Amber MacArthur

Infobox Person
name = Amber Dawn MacArthur

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birth_date = birth date and age|df=yes|1976|06|27
birth_place = cite web | url = http://www.facebook.com/p/Amber_Mac/507398501?id=507398501&name=Amber_Mac | title = Amber Mac's Facebook profile | accessmonthday = 04-12 | accessyear = 2007 | author = Amber Mac | last = Mac | first = Amber | date = 2007-04-12 | pages = 1 ]
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residence = flag|Toronto|name=Toronto, Ontario, Canada
nationality = flag|CAN|name=Canadian
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known_for = Call for Help on G4techTV Canada; CityNews International; net@nite; CommandN
education = B.A. in English from Dalhousie University; Journalism at University of King's College
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title = Media Specialist
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website = http://www.ambermac.com
footnotes = Amber Dawn MacArthur (born 27 June 1976 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island) is a Canadian television and podcasting personality. She is currently developing a social networking website with Tony Robbins.

Currently, she creates a video podcast called "commandN" and co-hosts one of the TWiT podcast Network's "net@nite", successor to "Inside the Net". She is well known for the series "Call for Help", but has also hosted on "Torrent" and "Gadgets and Gizmos" for G4techTV Canada. She worked for more than a year for Citytv's CityNews and CP24, and has recently returned to the now CTV-owned CP24 as New Media Specialist.

Background

MacArthur is originally from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and currently lives in Toronto. She received an undergraduate degree in English from Dalhousie University, and studied Journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She enjoys running, snowboarding, randomly browsing the internet, wrist watches, usability articles, and spontaneous road trips [ [http://ambermac.typepad.com/about.html AmberMac.com: About] ] . Her brother is Jeff MacArthur.

Career

Technology

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."cite web | url = http://www.citytv.com/toronto/personalities_AmberMacArthur.aspx | title = Personalities: Amber MacArthur | accessmonthday = 12-21 | accessyear = 2006 | year = 2006 | work = Citytv website | publisher = CHUM Limited ] In 2007 she co-founded a media company MGImedia with her brother Jeff.cite web | url = http://www.mgimedia.ca/ | title = MGImedia | accessmonthday = 03-25 | accessyear = 2008 | year = 2007 | work = MGImedia website | publisher = MGImedia ]

Television

Upon graduation, MacArthur worked in her hometown of Charlottetown at CBC-TV, as an associate reporter from April to July 1999, [http://ambermac.typepad.com/about.html Amber MacArthur's resume] ] and the San Francisco radio station KQED.cite web | url = http://www.citytv.com/toronto/personalities_AmberMacArthur.aspx | title = Personalities: Amber MacArthur | accessmonthday = 12-21 | accessyear = 2006 | year = 2006 | work = Citytv website | publisher = CHUM Limited ] In July 2002, she co-hosted a Discovery Channel Canada special "Science on the Red Carpet", with Dave Foley at the Science & Technical Academy Awards. She appeared weekly in the summer of 2006, as a tech columnist for CBC Newsworld.

MacArthur later became a host on "Call for Help", a technology series produced for G4techTV Canada, which still airs daily on G4techTV Canada in Canada and on HOW TO Channel in Australia. MacArthur is the subject of a song written in tribute to "Call for Help" 2.0. 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.

From August 2004 to September 2006, MacArthur was host of the G4techTV Canada program, "Torrent", which is still in production. She also hosted "Gadgets & Gizmos" for the Canadian channel.

On 28 August 2006, MacArthur announced on her blog [ [http://ambermac.typepad.com/ambermac/2006/08/to_all_the_g4te.html To all the G4techTV fans: Thanks for two great years! My goodbye video] ] 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, CP24 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.

In January 2007, she launched a weekly program on CP24, which became quite popular as a vodcast. Originally titled "Inside Popnology",cite podcast | url = http://www.twit.tv/natn6 | title = net@nite: Episode 6 | website =This Week in Tech | host = Leo LaPorte and Amber MacArthur | date = 2006-12-11 | accessdate = 12-21 | accessyear = 2006 ] the CHUM Television-produced program quickly became "Webnation". She resigned in October to go for freelance projects, feeling she was being asked to target too old an audience, and wanted to pursue two projects in the United States. They convinced her to stick around for two more months, after Rogers Communications promised her show would be weekly on the Citytv network and on G4techTV Canada, reformatted, as of January 2008 as "Webnation V2".cite web | url = http://ambermac.typepad.com/ambermac/2008/01/my-top-three-fa.html | title = Top 3 Webnation episodes - Goodbye Citytv | date = 2008-01-06 | accessdate = 2008-01-11 ] (CTV's parent company; CTVglobemedia bought out CHUM Limited in June 2007, with the exception of the Citytv network, which was sold to Rogers.)

She was informed on 4 January 2008 that the budget wasn't there for the program. Just before the announcement, the program was named the "Top New Podcast Award for 2007" by iTunes.cite web | url = http://blogto.com/city/2008/01/amber_macarthur_gone_from_citytv/ | title = Amber MacArthur Gone from Citytv | date = 2008-01-04 | accessdate = 2008-02-20 ] Citytv began airing "The Lab with Leo Laporte" around this time. CP24 has since made some reorganization to the anchors/reporters as a result of the change in ownership of CP24's former parent company; CHUM Limited.

Amber had been hosting "Home Page" after host David Onley was named Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and she was replaced by Jee-Yun Lee after her resignation.

Over the years, she has been a technology guest on CBC Newsworld, CBC Radio, Global TV, CTV Montreal, MTV Live, MuchMoreMusic, LifeNetwork, and CFRB Radio.

Podcasting

In June 2005, MacArthur started the weekly video podcast "commandN", which covers technology trends both online and offline. She continues to co-host this show. A commercial study found that CommandN was the fifth most-downloaded podcast among surveyed Canadians. [ [http://www.ccnmatthews.com/news/releases/show.jsp?action=showRelease&searchText=false&showText=all&actionFor=606125 "Podcasting Taking a Hold in Canada"] , 2 August 2006.]

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.

MacArthur describes how various types of technology work on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio show/podcast [http://www.cbc.ca/spark/ Spark] .

Journalism

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. [cite news | author = Michael Hollett (ed.) | title = Best of Toronto : Tech | url = http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-10-26/goods_next.php | work = NOW Magazine | publisher = NOW Magazine | pages = 1 | page = | date = 26 October-1 November 2006 | accessdate = 2006-12-21 | quote = ...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.]

References

External links

* [http://ambermac.com/ Amber MacArthur's Official Website and Blog]
*
* " [http://www.commandn.tv/ commandN] ", " [http://www.citynews.ca/webnation Webnation] ", " [http://twit.tv/natn net@nite] ", " [http://mgimedia.ca/ MGImedia] "
* [http://www.thelavinagency.com/ The Lavin Agency] represents Amber MacArthur for speaking engagements in the U.S. and Canada: some of her speech topics here.

Interviews

* [http://blogto.com/through_the_eyes_of/2006/12/toronto_through_the_eyes_of_amber_macarthur/ Toronto Through the Eyes of Amber MacArthur] , BlogTO, 7 December 2006
* [http://www.theflux.tv/index.php?/Podcast_Player/amber-mac-interview/ TheFlux.tv podcast interview with Amber MacArthur]
* Chris Hogg, " [http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/249072/Digital_Journal_TV_Up_Close_and_Personal_With_Internet_Star_Amber_MacArthur Digital Journal TV: Up Close and Personal With Internet Star Amber MacArthur] ", "Digital Journal", 19 January 2008.