Education
University of Tennessee
Watkins Film School
BA, English
Film Editing
Experience
2000: I moved back to Knoxville, TN and had two kids while working as an assistant editor. I then helped launch an innovative company offering streaming video services for advertising and educational purposes, but we were a bit too early for broadband adoption. I was also a “webmaster” for an e-commerce site.
~2003: I became an educator, teaching Visual Basic, 3d studio max, Flash (remember that?) and other technologies, as well as English. Around this time I started blogging, eventually gaining the notice of the editors at Engadget.
2004: Launched Llamapod, a unique type of iPod case/holster that was made in Bolivia out of llama leather. I learned a lot about what not to do in marketing and online retail after it flopped. Started teaching game design.
2005: Started blogging for Weblogs, Inc, just before it was acquired by AOL. Advised a local college on setting up a virtual campus in Second Life.
2006: Launched DownloadSquad, a blog about software. Began writing for TUAW, the Unofficial Apple Weblog. At this time TUAW had about 100,000 monthly unique visitors.
2007: I also managed a BlackBerry blog, digital video blog, Autoblog Spanish, Engadget Spanish, and a handful of small, niche blogs for AOL. I pitch the city of Knoxville on a “Maker Mall” that would include maker spaces and performance spaces as well as a business incubator. These would come to pass years later, but as separate initiatives.
2008: TUAW attends MacWorld Conference as outsiders, but in a couple of years we would be given press credentials and be one of the first blogs to report seeing the original iPhone.
2009: Gave a talk at SXSW Interactive about growing audience. By now, TUAW had around a million unique visitors a month.
2010: I started appearing on TV and radio programs talking tech, and celebrated my third year performing stand-up comedy. It was the second year of our comedy cruise, which would end up featuring talents like Trae Crowder and Dulce Sloan in the six years it ran.
2011: TUAW livestreamed at MacWorld Conference, and produced a series of videos at WWDC highlighting developers. We interviewed everyone from the founder of Unity to T-Pain, covering CES as well as smaller developer conferences around the country.
2012: Became Editor-in-Chief at TUAW after AOL sunsetted DownloadSquad. Launched Autoblog Latino and DIY Life for AOL, both of which achieved top rankings in search results and served a diverse global audience.
2013: Started a series called Slices of Apple featuring interviews with former Apple employees about what made the company a leader in consumer tech innovations.
2014: TUAW hits over 3 million unique visitors. Our live coverage of Apple events becomes the gold standard for other tech news sites, even in the shadow of Engadget (who had twice the staff and budget).
2015: AOL closes TUAW, Joystiq and half a dozen other websites, despite record traffic. I begin livestreaming on Twitch under the name Angry Dad Gamer. I also begin acting, and start planning a maker/event space.
2016: Modern Studio launches just after I begin working at the University of Tennessee as the AM host of the local NPR station, WUOT. My duties included writing news segments, hosting on-air segments (with weather and traffic updates), and hosting a live talk show each month.
2017: Modern Studio becomes a model for future spaces, offering a flexible co-working space, modular floor plan for theater productions, and listening room experience for music shows. I try my hand at celebrity bartending, get auctioned off for charity as a bachelor, and launch a productivity card system called Kitten Stuff Done. I am tapped by the mayor to help with the first Maker City advisory board.
2018: I decide to leave WUOT, but not after winning an award for the live call-in show on the topic of systemic racism. Several of my YouTube videos for Angry Dad Gamer surpass 5,000 views. I give a Pecha Kucha talk about performing magic. I also produce a comedy short film.
2019: I become a freelance marketing writer, authoring hundreds of pieces of content from blockchain solutions, to press releases, to website copy for startups, and I narrate an audiobook, starting my voice acting business.
2020: An old friend launches a poker startup using blockchain, and I become Marketing Director after advising on tech and game design. Unfortunately, a lack of capital dooms us, as well as launching too late in the pandemic to capitalize on the play-at-home craze.
2021: I transition from creating dozens of marketing assets for the poker startup to working at Oracle as a marketing and technical writer. I film a puppet short film while at home, largely by myself.
2022: While working at Oracle I manage the company’s Medium account, and publish articles that boost our SEO on key topics. I attend CloudWorld ’22 and design a special deck of playing cards that can be used in Agile development while promoting various Oracle services.