Remember when subscriptions to Wired, the day-glo bible of the techno revolution, ran $50 a year? Then, when the digital uprising began short circuiting, Wired sent out direct mail touting $24 yearly subscriptions, which were soon followed by $12 deals.

Now, it's halved itself once again in the form of a tie-in subscription with the resurrected Details. A blow-in promotion in that Maxim wannabe touts the "amazing offer" of "a year of Details and a year of Wired for just $12." Maybe the idea behind this two-fer deal was to cover themselves against subscriber complaints in case one of the mags was suddenly silenced like Talk. In any event, I took the bait.