Fresh From The Drawing Board

By Stephen Koepp, Deputy Managing Editor

TIME 100: THE NEXT WAVE/INNOVATORS

When we started our 18-month series called Innovators last July, in which we're profiling 100 people with bold ideas, we felt a bit as if we were buying stock in them. Having called attention to these budding revolutionaries, we wanted them to do well and have an impact. Now that we're at the halfway point in the series, we can say we're happier than most investors these days.

Where are they now? Rob Malda, founder of the news website Slashdot (profiled in September), has fostered hot newcomers like the pop-culture site Plastic.com by giving away valuable code for free. David Neeleman's jetBlue airline (January) celebrated its first birthday last month, took delivery of its 11th new Airbus 320 and prompted the Transportation Department to coin the term "jetBlue effect," which occurs when the upstart enters a market and fares dramatically drop. Richmond McCoy, whose real estate company UrbanAmerica (October) invests in impoverished areas, landed a $75 million credit line from Citigroup. And the edgy Catalan chef Ferran Adria (November) got his own cooking show on Spanish TV.

Being an Innovator is a high-wire act, however, and some of our rebels have had to make compromises--or worse. Joseph Park, founder of the defiantly free delivery service Kozmo (September), had to impose a fee of $1.99 on small orders to make ends meet. And it wasn't enough for Steve Stanford's Icebox.com (September) to have the coolest cartoons on the Web. The site slammed shut last month after running out of cash.

The Innovators series forges ahead this week with a chapter on crime fighters, who range from a police-sketch artist to a scientist who finds clues in the bellies of bugs. The section boasts a crisp new look created by our sister act of Marti and MaryAnne Golon. Marti, our art director for special projects, finds inspiration in the animated typography of movie-title sequences and websites. "Using different fonts, with varying weights and colors, I can make your eye bounce around the printed page." Picture editor MaryAnne aims to match the style of the photography to the spirit of the subject: bold and graphic for portraying designers, ethereal for spiritual leaders. "When it's done very well," she says, "the process is invisible." The Golons have lots of wizardry planned for our next nine installments, which will showcase such talents as athletes, musicians, thinkers and healers. For an even richer version of each chapter, check out time.com/Innovators

TAKE 5

If the word pundit brings to mind an image of a pipe-smoking, tweed-jacketed know-it-all who is fond of quoting Dean Acheson, then you will be delighted--and relieved--by the freshness of the reporters and opinion makers you will meet on Take 5, a new talk show on CNN that will include a rotating cast of four TIME journalists. "We wanted a show that had the vitality and perspective of newer reporters," says Lucy Spiegel, the show's executive producer. "A lot of people came to our attention who were not covering their sixth or seventh presidential election, but their first or second."

The TIME journalists who will take turns as one of the show's five panelists are staff writer Tamala Edwards, reporter Desa Philadelphia and White House correspondents Jay Carney and John Dickerson. "The show will bridge politics, current events and culture," says Edwards, who describes her fellow panelists as "vibrant, smart, witty folks. Exactly the kind of people you'd love to have at your dinner party." Producer Spiegel shares that feeling but from an early riser's point of view: "They're a great, diverse group of people who have a wide range of opinions, not only on politics and social issues but all the things you talk about when you're having a coffee in the morning."

Expect a lift, not condescension, says Carney: "We're all relatively young, but the show won't talk down to its audience." Weekly co-hosts on the show will include Jake Tapper of salon.com Michelle Cottle of the New Republic and Robert George of the New York Post, plus a special guest. Take 5 debuts at 8:30 p.m. E.T. this Saturday, March 17, on CNN.

Stephen Koepp, Deputy Managing Editor