Mac the Knife was the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

(inspired by the homophonous well-known song "

Mack the Knife "Mack the Knife" or "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" (german: "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", italic=no, link=no) is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama ''The Threepenny Opera'' (german: Die Dreig ...

") of an

anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

gossip Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling. Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...

columnist for the (now defunct)

Apple Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

-focused trade publication ''

MacWEEK ''MacWEEK'' was a controlled-circulation weekly Apple Macintosh trade journal based in San Francisco founded by Michael Tchong, John Anderson, Glenn Patch, Dick Govatski, and Michael F. Billings. It featured a back-page rumor column penned by the ...

''. Mac the Knife was always written by a single writer, but the identity of that writer changed more than once over the long publishing history of ''MacWEEK''. The column was known not only for its wide-ranging and often accurate Macintosh-related rumors, but for its

gonzo Gonzo may refer to: People * Gonzo (nickname), a list of people with the nickname * Radislav Jovanov Gonzo (born 1964), Croatian music video director Radislav Jovanov, also known as Gonzo * Matthias Röhr (born 1962), German musician whose stage ...

Hunter S. Thompson Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement. He rose to prominence with the publication of '' Hell's Angels'' (1967), a book for which he s ...

-like style. Tipsters who provided juicy gossip were provided with coffee mugs emblazoned with the Knife's logo. During the column's heyday, the trophy mugs were occasionally sent randomly to Apple employees in order to obscure the true leakers. ''MacWEEKs party at

Macworld Conference & Expo Macworld/iWorld was an information technology trade show with conference tracks dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform. It was held annually in the United States during January. Originally ''Macworld Expo'' and then ''Macworld Conference & Expos ...

was named for this fictional character. The party was often more secretive than Apple's own parties, to protect the identity of the Knife. During the latter part of the Knife's career, his or her columns appeared on a website called The Electric Knife, which was published by

Mac Publishing ''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...

at , but after the Knife's retirement, the domain expired. For some time, it was not associated with the Knife. Recently, it has been pointed at the defunct MacEdition homepage. Today, none of the former Mac the Knife columnists write using this name. The columnist himself moved to MacEdition in 2000, penning a column called the "Naked Mole Rat Report" (an allusion to a phrase used in one of the Knife's last columns). The column seems to have ceased publication in 2003. Some speculate that Robert Hess or former editor

Matthew Rothenberg Matthew Rothenberg (born February 16, 1965) is an American journalist and co-author of "You're Better Than Your Job Search" with TheLadders.com CEO Marc Cenedella. Rothenberg, the son of American poet Jerome Rothenberg, worked at ''MacWEEK'' in Sa ...

(of the online publication

eWEEK ''eWeek'' (''Enterprise Newsweekly'', stylized as ''eWEEK''), formerly PCWeek, is a technology and business magazine. Previously owned by QuinStreet; Nashville, Tennessee marketing company TechnologyAdvice acquired eWeek in 2020. The print edi ...

) might have been the columnist at one time. A former employee adds that while Rothenberg might have later taken over the column at some point, he certainly wasn't the original... as he joined the mag long afterwards. She can also confirm that it wasn't Hess. {{Citation needed, reason=reliable source needed for the whole sentence, date=January 2013 Many of the later Mac the Knife columns are still available from the

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's copy of the Electric Knife site.The former Mac the Knife site
on

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

References

External links

History of Mac the Knife and "Not the Knife" Macworld Expo parties

Photo of a Mac the Knife coffee mug
Macintosh magazines Technology writers Anonymity pseudonyms

See also

References

External links