In January 2006, senior editor Robert Capps presented the 50 best robots ever. Can we make that 54? In the past two years, these upstarts have maneuvered their way into our geeky little hearts.

BigDog Like all the best bots, it's kind of creepy. Thanks to a $24 million injection from Darpa, this quadruped can carry a 340-pound load over rubble and ice, hop across crevices, and even regain its balance after a swift kick in the ass.

Robo-Rat This little animat (part animal, part robot) drives with its "brain" — 300,000 rat neurons sitting on a bed of electrodes. When sensors locate obstacles, the neurons beam instructions to the wheels via Bluetooth. Hard left! Hard left!

Jarvis and Dummy
It's not really ideal for your tools to talk smack and blast you with foam. But Iron Man minus his ultra-amenable worker-bot and quick-witted AI assistant would be just another billionaire playboy in a power suit.

A decade and a half of provocative content has inspired plenty of letters to the editor. Some of them have been thoughtful and constructive, others just plain rude. Sticks and stones, kids...

I have to pass on my disappointment with the first issue of your magazine. In fact, it has made me angry ... It's yuppie bullshit. Gary Chapman May/June 1993

I hated the cover on my new Wired magazine so much I tore it off and threw it in the trash. dteeter@aol.com August 1994

I don't know whether to congratulate you for your courage or cancel my subscription for presenting such one-sided drivel. Charles Lewis November 1995

As fiction goes, Ed Regis' article on anti-environmental crusader Julian L. Simon was a work of art. Tim Andrews May 1997

"101 Ways to Save the Internet" had a few good ones and a whole lot of crap. Andy Harrison March 2004

Prince is geekier than William Gibson? The unhackable computer in Hackers was named after Gibson, for Pete's sake! Ever seen an unhackable computer named after Prince? Peter Aaron October 2004

Few companies set out to do bad deeds, but most won't rule them out. Google was supposed to be different. When Josh McHugh profiled the young corporation in January 2003, it had one clear and concise rule: "Don't be evil." Ah well, times change. CEO Eric Schmidt recently "clarified" that policy, saying it was simply meant as a conversation starter. "We don't have an evil meter," he groused. Here, you can borrow ours!

7.1 Philanthropy Creating a foundation devoted to fighting poverty, researching renewable energy, and protecting the environment. Two can play at this game, Mr. Gates.

5.3 Coddling Staff Establishing on-site day care for lil' Googlers as an employee perk. (Memo to HR: Keep eyes peeled for particularly bright toddlers.)

-2.4 Moral Triage Giving Brazilian police access to private photo albums on Orkut to assist an investigation into child pornography. The lesser of two evils is still pretty lame.

-4.8 Immaturity Responding to Privacy International's last-place ranking of Google with "U R BIAS!"

-6.7 Screwing Staff Raising the cost of onsite childcare to ridiculous levels in order to have the best day care on Earth. $57,000 per year? Seriously, Sergey?

-8.3 Censorship Instituting keyword filters per request of the People's Republic of China. Further "clarification": Google company policies apply only within the continental US.