Larry Magid (born 1947) is an American journalist, technology

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

and commentator. He is the author of several books.

Early life

Lawrence J. Magid was born in 1947 in

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He grew up in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He received his BA from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

(1970) and a doctorate of education from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

(1981).

Career

Magid is CEO of ConnectSafely.org and, for 20 years, served as the on-air technology analyst for

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

He is also a frequent contributor to BBC, NPR and other broadcast outlets. In 1981 Magid was hired to secretly write the manual for the

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the List of IBM Personal Computer models, IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on ...

version of

EasyWriter EasyWriter was the first word processor for the Apple II. It was written by John Draper and released in 1979. History Published by Information Unlimited Software (IUS), it was written by John Draper's Cap'n Software, which also produced a version ...

, so he was among those aware of the computer's existence before its August 1981 debut. His technology columns and reviews appear regularly on CNET News.com,

Forbes.com ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The c ...

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

and in the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

''. Magid served the board of directors of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and now serves on an advisory board. In 1994 he wrote the first popular publication on Internet safety called ''Child Safety on the Information Highway'' for the

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, nonprofit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress. In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the Pre ...

. That was followed in 1998 with ''Teen Safety on the Information Highway''. Both publications have been revised and reprinted many times. He serves on the advisory boards of

PBS Kids PBS Kids (stylized as PBS KIDS) is the branding used for nationally distributed children's programming carried by the U.S. public television network PBS. The brand encompasses a daytime block of children's programming carried daily by most PBS ...

, the Family Online Safety Institute and the Congressional Internet Caucus, The Hub (children's TV network) and the

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Safety Advisory Board. Magid is also the founder of SafeKids.com and SafeTeens.com, and co-founder and CEO of ConnectSafely.org. His technology website is LarrysWorld.com. All three websites provide information about Internet safety. From 1983 to 2002 Magid wrote technology columns for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', and has written numerous columns for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. He is former editor of ''

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues . Overview ''PC Mag ...

'' and has contributed to numerous other publications.

Works

* ''Mini Manual for a Free University'' (1974) * ''The Electronic Link: Using the IBM PC to Communicate'' (1984) * ''Advanced WordPerfect: Feature and Techniques'' (1986) * ''Larry Magid's Guide to the New Digital Highways'' (1993) * ''The Little PC Books'' (1994, 1998, 2003, 2007) * ''MySpace Unraveled'' (with Anne Collier, 2006)

References

External links

Author’s web site

LarrysWorld

SafeKids.com

Magid's Forbes columns
* Magid's

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Magid, Larry 1947 births Living people University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Education alumni Journalists from Brooklyn American chief executives