Independent ads work, we say modestly. For Tech-Topia, something like 80 companies answered the survey at the issue’s advertisement, just for starters. Then Senior Editor Matt Kettmann collected about 40,000 words’ worth of notes on more than three dozen high-tech companies, talked with more than 30 experts, and sorted through 1,000-plus emails. Once he’d whittled it all down, he realized, “We hadn’t ever really covered our tech scene in a substantial way, and once I started poking around, it became the longest article I’ve ever done.” All the applied-science biz starts at our centerfold.