We’re celebrating the launch of the Future Shop Community Forum by hosting a live, in-store discussion on today’s TV technology—LCD vs. Plasma. Speakers Leo Laporte (Tech Guru, ABC's World News Now) and Amber MacArthur (New Media Host, CityTV News) will discuss what they believe the future holds. Tod Maffin (High-Tech Speaker and Canada's Leading Futurist) will be moderating the discussion.
Date:
Thursday September 27, 2007
Location:
Futureshop.ca
Speakers:
Leo Laporte (Tech Guru, ABC's World News Now)
Leo Laporte has worked as an author, speaker, and broadcaster in New Haven, Monterey, San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, most recently focusing on technology coverage for radio and television.
Full Bio
Leo Laporte has worked as an author, speaker, and broadcaster in New Haven, Monterey, San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, most recently focusing on technology coverage for radio and television.
Leo Laporte is the co-author, with former ABC Technology Correspondent Gina Smith, of 101 Computer Answers You Need to Know, a computer book for beginners published in 1995 by Ziff-Davis Press. Leo has written three best-selling Technology Almanacs, and Leo Laporte's 2003 Technology Almanac was Pearson Publishing's “Book of the Year.” His latest book is Leo Laporte's Guide to TiVo (Pearson Education).
In January 1991, Leo Laporte created and co-hosted Dvorak On Computers, the most listened to high tech talk radio show in the nation, syndicated on over 60 stations and around the world on the Armed Forces Radio Network. He also hosted Laporte on Computers on KSFO and KGO Radio in San Francisco.
On television, Leo Laporte was host of Internet! a weekly half-hour show airing on PBS in 215 cities nationwide. He reported on new media for Today's First Edition on PBS, and did daily product reviews and demos on New Media News, broadcast nationally on Jones Computer Network and ME/U, and regionally on San Francisco's Bay TV.
Mr. Laporte was a managing editor at Ziff-Davis Television, where he wrote and co-hosted The Personal Computing Show, a half-hour weekly television show for beginning computer users that aired on CNBC. He created and was a daily contributor to The Site, an hour-long technology newsmagazine that aired nightly on MSNBC, CNBC International, and NBC Superchannel in Europe and Asia. Leo Laporte won an Emmy in 1997 for his work on The Site. He also hosted two shows on TechTV (formerly ZDTV), a 24-hour cable channel dedicated to computers and the Internet.
Currently Leo hosts a weekend technology talk show on KFI AM 640, Los Angeles, and he appears regularly on many television and radio programs including ABC's World News Now and Live with Regis and Kelly.
Amber MacArthur (New Media Host, CityTV News)
Previously, Amber was the co-host/co-producer on Call for Help, co-host on Gadgets & Gizmos, and host/co-producer on our new G4TechTV show Torrent. Amber also hosts and produces a weekly video podcast called commandN.
Full Bio
Previously, Amber was the co-host/co-producer on Call for Help, co-host on Gadgets & Gizmos, and host/co-producer on our new G4TechTV show Torrent. Amber also hosts and produces a weekly video podcast called commandN (www.commandn.tv). Prior to G4TechTV, Amber was Web Strategy Manager at iPRIMATE, where, among other projects, she managed Microsoft Home Magazine. She also recently taught Web writing and usability for The Centre for Creative Communications at Centennial College (Toronto, Ontario).
Prior to moving to Toronto in the summer of 2003, she spent three years in San Francisco and one year in Boston working in the technology industry. She was a Writer and Branding Strategist at Razorfish San Francisco, a leading interactive marketing and consulting agency, where she developed online content and usability strategies. While at Razorfish she worked as a Webby Awards Judge for The Webby Awards 2000, analyzing and rating more than 100 Web sites for content, design, and user experience quality.
Her professional experience in San Francisco and Boston includes almost three years as Director of Web Marketing at HigherMarkets, a software start-up, where she managed corporate branding initiatives, software usability, online course development, and she was Managing Editor of The Pulse, the HigherMarkets bi-weekly e-newsletter.
Her journalism experience dates back to her school years when she wrote for the Youth Page of the Ottawa Citizen and worked as Opinions Editor at her college newspaper. She completed internships at KQED Radio: The California Report in San Francisco and CBC-TV in Charlottetown, PEI (her hometown!). She also worked as an associate television reporter at CBC-TV Charlottetown and Marblehead News, just outside Boston.
Moderator:
Tod Maffin (High-Tech Speaker and Canada's Leading Futurist)
Tod is a national broadcaster, popular podcaster, and respected futurist. His information-rich, funny, and fast-paced keynote presentations keep him in high demand at major conferences from Stockholm to Sydney and across North America.
Full Bio
Tod Maffin is Canada's leading high-tech futurist, and one of the country's go-to commentators on the impact of technological change and innovation on the business and economic environment. He is also an outstanding speaker—one of North America's best. He is a rare combination of someone with a deep and impressive store of technical knowledge, and the ability to translate that knowledge into presentations with the "wow" factor. How many technology speakers can get a standing ovation after an early morning breakfast talk? Tod Maffin can.
Maffin's viewpoint on technology has widespread appeal. He has hosted a technology series on CBC Television's Canada Now, and a national technology column on CBC radio. Maffin also is the editor of The Future File, a web site and monthly email newsletter followed closely by more than 10,000 readers, including national business journalists and senior managers in the information technology field. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal and the Vancouver Sun.
Time:
2:30pm - 3:30pm EST
The Future Shop Community Forum
In addition to accessing the webcast, your registration on the Future Shop Community Forum will give you access to a growing community of Canadian technology enthusiasts and industry insiders.
It’s the perfect place for exchanging product information, tips, and of course, bragging about your new 62” plasma display.
If you are already a member, make sure you sign in early on September 27th to contribute as there will only be 1000 chat channels available.