Patrick Norton
Patrick Norton, October 2006
Born	(1970-06-26) June 26, 1970 (age 42) Urbana, Illinois, United States
Occupation	Managing Editor; Host
Children	2
Website
patricknorton.tv Revision3 Tekzilla Systm TWiT (This Week in Tech)

Patrick Norton (born June 26, 1970) is most commonly known as the former co-host and managing editor of The Screen Savers, an interactive television program on TechTV geared toward the technology enthusiast. He is currently a managing editor at Revision3 where he hosts Tekzilla and formerly HD Nation and Systm.

Early life[link]

Norton grew up in the Midwest. He has claimed the Jersey Shore as his home. He graduated from Pace University in New York City with a major in English literature.

Career[link]

After graduating from college, Norton tested products and wrote for PC Magazine, Computer Shopper, and InfoWorld, and managed the hardware reviews section of Windows Sources magazine.

In the spring of 2000, ZDTV (later TechTV) named Norton as the co-host (alongside Leo Laporte) and managing editor of The Screen Savers, a television show centered around computers, new technologies, and their adaptations in the world. Norton remained in this capacity until the spring of 2004.

On March 25, 2004, Comcast's G4 gaming channel announced a merger with TechTV. This move became hugely controversial among loyal fans of TechTV. Around May 6, G4 announced the termination of 250 employees from the San Francisco office by July 10, 2004, allowing approximately 80 to 100 employees to transition to G4's main office in Los Angeles, California if they agreed to relocate there. Norton chose to stay in San Francisco instead of moving to Los Angeles, and left the company.

Norton co-hosted an Internet videocast with Robert Heron called DL.TV which covers a wide range of technology related topics and is streamed live every Thursday (it was streamed live twice weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays until episode 189). Norton has created a large fan base that is still delighted with his work as a technology guru. He announced on August 2, 2007 that he will no longer be the host of DL.TV in favor of a new job and having a child on the way in a few months.^[1] His last appearance as the host of DL.TV was episode 188.

Norton also co-hosted a weekly podcast with Jim Louderback, the current CEO for Revision3, called What's New Now. This podcast is no longer being produced, the final episode having been produced May 15, 2007.

Norton wrote for ExtremeiPod before the site was taken down in the wake of pressure from Apple over the use of the word "iPod". He also ran the hardware reviews section of Windows Sources magazine. Norton cut his technical teeth on Osborne and Kaypro CP/M systems in the early 1980s.

Norton regularly appears on the weekly podcast This Week in Tech (a.k.a. TWiT) along with several other former members of TechTV, including Leo Laporte, Kevin Rose, John C. Dvorak, and his former DL.TV co-host Robert Heron. He is also currently a co-host of This Week in Computer Hardware on the TWIT.TV network along with Ryan Shrout.

Norton is currently a managing editor at Revision3 where he is hosting HD Nation and Tekzilla. Norton first confirmed his employment with Revision3 on TWiT episode 110 at 58:52 (The popular Netcast hosted by friend Leo Laporte).^[2]

Personal life[link]

Norton currently lives in San Francisco, California with his wife Sarah ^[3] and his children.^[4][5][6]

References[link]

External links[link]

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Patrick Norton" article dated 2005-12-11, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

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• Revision3
• Tekzilla
• HD Nation
• Systm
• This Week in Tech
• DL.TV
• What's New Now Podcast

Leo Laporte
Birth name	Léo Gordon Laporte
Born	(1956-11-29) November 29, 1956 (age 55) Manhattan, New York City
Show	Approx. 20 shows on the TWiT netcast network, also The Tech Guy through Premiere Radio Networks
Station(s)	TWiT TV LLC; Premiere Radio Networks
Time slot	Saturdays and Sundays live at 11:00AM PT (19:00 GMT/18:00 GMT during US DST), 3 hours
Website	http://www.leoville.com/ http://leoville.squarespace.com http://www.techguylabs.com http://www.twit.tv

Léo Gordon Laporte (/ləˈpɔrt/; born November 29, 1956 in Manhattan, New York City)^[1] is an Emmy Award winning, American technology broadcaster, author, and entrepreneur.

Background[link]

Laporte studied Chinese history at Yale University before dropping out in his junior year to pursue his career in radio broadcasting,^[2] where his early radio names were Dave Allen and Dan Hayes.^[3] He began his association with computers with his first home PC, an Atari 400.^[4] Laporte said he purchased his first Macintosh in 1984.^[5] He operated one of the first Macintosh-only bulletin board systems, MacQueue, from 1985 to 1988.

Television and radio[link]

Laporte has worked on technology-related broadcasting projects, including Dvorak On Computers in January 1991 (co-hosted with computer pundit John C. Dvorak), and Laporte On Computers on KGO Radio and KSFO in San Francisco. Laporte also hosted Internet! on PBS, and The Personal Computing Show on CNBC. In 1997, he earned an Emmy Award for his work on MSNBC's The Site, where he created the motion capture character Dev Null.

In 1998, he created and co-hosted The Screen Savers and the original version of Call for Help on the cable and satellite network ZDTV (later TechTV). Laporte left The Screen Savers in 2004, and later left the network after a dispute with Vulcan Ventures, over stock ownership and the cancellation of Call for Help. His contract ended on March 31, and his absence from The Screen Savers on April 1 was originally believed to be an April Fool's Day joke.

Laporte has also acted, playing Uncle Charlie in the movie Phoenix Rising.^[6]

Laporte was the host of the daily television show The Lab with Leo Laporte, recorded in Vancouver, Canada. The program had formerly been known as Call for Help when it was recorded in the U.S. and Toronto. The series aired on G4techTV Canada, on the HOW TO Channel in Australia, on several of Canada's Citytv affiliates, and on Google Video. On March 5, 2008, Laporte confirmed on net@nite^[7] that The Lab with Leo Laporte had been canceled by Rogers Communications. The HOW TO Channel refused to air the remaining episodes after it was announced the show had been canceled.^[8][9]

He hosts a weekend technology-oriented talk radio program show titled Leo Laporte: The Tech Guy. The show, started on KFI AM 640 (Los Angeles), is now syndicated through Premiere Radio Networks, and on XM Satellite Radio. Laporte appears semi-regularly on Showbiz Tonight,^[10] Live with Regis and Kelly,^[11] World News Now, and briefly with Bill Handel on Friday mornings on KFI. He has also been a guest technology expert on numerous talk radio programs in local markets across the U.S. and Canada.

Books[link]

Laporte has written technology-oriented books including 101 Computer Answers You Need to Know, Leo Laporte's 2005 Gadget Guide, Leo Laporte's Guide to TiVo, Leo Laporte's Guide to Mac OS X Tiger and Leo Laporte's PC Help Desk. He has published a yearly series of technology almanacs: Leo Laporte's Technology Almanac and Poor Leo's Computer Almanac. Laporte's latest and last book is Leo Laporte's 2006 Technology Almanac.

He has contributed to periodicals including BYTE, InfoWorld, and MacUser. Laporte announced in October 2006 that he will not renew his contract with Que Publishing and has retired from publishing his long series of books.

In 2008, Laporte did the voice narration for the fable The True History of Little Golden-hood by Andrew Lang which was made available through Audible.

Netcasting[link]

Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur

Laporte owns and operates a netcast network, TWiT.tv. It is available on iTunes and other podcast subscription services.^{[12][13][14][15]} Before the expansion to new facilities in 2011, Laporte said TWiT earns $1.5 million annually on a production cost of only $350,000.^[16]

Laporte calls his audio and video shows "netcasts," saying "I've never liked the word podcast. It causes confusion … people have told me that they can't listen to my shows because they 'don't own an iPod' … I propose the word 'netcast.' It's a little clearer that these are broadcasts over the Internet. It's catchy and even kind of a pun."^[17]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leo Laporte

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Leo Laporte

• Official website

Veronica Belmont
Born	(1982-07-21) July 21, 1982 (age 29) Hartford, CT
Known for	Technology
Notable work(s)	Buzz Out Loud, Mahalo Daily, Qore, Tekzilla
Internet information
Web hosting service(s)	Revision3 TWiT.tv
Website
veronicabelmont.com

Veronica Ann Belmont (born July 21, 1982) is the co-host of the Revision3 show Tekzilla alongside Patrick Norton, the co-host of the TWiT.tv gaming show Game On! along with Brian Brushwood, and the former host of the monthly PlayStation 3-based video on demand program Qore. Formerly she was the host for the Mahalo Daily podcast and a producer and associate editor for CNET Networks, Inc. where she produced, engineered, and co-hosted the podcast Buzz Out Loud.^{[citation needed]}

Background[link]

At the time of Belmont's birth, her mother was a vice president at Coleco.^[1] Belmont attended Emerson College, in Boston, Massachusetts, to study audio production and new media studies. She worked briefly in Boston afterwards, and eventually secured an internship at CNET. Belmont currently resides in San Francisco, California with her fiancée, former Engadget editor Ryan Block.^[2]

Career[link]

CNET[link]

Belmont started as an intern producing audio content for CNET Networks. She was hired full-time six months later to produce their "First Look from the Labs" series, and also began producing Buzz Out Loud. Originally she was the sound engineer and producer of the show, but her role on the podcast grew substantially. She began to inject her own commentary, and was acknowledged as an official co-host in August 2006. She also was the producer and co-host of two more CNET podcasts called MP3 Insider and CRAVE Gadget Blog, which were both co-hosted by the late James Kim.

Belmont made her video debut on CNET on April 6, 2006, on an Insider Secrets segment titled "Give your PC a Mac-over". Since then, she has hosted videos from Maker Faire, CES, and South by Southwest. She was also the host of the Prizefight series. She appeared for the final time in CNET TV on July 25, 2007, in the iPhone vs Nokia N95 edition of Prizefight".^[3]

Mahalo[link]

Belmont left CNET on July 20, 2007 to join Mahalo.^[4] She hosted and produced her own podcast called Mahalo Daily covering subjects of her choosing. Her first video was an interview with Leeroy Jenkins at BlizzCon 2007.^[5] On April 2, 2008, Belmont announced that she would be leaving Mahalo Daily within two weeks.^[6] This was reported by TV Week on April 3, 2008.^[7]

Revision3[link]

On April 9, 2008, Revision3 announced that Belmont would be joining the Revision3 staff as co-host of Tekzilla.^[8]

Qore[link]

In June 2008, Sony Computer Entertainment announced a new subscription-based "monthly lifestyle gaming program" called Qore that would be hosted by Belmont.^[9] On October 19, 2011 she announced via her blog that she would be stepping down as host.^[10]

[edit] Sword and Laser

On October 16, 2007, Belmont started co-hosting a podcast with Tom Merritt of CNET and TWIT's Tech News Today fame. As the name implies, it is strictly about science-fiction and fantasy books and debuted with Neuromancer by William Gibson. Prior to the creation of the podcast, it was a book club in forum form. This format lasted through the first 3 books, which were, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and American Gods by Neil Gaiman, with the subsequent creation of the podcast.

[edit] TWiT.TV

On October 30, 2011, Leo Laporte announced on This Week in Tech (TWiT) that Veronica Belmont would cohost TWiT's upcoming gaming show with Brian Brushwood called Game On!. The show's first official episode aired January 15, 2012 at 6:00pm Pacific time on a live webcast in the TWiT network. The last episode of the show, Game On! #13, was uploaded on the 9th of April 2012.

References and notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Veronica Belmont

• Official website
• Veronica Belmont's Personal Blog
• Veronica Belmont at the Internet Movie Database
• Veronica Belmont interview on Shovio's "Talk Back TV"
• Tekzilla on Revision3
• Sword and Laser Podcast

This article has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. (March 2012)

Kevin Rose
Born	(1977-02-21) February 21, 1977 (age 35) Redding, California, United States[1]
Nationality	American
Website
kevinrose.com

Kevin Rose (born Robert Kevin Rose, February 21, 1977) is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Revision3, Digg, Pownce, and Milk. He also served as production assistant and co-host at TechTV's The Screen Savers. He is currently a senior product manager at Google.

Early life[link]

Rose was born in Redding, California^[1] and lived in Oregon before his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he spent most of his childhood. He became an Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America.^[2] Rose transferred to Vo-Tech High School in Las Vegas in 1992. He then attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas, majoring in computer science but dropped out in 1998.^[3] He worked for two dot-com startups through CMGI.^[1]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Rose was hired as a production assistant for The Screen Savers. He began appearing on-air, in "Dark Tip" segments, and on Unscrewed with Martin Sargent where he provided information on developing computing activities. He became a regular co-host when Leo Laporte left TechTV on March 31, 2004. On March 25, 2004, Comcast's G4 gaming channel announced a merger with TechTV which resulted in a round of layoffs. Rose moved to Los Angeles to stay with G4. On May 22, 2005, Rose reached an agreement with G4 that released him from his contract and went on to create Systm and later, Revision3, where he co-hosted Diggnation alongside Alex Albrecht for 6 years.

Guest appearances[link]

Kevin Rose appeared on the first episode of R&D TV alongside Diggnation co-host Alex Albrecht.^[4] On November 14, 2007, he was a contestant on a game show at NewTeeVee Live.^[5] On March 11, 2009, April 16, 2010, and November 28th, 2011, Rose was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon along with fellow Diggnation host Alex Albrecht.

Podcasting[link]

Rose began podcasting on July 24, 2003, with the release of the first episode of thebroken while he was still working on The Screen Savers at TechTV. Rose founded Revision3 in Los Angeles, California with Jay Adelson and David Prager in April 2005.^{[citation needed]} On July 1, 2005, Rose and Alex Albrecht started the weekly podcast, Diggnation, which summarizes top stories submitted by Digg users. On October 3rd, 2011, Alex and Kevin announced that they would be retiring the weekly Diggnation show at the end of the year. The final show was taped on December 30th, 2011 at The Music Box in Los Angeles, California.^[6][7]

Startups[link]

In 2004, Rose, Owen Byrne, Ron Gorodetzky, and Jay Adelson formed Digg, a technology link website. The website was publicly launched on December 5, 2004.^[3][8] In 2007, he was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.^[9] On September 1, 2010, Rose was replaced as CEO^[10] by Matt Williams, a former general manager of consumer payments at Amazon. On March 18, 2011, Rose resigned from his position at Digg.^[11][12]

On June 27, 2007, Rose launched a micro-blogging site named Pownce^[13] which was acquired by blogging company Six Apart and shut down not long after. In April 2011, the technology blog TechCrunch reported on the founding of "Milk".^[14] The company is focused on creating mobile applications. The first application to be released was Oink, a tool for ranking real-world items.^[15] In March of 2012, Milk, Inc announced that it would be shutting down Oink in order to focus on other offerings.

Google[link]

On March 16th, 2012 Rose announced that he, along with the rest of the Milk team (Daniel Burka, Chris Hutchins & Joshua Lane), would be joining Google.^[16] Kevin Rose started his first day as a senior project manager for Google on March 19, 2012.^[17][18] On May 30, AllThingsD reported that Rose had moved off the Google+ team to become a venture partner at Google Ventures. ^[19]

Investments[link]

Rose invested in Gowalla, Twitter, Foursquare, Dailybooth, NGMOCO, SimpleGeo, 3crowd, OMGPOP, Square, Facebook, Chomp and Formspring.^{[20][21][22][23]}

References[link]