Amber MacArthur

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amber MacArthur

Amber Dawn MacArthur (b. 27 June 1976 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island^[1]) is a Canadian television and podcasting personality who currently hosts Webnation, and files the Inside Popnology segments for CityNews International (these segments appear on CityNews at Six and HomePage).

Outside of her CityNews job, she creates vodcast commandN and co-hosts TWiT podcast net@nite.

She is well known for the series Call for Help, but has also hosted on Torrent, Gadgets and Gizmos, and Inside the Net.

1 Career
- 1.1 Moving on to Citytv Toronto
2 Personal life
3 References
4 External links
- 4.1 Podcasts

[edit] Career

Finishing her undergraduate degree in English from Dalhousie University, MacArthur studied Journalism at University of King's College. She worked in her hometown of Charlottetown, PEI at CBC-TV, as an associate reporter, and the San Francisco radio station KQED.^[2]

MacArthur worked for Microsoft for two years as a web strategist, as a web designer at Razorfish in San Francisco, and as a judge at the Webby Awards 2000. She was also Director of Web Marketing at HigherMarkets, "where she managed corporate branding initiatives, software usability and online course development."^[2]

MacArthur then became a host on Call for Help, a technology series produced for G4TechTV, which still airs daily on G4techTV Canada in Canada and on HOW TO Channel in Australia. While working as a host on Call for Help, MacArthur joined the series Gadgets and Gizmos as a co-host, working with Marc Saltzman and Andy Walker until the show ended production in 2005.

MacArthur is the former host of the G4techTV Canada program, Torrent, which is still in production.

Through October 2006, she worked on a podcast with Call for Help co-host Leo Laporte called Inside the Net, which then morphed into net@nite, a Sunday evening live broadcast. The show is available as part of the This Week in Tech network.

In June 2005, MacArthur started the weekly vidcast commandN, which covers technology trends both online and offline. She continues to co-host this vidcast. A commercial study found that CommandN was the fifth downloaded podcast among surveyed Canadians.^[3]

Since summer of 2006, she has written a monthly "Web Trends" column for The Calgary Sun Urbane Magazine. She has been quoted by major Canadian newspapers, when they need a tech expert. NOW Magazine declared her the "Best geek personality", 2006.^[4]

[edit] Moving on to Citytv Toronto

On 28 August 2006, MacArthur announced on her blog^[5] that she was leaving her position at G4TechTV and would no longer appear on Call For Help, Torrent, or Gadgets and Gizmos.

In mid-September, she joined Citytv in Toronto with the title "New Media Specialist", to report on "new media and interactive trends" for CityNews International. She first appeared on the station's nightly newscast, CityNews at Six, commenting in another reporter's story on 9/11 conspiracy theories propagated through the Internet. Segments since have ranged from former sex trade workers blogging Robert Pickton trial, to a Toronto Transit Commission/Google Maps mashup.

She will start a half-hour weekly show on CP24 in January 2007. She's not sure whether she will remain with the name "Popnology".^[6]

[edit] Personal life

MacArthur is originally from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and currently lives in Toronto. She enjoys running, snowboarding, randomly browsing the internet, usability articles, and spontaneous road trips. Her brother is Jeff MacArthur.

MacArthur is an active member of Women in Technology International.

[edit] References

^ Lazazzera, Mike (27-06-2006). BLAH Week (English). plastictrees 1. Retrieved on 12-21, 2006. “In other news it is someone's Birthday today. I wonder who it is?? Be sure to wish her a good one.”
^ ^a ^b Personalities: Amber MacArthur (English). Citytv website. CHUM Limited (2006). Retrieved on 12-21, 2006.
^ "Podcasting Taking a Hold in Canada", 2 August 2006.
^ Michael Hollett (ed.). "Best of Toronto : Tech", NOW Magazine, NOW Magazine, 26 October-1 November, 2006, pp. 1. Retrieved on December 21, 2006. (in English) “...make Amber the unassuming and friendly face of tech news in Toronto and on the web. It's hard to find a Toronto tech event where MacArthur isn't busy taking notes or filming interviews.”
^ To all the G4TechTV fans: Thanks for two great years! My goodbye video
^ Leo LaPorte and Amber MacArthur. net@nite: Episode 6 This Week in Tech Podcast accessed on 2006-12-21.