ARLINGTON, VA - On July 4, 1997, well-known technology and digital culture writer Gareth Branwyn will premier Street Tech (www.streetech.com), a sister site to Sean Carton's popular Cool Tool of the Day (www.cooltool.com). Subtitled "Hardware Beyond the Hype," Street Tech will include reviews, daily news and discussion on computer hardware, consumer electronics, and cool tools. The site will also offer periodic how-tos on do-it-yourself projects, upgrades, and maintenance on computer hardware and electronics

"If you're as tired of rip-and-read corporate press releases masquerading as product reviews as we are, you've come to the right place," reads the Street Tech mission statement. "We love technology...when it works. But today, the hype and boosterism that abounds in the mainstream media and much of the computer press has made it almost impossible to figure out which tools will work for you and which will only make your life miserable. And, in a technological universe where your hardware is already old news by the time you wrestle it out of the box, something is seriously wrong."

Street Tech will be about how people actually use technology, often in ways unforeseen by its creators. The site will feature honest, no-nonsense reviews of the latest digital tech--and equally as important-- how to keep the tech that you already have running well and as up-to-date as possible.

"Lots of computer users are scared to open the case on their computer to do basic repairs and upgrades," says Branwyn. "Instead, they lug their box to a computer center and spend hundreds of dollars on things that they could easily do themselves in a few minutes. Replace a dead power supply? Now that must be complicated, right? Wrong. It's 4 screws and a few cables to detach and reattach. The price to get this done by a tech? US$275 and a day or two of downtime on your machine. Do it yourself and it's about a hundred bucks and 5 minutes of work. Anyone who can hold a screw driver steady and can read our clear and straight-forward how-tos will be able to save big bucks on computer repairs and upgrades. We'll even delve into phones, faxes, copy machines, and your other high-tech media appliances."

Besides reviews and how-tos, the site will use O'Reilly's WebBoard 2.0 conferencing and chat software to allow visitors to share their experiences and information with each other. The conferencing area will include daily tech news briefs and reports from resident street techies. Guest speakers will hold forth for a week or two on a given topic and answer questions. Street Tech will also keep participants up to date on the latest books, catalogs, and web sites related to digital technology and do-it-yourself hardware and maintenance.

Site creator and editor in chief Gareth Branwyn edits Wired's monthly Jargon Watch and Wired Top Ten columns. He's also the senior editor of the pop culture humor zine bOING bOING and the author of 6 books including co-authorship of bOING bOING's Happy Mutant Handbook (Putnam), Internet Power Toolkit (Ventana) and Mosaic Quick Tour (Ventana), the first book on Mosaic and the World Wide Web. His current book is Jargon Watch: A Pocket Dictionary for the Jitterati (HardWired). Other site personnel include multimedia visionary Peter Sugarman, Cool Tool's Sean Carton, Wired and boot contributing editor David Pescovitz, Fringe Ware editor and Wired contributor Tiffany Lee Brown and Wired contributing writer and video artist Joe Nickell. The site is being designed by award-winning artist and illustrator John Bergin.