GIGS

FEATURES

"25 Best Business Software Tools and Web Services," PC World, September 2008
"Step-by-Step: 5 Laptop Upgrades You Can Do Yourself," also: GPU and CPU upgrades, PC World, August 2008
"What Does It Take to Get a PC with XP?" PC World, July 2008
"Top 50 Tech Visionaries," PC World, May 2008
"50 Ways to Make Your Software Do More," PC World, February 2008
"Make Vista Liveable," Maximum PC, January 2008
"Best of the Mobile Web," PC World, October 2007
"Ten Great (but Fake) Tech and Science Videos," PC World, September 2007
"The Greatest Gadget of All Time Tournament," Wired, Fall 2007 (with interactive game)
"How to Survive the Worst PC Disasters," PC World, May 2007
"The 50 Best Tech Products of All Time," PC World, April 2007 (Maggie Award winner)
"The 50 Most Important People on the Web," PC World, March 2007
"View of the new Vista OS," Executive Travel, March/April 2007
"35 Things Every PC Owner Should Know," PC World, March 2007
"Smart Phones Get Smarter," PC World, February 2007
"The 15 Best Places to Waste Time on the Web," PC World, December 2006
"The 13 Most Embarrassing Web Moments," PC World, November 2006
"The Future of Your PC," PC World, October 2006
"5 Hot Products for the Future" Business 2.0, July 2006
"All-Star Tech Stores," PC World, June 2006
"Battery Boosters," PC World, April 2006
"Broadband To Go," PC World, March 2006
"23 Things to Do With a Thumb Drive," PC World, February 2006
"Dude, You're Getting a Dell -- Every Five Seconds," Business 2.0, December 2005 (subscription required for some B2 stories)
"Nice (Horizontal) Pants!" Business 2.0, December 2005
"The Ultimate Geek Gift Guide," Wired News, November 2005
"23 Computing Cures," Maximum PC, August 2005
"The Mobile Crash Kit," Mobile, August 2005 [PDF]
"The Birth of the Notebook," Mobile PC, April 2005 [PDF]
"The Best Software You're Not Using," PC World, October 2003
CNET's Business Buying Guide, CNET, September 2003 (here's the same story done up at ZDNet)
"How Netflix is Fixing Hollywood," Business 2.0, July 2003
"The Check is in the Car," Business 2.0, July 2003
"The Gnome Knows," New Architect, January 2003
"Everything Must Go!," Smart Business, December 2001
"Mess with the Bull, Get the Horns," Smart Business, November 2001
"Beg, Borrow, Point, and Click," Smart Business, September 2001

TECH NEWS / ANALYSIS

"The Computer That Reads Hand Signals," Popular Science, June 2008
"Super Charged," Popular Science, July 2007 [PDF]
"The Best: Web 2.0 Acquisition Bait," Wired, January 2007
"No Longer Safe for Work: Blogs," Wired News, October 24, 2005
"Musical Geeks Mine 8-Bit Sound," Wired News, October 13, 2005
"Photoshop Magic Melts Prison Bars," Wired News, October 5, 2005
"Buck Stops for Web Panhandlers," Wired News, June 10, 2003
"Lamo Hacks Cingular Claims Site," Wired News, May 29, 2003
"Online, Some Bloggers Never Die," Wired News, April 22, 2003
"Misfired Messages Roil Businesses," Wired News, April 1, 2003
"Paypal Tightens Transaction Reins," Wired News, March 26, 2003
"Net Hacker Tool du Jour: Google," Wired News, March 4, 2003
"Hackers Run Wild and Free on AOL," Wired News, February 21, 2003
"The Need for Speed," Smart Business, May 2002
"High Concept ," Smart Business, April 2002
"RIAA Blames the Net for Slumping Music Sales," Smart Business, February 2002
"Down and Out, South by Southwest," Smart Business, July 2001
"Free Windows?" Smart Business, January 2001
"How to Hire a Hacker," Smart Business, July 2000
"Web of Lies," PC Computing, January 2000
"The Free Economy Goes Bankrupt," PC Computing, December 1999
"Cyber Swindle," Austin Chronicle, January 1997

OPINION

"Solving the Gadget Power Crisis: One Nuke at a Time" (prank), Mobile PC, April 2005 [PDF]
"A Few of My Favorite Gadgets," Mobile PC, March 2005 [PDF]
"Cracking Yahoo, Closing Shop," New Architect, March 2003
"Time to Close Your Eyes," New Architect, February 2003
"Spam Filtering: A Fable," New Architect, January 2003
"Crocodile Tears," New Architect, October 2002
"ICANN of Worms," New Architect, September 2002

INTERVIEWS

Kevin Smith: "How To: Improve Your Home Movies," Wired, August 2006
Mark Ecko: "What's On Your Mobile?," Mobile PC, October 2004 [PDF]
David Cronenberg: "Welcome to His Nightmare," filmcritic.com, February 2003
Adrian Lamo (superhacker): "Inside the Hacker Mind," New Architect, December 2002
Michael Schrage (MIT Media Lab): "Inside Line," Smart Business, December 2001/January 2002
Tony Romeo (Unilever): "Inside Line," Smart Business, July 2001
Neil Armstrong: "From Spaceman To Chairman," Smart Business, January 2001
Alicia Witt: "Witt's Beginning," filmcritic.com, 2000
Sky Dayton: "Inside Line," PC Computing, March 2000
Barry Sonnenfeld: "Back in Black," San Jose Magazine, April 1998
Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson: "Message in a Bottle (Rocket)," filmcritic.com, 1996
Craig Shoemaker: "Mr. Null Meets The Lovemaster," originally published in Feedback, December 1996
Mike Figgis: "Viva, Las Vegas," originally published in Feedback, March 1996
Russ Meyer: "Faster! Faster! Russ Meyer!" originally published in Feedback, October 1995

TECH PRODUCT REVIEWS

"Apple iPhone," Yahoo! Tech, July 2007
"The headphones have it," Executive Travel, May 2007
"Vizio P42HDTV," "LG Electronics 42PC1DA," "Maxent MX-42HPM20," (plasma TVs), PC World, August 2006
"Two, Two, Two Chips in One," (dual-core laptops), Wired, May 2006
"Dell Inspiron XPS-2," Mobile, May 2005 [PDF]
"Mega Storage to Go," PC World, August 2003
"Ultimate Bargain PCs," Smart Business, June 2002
"Toshibo Libretto L1," Wired, September 2001
"Multimedia Moguls," (desktop PCs) Men's Journal, June 2001
"Scan I Am," (scanners), Working Woman, April 2001
"Flat Is Where It's At," (LCD monitors), Working Woman, February 2001
"Like to Watch? / The Search Is On," (various reviews), PC Computing, August 1999 [alt link]
"Unplugging the LAN," (first-generation wireless networks), Network World, February 1999
"E-commerce to go," (commerce servers), Network World, February 1999

TECH HOW-TO STORIES

"Take Advantage of System Restore," (how-to), Smart Computing, April 2003 (subscription required)
"Networking Made Easy," (how-to), PC Computing, September 1999

MOVIES

"Animals in the Movies Quiz," Parade, October 2007
"Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," Wired News and filmcritic.com, May 2005
"Cubicle Verité," (roundup), Business 2.0, November 2003
"Playing Chicken on Mulholland Drive," (analysis), filmcritic.com, 2002
"Moulin Rouge," (great movie review), filmcritic.com, 2001
"Starship Troopers / Showgirls," (cheesy movie reviews), Austin Chronicle, June 1998 (scroll down)
"Pacific Heights / Sneakers / So I Married an Axe Murderer," (SF movie reviews), Austin Chronicle, October 1997
"The Net," (awful movie review), filmcritic.com, 1995
Collected Filmcritic.com movie reviews, 1995-present

FOOD & WINE

"Winebloggin'," Parts 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5. Wired, July 2008
"Go With the Grain," (rice cookers), Wired, November 2006 (scroll down)
"Brain Food," Mobile, August 2005 [PDF]
"Vino a Go-Go," Mobile PC, December 2004
"Brew It Yourself," Silicon Valley Home, May 2004
"Backyard Bacchus," Silicon Valley Home, August 2003
"The Whine About Wine," San Francisco Magazine, August 2003
"Read the Wine Print," San Francisco Magazine, July 2003
"Bring on the Wine Glut," San Francisco Magazine, May 2003
"The Hamburger, Deconstructed," San Francisco Magazine, April 2003
Collected Drinkhacker.com posts, 2007-present

MISCELLANY

"How to Ace a Press Interview / Multitask / Get Promoted / Get Fired," Wired, August 2007
"The Best Geek Vacations: The South Pole, Chernobyl, Tatooine," Wired, July 2007
"The Best: Deadly Poisons, Ingested or Inhaled," Wired, August 2006
"The Worst: Stupid Engineering Mistakes," Wired, June 2006
"Best Free Stuff on the Web," PC World, August 2003
"Beg, Borrow, Point, and Click," (online mortgages), Smart Business, September 2001
"Firing Line," (virtual reality cop games), PC Computing, June 2000
"Bad Boys," (SFPD ride-along), PC Computing, March 2000
"I Was a Jeopardy Rejekt," (experience), originally published in Feedback, July 1996

OFFLINE / DISCLAIMER

By and large, stories from Smart Business, Working Woman, San Jose Magazine, PC Computing, Internet World, Computer Gaming World, and PC Week are not archived online. Older links may not work. Scans have been uploaded where available. Additional clips on request.

Five Stars! How to Become a Film Critic, The World's Greatest Job - non-fiction published 2005, Sutro Press
Half Mast - novel published 2002, Sutro Press
PricewaterhouseCoopers E-Business Technology Forecast, 2002-2004 - (co-author) nonfiction published 2002, PWC
Network Professional's Library: Network Administrator's Reference - (co-author) nonfiction published 1999, Osborne/McGraw-Hill

SELECTED
APPEARANCES
& INTERVIEWS

ABC 7 View from the Bay, September 18, 2008
ABC 7 View from the Bay, May 6, 2008
Computer America radio, January 17, 2008
Meme blog interview, July 19, 2007
NBC 5 Chicago, June 11, 2007 (also on OnStar)
CBS5 Investigates, May 4, 2007 (on OnStar discontinuing)
KPIX Evening News, March 26, 2007 (on high-def DVD)
Fine Living Network, "Tech Check," December 9, 2006
KPIX Evening News, November 10, 2006 (on Wi-Fi)
Computer Outlook, September 21, 2006
Cranky Geeks, August 17, 2006
G4TechTV's Attack of the Show, August 5, 2005
CNN Live Sunday, February 19, 2005
The Travel Channel's Travel Gear, November 6, 2004
CNN.com, "Rehashed Summer Smashes," May 16, 2003
TechTV's Call for Help, August 28, 2002
NPR's All Things Considered, September 1, 2000
TechTV's The Screen Savers, August 3, 1999

Null was on The Screen Savers about a dozen times from 1998 to 2000, but those shows appear tragically lost to time. Today he is a frequent guest on San Francisco TV newscasts, is interviewed regularly by a variety of print media, and is a frequent guest on a variety of radio programs around the world.

2 National Magazine Awards, 1999, 2000 >>>
17 American Society of Business Publishing Editors Awards, 2000, 2001, 2002
Jesse H. Neal Award, 1999
3 Computer Press Association Awards, 1999, 2000
4 WPA Maggie Awards, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2008
Folio Award, 1999
3 Ozzie Awards, 2000, 2002

CONTACT

e-mail:
daily rant: chrisnull.com
web: filmcritic.com and filmcriticblogs.com
web: sutropress.com
web: drinkhacker.com
head shots