Rob O'Hara
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Rob O'Hara (born August 22, 1973) is an American author, blogger, and
podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
er.


Books

In 2006, O'Hara published ''Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie''.
Jason Scott Jason Scott Sadofsky (born September 13, 1970), more commonly known as Jason Scott, is an American archivist, historian of technology, filmmaker, performer, and actor. Scott has been known by the online pseudonyms Sketch, SketchCow, The Slipped ...
, director of the BBS Documentary, dubbed ''Commodork'' "the world's first BBS memoir," stating the book "does what my film couldn't; go front to end on one boy's story to turning into a man online. And for that, I thank him, and I think a lot of others will too." Brett Weiss, author of the popular ''Classic Home Video Games'' book series, says he "recommends the book without reservation. Initially I wasn't sure what to expect, but it's obvious that (O'Hara) is a writer and a gamer, not just a gamer who happens to write. His style is clear and unpretentious, and the hilarious anecdotes alone are worth the price of admission." O'Hara's second book, ''Invading Spaces: A Beginner's Guide to Collecting Arcade Games'', is a beginner's introduction to the arcade collecting hobby. Earl Green from The Log Book stated "Rob O'Hara knows a couple of things about collecting arcade machines. ''Invading Spaces'' is where he shares that obvious wealth of knowledge with coin-op newbies like myself." Antique Week called the book an "amusing and informative tome." In 2018, O'Hara published his first feature length fiction novel, ''The Human Library''. The story was O'Hara's graduate project for his Master of Professional Writing degree at the University of Oklahoma. ''The Human Library'' currently has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon.


Published Articles, Essays, and Writing Positions

O'Hara began his career writing music, movie, and video game) reviews on websites such as Review to a Kill and Review-o-Matic.com. In 2000, O'Hara was paid to write several DVD reviews for
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
. Recently, O'Hara has expanded into writing and submitting fiction. * 2600: The Hacker Quarterly (Contributor) * The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature (Contributor) * Digital Press E-Zine and Website (Staff Writer) * El Reno Light (Intern/Reporter) * El Reno Tribune (Intern/Reporter) * IGN.com (Paid Contributor, DVD Reviews) * Forever Retro (Paid Contributor) * Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman (Foreword and Article Contributor) * Minco Millennium (Columnist) * Retro Gaming Hacks (O'Reilly Books) (Paid Contributor) * Retroist.com (Staff Writer) * TheLogBook.com (Staff Writer) * Video Game Collector Magazine (Staff Writer) * Video Game Trader Magazine (Staff Writer)


Podcasts

O'Hara has hosted and currently hosts multiple podcasts. His first podcast, You Don't Know Flack, began in 2008 and currently has a 5-star rating on
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
. In 2013, O'Hara co-founded the retro-themed podcast network Throwback Network with his Throwback Reviews co-host Sean Johnson. The network currently hosts more than two dozen retro-themed podcasts.


Current Podcasts

* You Don't Know Flack (Retro/Stories) * Sprite Castle (Commodore 64) * Cactus Flack's (Arcade) * Multiple Sadness (Bad/B-Movies) * Throwback Reviews (80s Movies)


Former Podcasts

* No Quarter Podcast (Arcade) (Episodes 126–136) * Rusted Metal (Heavy Metal)


Guest appearances

* Adventure Club Podcast (Episodes 59, 68, 72, 74, 75, 83) * Eight and a Half Bit (Episode 96) * Flux Capaci-Cast (Episodes 3, 13) * Retrobits Podcast (Episodes 71, 72)


Presentations

O'Hara is a subject matter expert on Commodore computers, vintage video and arcade games, and self-publishing, and has spoken at multiple conventions on these topics. * Def Con (2007): Self-Publishing in the Underground * Notacon (2009): The World of Free Book Publishing * Oklahoma Electronic Gaming Expo (2009): Collecting Arcade Machines * Oklahoma City Community College (2009): A History of Computer Games


Software

O'Hara has written and released several freeware programs, including: * GP32 Renamer: a Windows utility that converts long filenames to 8.3 filenames for the GamePark 32 handheld console. * ShadowPrint: a Windows utility for getting text directory listings. * Batch-O-Matic: a Windows utility for processing batch files with external variable lists. * eCoder Ring: a Windows message encryption utility. ** eCoder Ring included a coded message that users were challenged to crack. In 2008, O'Hara offered a cash reward of $100 to anyone who could crack the code. In the weeks following leaked information about the
NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...
's practices, eCoder Ring was downloaded an additional 3,000 times. The code remains unbroken. In her abstract titled ''A Summary of Hacking Organizations, Conferences, Publications, and Effects on Society'', Alisha Cecil called eCoder Ring a "fun, friendly, easy to use program that allows two people to send secret messages to one another" that "is capable of producing nearly unbreakable ciphers."


Personal life

O'Hara currently resides in
Yukon, Oklahoma Yukon is a city in eastern Canadian County, Oklahoma, Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Oklahoma City Metroplex, Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area. The population was 22,709 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Fo ...
with his wife, two children, and collection of vintage electronics.


Work

During the day, he works for the
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
, where he has worked as a "Helpdesk/Technical Support Analyst, Computer Specialist/LAN Administrator, Senior Network Engineer, IT Security Specialist, member of the IT Communication Department, and Domain Admin/Enterprise Administrator."


Education

O'Hara graduated from Yukon High School in 1991. At
Redlands Community College Redlands Community College (Redlands) is a public community college in El Reno, Oklahoma. Student enrollment is approximately 2,200 per semester. History In 1938, El Reno Junior College, was established by an act of the El Reno Board of Educatio ...
, O'Hara served as the editor of the school's newspaper and yearbook from 1991 to 1993. O'Hara graduated from
Oklahoma City Community College Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) is a Public college, public community college in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The college was founded in 1972 as South Oklahoma City Junior college, Junior College. OCCC has a current enrollment of 18,549 stude ...
in 2001 with an AA in Journalism, and earned a BS in Organizational Leadership from
Southern Nazarene University Southern Nazarene University (SNU) is a private Nazarene university in Bethany, Oklahoma. History The history of the institution is one of various mergers and, therefore, one of differing institutions. While SNU claims its founding date as ...
in 2005. Most recently, O'Hara graduated from the
Master of Professional Writing Program A Master of Professional Writing Program is a type of graduate degree program in professional writing. Chatham University in Pennsylvania has an online MPW program. The University of Southern California's MPW program ended in May 2016, at which poin ...
at the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
.


Hobbies

O'Hara refers to himself as a "collector of collections," and is working on a book with the same title. O'Hara frequently blogs about his Star Wars collection. In an interview with Oxford Karma, O'Hara discussed his collection of 30 arcade cabinets located in his home arcade. O'Hara was interviewed by the Associated Press about his arcade collecting hobby.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OHara, Rob 1973 births Living people American male writers American podcasters Writers from Oklahoma