The Cutting Edge: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : A Travel Guide to Cyberspace

Computer junkies have long argued that cyberspace is a place . Come September, it will have its own magazine to prove it.

Virtual City will serve residents of the on-line computer world the way Los Angeles magazine and New York magazine serve citizens of those communities, Publisher Jonathan Sacks said Tuesday.

“Like any service magazine, it’s about things to do and places to go,� said Lewis D’Vorkin, a former Newsweek business editor and Virtual City’s editor in chief. “There are no restaurant reviews, but it will tell you about places to find food clubs on-line.�

Sacks’ San Francisco-based Virtual Communications, which will team up with Newsweek to launch the quarterly magazine, plans to publish 300,000 copies of its first issue with a newsstand price of $2.95. Details of the deal were not disclosed, but in addition to capital, Newsweek will give Virtual City broad exposure by reprinting selected stories in 1 million of its editions.

Unlike Wired, the ultra-hip magazine for computer addicts, Virtual City will be aimed at an estimated 8 million casual computer users just learning to navigate cyberspace, Sacks said.