The Second Edition of Bruce Schneier's _Applied_Cryptography_ is out.
 
ISBN 0-471-11709-9, 758 pages (it looks about 70% thicker than the
first edition), $49.95 (I found myself looking around hopefully for
an 'upgrade' version that would cost less since I have the first one
already.  Too bad books don't work like software :-)
 
In case you missed the reviews and recommendations for the first
edition of this book, here's the short version: Buy This Book.
 
Hardware/service of the month:
 
Metricom's Ricochet wireless Internet access.
 
For $299 you get a wireless modem about the size of a palmtop computer
that you can velcro onto the back of your laptop.  $29/month then gets
you *unlimited* internet (PPP) access.  For another $5/month you can dial
out to any modem in the 408, 415, and 510 area codes. I consistently get
performance equal to a 19.2Kb modem connection (1.9K/second file
transfers from within Netscape on a Mac Duo laptop).  With this service
you can do all kinds of delightfully nerdy things like web surfing from
the beach or posting restaurant reviews to ba.food in the middle of your
meal.  The only catch is that the service is only available (so far) in
the SF Bay Area (and a couple other places like Corvallis Oregon).  More
info at http://www.metricom.com/
 
G.