posts Web Server Fix
4:20 p.m. 17.Jun.1999 PDT Microsoft has a temporary work-around for a security hole in its Internet Information Server. And it criticizes the Internet security firm that discovered the hole for publicizing it before a software patch was posted. By Niall McKay.
E-Commerce Sites: Open Sesame?
11:40 a.m. June 15, 1999 PDT Microsoft is scrambling to fix a significant flaw in its Internet Information Server that could open e-commerce sites to remote control by crackers. By Niall McKay.
Drag and Drop Credit Cards
4:30 p.m. June 11, 1999 PDT Finance heavyweights American Express, Visa, and MasterCard have joined with IBM, Microsoft, and Sun to simplify online transactions. The system replaces forms, adds security — and makes it much easier to spend money. By Niall McKay.
Selling (Carefully) to Kids
11:30 a.m. June 7, 1999 PDT A study says kids are the hot new online audience. At the Digital Kids conference, marketers swap ideas on how to make money off of them — responsibly. Niall McKay reports from San Francisco.
Spying on the Spies
12:15 p.m. 10.May.1999 PDT Concerned that the National Security Agency’s Echelon worldwide surveillance network might be up to no good, the European Parliament asked an investigative reporter to dig around. Here’s what he found. By Niall McKay.
Crypto Set for a Quantum Leap
3:00 a.m. April 5, 1999 PDT Scientists borrow a chapter from the field of quantum physics to build a secret so random even code-cracking supercomputers won’t be able to touch it. By Niall McKay
When Irish Eyeballs Are Smiling
3:00 a.m. March 17, 1999 PST The ideal St. Patrick’s Day revelers will hold a pint of Guinness in one hand and a mouse in the other as they explore a range of new Irish portals. By Niall McKay.
Santa Claus Meets the Martians
3:00 a.m. 16.Mar.1999 PST NASA and the Mars Society will simulate a manned expedition to Mars near the North Pole. It’s the closest thing to Mars on Earth. Niall McKay reports from Palo Alto, California.
Indonesia, Ireland in Info War?
9:05 a.m. 27.Jan.1999 PST An Irish ISP says the Asian government is behind a series of sophisticated attacks against its servers, which host the East Timor country domain. By Niall McKay.
Teen Devises New Crypto Cipher
3:00 a.m. Jan. 14, 1999 PST An Irish schoolgirl creates a data-scrambling scheme that may one day challenge the gold standard. Sarah Flannery wins a prestigious prize and becomes a media darling. By Niall McKay.
Guerrilla Techno Tackles the Net
4:40 p.m. 11.Dec.1998 PST Techno is hot in clubs, but cool in the stores. So the genre’s boosters are reinventing music distribution for a new era. By Niall McKay and Christopher Jones.
Europe Is Listening
5:10 p.m. Dec. 2, 1998 PST Big Brother will find it easier to keep his ear to the ground if the European Union approves legislation allowing law enforcement to tap into email and satellite phone calls. By Niall McKay.
China: The Great Firewall
3:00 a.m. 1.Dec.98.PST Hacktivists compromise China’s firewall servers to deliver Western culture to the information-oppressed. By Niall McKay.
Open-Source Java at Last?
2:10 p.m. Nov. 25, 1998 PST Developers have heard it before: Sun Microsystems says it will release a more open version of its standards next month. By Niall McKay
ICANN Gets Green Light
5:00 p.m. Nov. 24, 1998 PST Now that ICANN has rewritten its bylaws, the White House has given it the go-ahead to become the organization that will manage the Net. By Niall McKay.
NASA’s ‘Deep Impact’ Mission
3:00 a.m. Nov. 21, 1998 PST The space agency is considering a proposal to blast a large copper ball into a comet in an effort to determine the origins of life. By Niall McKay.
Hacktivists Join Activists
2:30 p.m. Nov. 20, 1998 PST Online hacktivists will join their real-world counterparts in marking the ninth anniversary of highly publicized political slayings in El Salvador. Trouble is, the activists are unimpressed. By Niall McKay.
Comment Chattez-Vous?
7:50 a.m. Nov. 19, 1998 PST Uni-Verse breaks through the language barrier by translating, on the fly, chat-room conversations typed in six different languages. By Niall McKay.
Microsoft Loses Big in Court
5:17 p.m. 17.Nov.98.PST Sun Microsystems gets a crucial ruling — a federal court tells Microsoft to stop selling products that contain an incompatible version of Java. By Niall McKay and Chris Oakes.
Satellites Weather Leonid Storm
5:17 p.m. Nov. 17, 1998 PST Satellite experts said that Leonid meteor shower might spell trouble in space, but the worst of the storm is over, and so far, all systems are still go. By Niall McKay.
Beacon in the Baltics
7:22 p.m. Nov. 16, 1998 PST The Internet thrives in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. What’s needed is better organization. By Niall McKay.
Silicon Matchmaking
3:00 a.m. Nov. 12, 1998 PST NASA and the microprocessor big boys meet to pair the esoteric science of nanotechnology with the prosperous world of silicon chip production. By Niall McKay.
Doing Nothing, Doing It Well
12:30 p.m. Nov. 11, 1998 PST Ira Magaziner’s art has been keeping government regulators at bay while the Internet prospers. That’s what his fans say, anyway. By Declan McCullagh and Niall McKay.
A Baby Step for Nanotech
4:00 a.m. Nov. 9, 1998 PST A new device that manipulates atoms is an important advance for researchers who one day hope to build machines the size of molecules. By Niall McKay.
E-books in the Palm of Your Hand
4:00 a.m. Nov. 5, 1998 PST A Massachusetts startup is publishing titles in the PalmPilot format, making it cheaper for readers to enjoy electronic books. By Niall McKay.
Do Terrorists Troll the Net?
10:15 a.m. Nov. 4, 1998 PST A man claiming to belong to a radical Indian separarist group has been prowling the haunts of crackers, trying to obtain information on US military networks, a Wired News investigation reveals. By Niall McKay.
ABC News Projects the Winner
9:55 a.m. Nov. 3, 1998 PST ABC News posted election results on its Web site Monday night, at least 18 hours before the first votes had even been cast on Election Day. The company said the results were part of a test never meant to see the light of day. By Niall McKay.
Ireland, the Silicon Isle
11:51 a.m. Oct. 29, 1998 PST Ireland, after a false start, has become the European counterpart to Silicon Valley — complete with high-priced programmers, scrappy startups, and labor shortages. Now, the Irish are invading US markets. By Niall McKay.
Spying on the Spies
12:55 p.m. Oct. 27, 1998 PST Echelon, the National Security Agency’s worldwide electronic surveillance network, will be under the harsh glare of congressional scrutiny for the first time. By Niall McKay.
Crackers Attack China on Rights
9:17 a.m. Oct. 27, 1998 PST On Monday, China launched a new Web site to offer an official perspective on the country’s human rights record. Monday night, some crackers offered theirs. By Niall McKay.
Net Government Leaders Crowned
7:33 a.m. 27.Oct.98.PST Internet Society founder Michael Roberts and financier Esther Dyson will head up the newly formed non-profit group that will take over where the late Jon Postel left off. By Niall McKay.
Sun Stocks Up on Java
5:25 p.m. 20.Oct.98.PDT Sun has a big appetite for Java, and has gobbled up another small software developer. Beduin Communications will give Sun a range of new applications for consumer devices. By Niall McKay.
Net Authority Passes to ICANN
12:40 p.m. 20.Oct.98.PDT The Clinton administration begins the process of handing over the governance of the Internet to a new nonprofit group. But there is a catch and some outstanding issues remain. By Niall McKay.
Padlocking Windows 95
7:00 p.m. 16.Oct.98.PDT A new security program takes Windows passwords and locks them in an encrypted database, protecting systems from prying eyes. By Niall McKay.
Cyber Terror Arsenal Grows
8:32 a.m. 16.Oct.98.PDT When a California teen was suspected of selling secrets to a terrorist via the Internet, the National Infrastructure Protection Center swung into action. By Niall McKay.
Super Chip for the Little Guys
11:50 a.m. 13.Oct.98.PDT IBM comes up with a cheaper way to combine two superconductive elements commonly used in mainframe computers to build a faster microchip for cell phones and PDAs.
Rigging Software to Swear
1:10 p.m. 9.Oct.98.PDT A computer programmer says he sabotaged an educational computer game to produce words that parents might not want their kids to know. The manufacturer says this isn’t the case. By Niall McKay.
FBI’s Wish is Granted
4:00 a.m. 9.Oct.98.PDT Telephone-tapping law enforcement agencies can eavesdrop more freely after a last-minute revision is jammed into an intelligence budget bill. By Niall McKay.
Critics Decry New Net Government
10:40 a.m. 8.Oct.98.PDT The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is poised to take over the day-to-day running of the medium. But there are still a few bumps in the road to administrative bliss. By Niall McKay.
Privacy Campaign Plods Ahead
10:35 a.m. 7.Oct.98.PDT Following a TV ad campaign that attempted to shift crypto policy, the Americans for Computer Privacy have now turned to an old-fashioned letter-writing campaign. By Niall McKay.
Book Giants Gang Up on Amazon
4:00 a.m. 7.Oct.98.PDT Bertelsmann, the world’s biggest book publisher, agrees to buy half of barnesandnoble.com, the online arm of the biggest US bookseller, in a joint effort to muscle out the competition. By Niall McKay.
Network Solutions Hangs On
3:00 p.m. 6.Oct.98.PDT The company that has held sway over the Net’s most popular domains is granted an extension in its contract with the US government. But first it must hand over the databases. By Niall McKay.
Did EU Scuttle Echelon Debate?
5:15 p.m. 5.Oct.98.PDT A European parliamentarian says the EU squashed debate on the mysterious Echelon surveillance system, fearing the debate would strain US relations. By Niall McKay.
Intruders in The Palace
7:05 p.m. 2.Oct.98.PDT The chat company issued a crucial software fix Friday, correcting a bug that allows rogue servers to send any type of code to hard drives of community members. By Niall McKay.
The FBI’s Wish List
4:00 a.m. 1.Oct.98.PDT A conservative Republican says the FBI is trying to railroad a series of measures through Congress that would considerably broaden the agency’s surveillance powers. By Niall McKay.
Domains Get Another Seven Days
12:30 p.m. 30.Sep.98.PDT Today was the day Network Solutions was to hand over control of the top-level domains. But the feds have extended the deadline to ensure all goes well. By Niall McKay.
Eavesdropping on Europe
4:00 a.m. 30.Sep.98.PDT The European Parliament wants to know more about the Echelon surveillance system that secretly intercepts all Continental communications. By Niall McKay.
Who’s Minding the Net?
2:15 p.m. 29.Sep.98.PDT The organization that will govern the Internet has been established, pending final approval. But at least one sticky problem remains. By Niall McKay.
Pentagon Reviews Web Security
8:05 p.m. 25.Sep.98.PDT The Pentagon orders the Department of Defense to stop revealing its secrets over the Web. And that’s only the beginning. By Niall McKay.
Deadline to End IANA Looms
6:18 p.m. 25.Sep.98.PDT As of Wednesday, the White House must sign off on a detailed plan to take over the management of Internet domain names. But it’s tough to please everyone. By Niall McKay.
Resident Robots, Take Two
12:40 p.m. 24.Sep.98.PDT We’ve seen them in TV shows and movies, but robots as home companions have never materialized. Now, with the aid of PCs and specialized software, a new generation of robots has arrived. By Niall McKay.
Some Nerve
4:00 a.m. 23.Sep.98.PDT Nerve defined “literate smut” as a new literary form. Now the zine is leading the movement from Web to print. By Niall McKay.
The Golden Age of Hacktivism
4:00 a.m. 22.Sep.98.PDT As the Web becomes another soapbox for spin doctors, it also becomes a platform for politically motivated crackers with Unix smarts and an ax to grind. By Niall McKay.
Bomb Threat Empties Salon
7:25 p.m. 18.Sep.98.PDT After coping with two email bombs since it published an exposé about Henry Hyde’s long-ago affair, staff at the online magazine had to clear out of its offices for fear of the real thing. By Niall McKay.
New Internet Government Forged
4:00 a.m. 17.Sep.98.PDT A plan for governing the Internet of the future is released, and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is born. By Niall McKay.
IBM’s Walkman PC
5:50 p.m. 16.Sep.98.PDT Big Blue demonstrates its new Wearable PC in Japan. And it’s a full-blown Windows 98 computer. By Niall McKay.
Java Jumping Out of the Box?
9:45 a.m. 16.Sep.98.PDT Java applets used to download to your computer and run there. But a new technololgy sets them free to zip around the Net, performing useful tasks. By Niall McKay.
Feds Relax Encryption Rules
4:00 a.m. 16.Sep.98.PDT The Commerce Department finally eases its tight restrictions on the export of strong encryption. But is it too little, too late? By Niall McKay and James Glave.
Net Survives Starr Supernova
4:55 p.m. 11.Sep.98.PDT Some sites timed out, but the Internet didn’t melt. In fact, it thrived under what may prove to be the single greatest event in the medium’s history. By Niall McKay.
Outage Slows Access to Report
12:45 p.m. 11.Sep.98.PDT A train derailment in Georgia severs fiber-optic cables, knocking out Internet service on one of the biggest days in Internet history. By Niall McKay.
Microsoft Recruits Sea Slugs
6:00 p.m. 10.Sep.98.PDT Microsoft and the University of Washington have teamed up to study how sea slugs process information. The goal? To design smarter computer systems. By Niall McKay.
Site Braces for Starr Surge
4:45 p.m. 10.Sep.98.PDT The Library of Congress has posted the special prosecutor’s report to its Web site, but its IBM systems — in a configuration tested by the Nagano Olympics — are showing signs of strain. By Niall McKay.
Pentagon Deflects Web Assault
9:55 a.m. 10.Sep.98.PDT It was applet against applet yesterday, as a political protest targeted the Defense Department’s Web servers. Both sides claimed victory. By Niall McKay.
The Big, the Bad, and the Naked
4:45 p.m. 8.Sep.98.PDT What one man saw during the final hours of Burning Man, the hottest show on Earth. Will he ever be the same again? By Niall McKay.
Email, Email Everywhere
7:35 p.m. 4.Sep.98.PDT A number of new services are sprouting up to give users more widespread access to email accounts. Fujitsu is the latest provider. By Niall McKay.
Little Green Burning Men
4:00 a.m. 1.Sep.98.PDT The Burning Man Festival, which this year celebrates “The Great Above, Aliens, and the Space Age,” is fast becoming the largest alternative arts festival in the world. By Niall McKay.
A Flight Plan for Mars
4:00 a.m. 31.Aug.98.PDT Scientists hope to advance Mars exploration in 2003 with a reconnaissance mission over the red planet. Two NASA groups, the Ames facility and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, vie for a lucrative project grant. By Niall McKay.