Here’s the short version of my bio:

Rob Pegoraro writes about interesting problems and possibilities in consumer technology.

And here’s a longer take on it:

Rob Pegoraro tries to make sense of computers, consumer electronics, telecom services, the Internet, software and other things that beep or blink for a variety of online and print outlets.

But wait, there’s more.

My journalism career effectively began at the Washington Post in unglamourous fashion in 1993, when I started work as a part-time “copy aide.” Over the years at 1150 15th Street NW, I sorted mail and answered phones, wrote for almost every section of the paper (National, Metro, Style, Sports, Business, Health, Food, Home, Weekend, Real Estate, Outlook, Sunday Arts, Sunday Source, Travel, Book World and the Magazine), and appeared on the front page all of three times.

Things got busy towards the end: In addition to the weekly column I wrote for the Business section, I did a weekly Q&A, a blog, a tip-of-the-week e-mail, a weekly video clip and Web chats every other week. Over those years, I used and was baffled by four different editing systems in the newsroom, each of which often had me yearning for my college newspaper’s copy of Aldus PageMaker.

Speaking of college, I have no real academic qualifications for my work. I graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1993 with a degree in international relations, and without taking a single course in journalism or computer science.

Since leaving the Post, I’ve embarked on a freelance career. I write a Q&A column (sound familiar?) for USA Today, I contribute regularly to PCMag and Fast Company, and I tend a few guides at Wirecutter. Earlier, I had a long string of work on tech-policy issues and the occasional review at Yahoo Finance (a transition from my earlier role at Yahoo Tech), before which I covered tech issues for the Computer & Communications Industry Association’s Disruptive Competition Project blog, Discovery News and the Consumer Electronics Association. I’ve also made occasional appearances at such other sites as Ars Technica, FierceVideo, Consumer Reports, The Parallax, and even the Washington Post. And as of May 2019, you’re welcome to support me directly at Patreon. Consult my disclosures page for a full list of who’s compensated me for what.

My work also has me on TV (including maybe 10 seconds on the NBC Nightly News and a longer spot years ago on MSNBC’s Countdown, where Keith Olbermann quizzed me about the lost iPhone 4 prototype), radio (WTOP has had me on semi-regularly), and podcasts. And I’ve spoken at such events as Web Summit, SXSW, CES, Collision, and Viva Technology.

I’m married, with one daughter; we live with our cat in a small, old house in Arlington, Virginia, where you can often find me in the kitchen or out in the yard.

As for my spellcheck-defying last name, it comes from a lovely town in northern Italy called Vicenza, not far west of Venice. Here’s how I pronounce it; if you use the short “a” one would hear in Italy instead of the long “a” my ancestors switched to after settling in the Midwest, that’s fine too:

Other places to connect with me online, in declining order of importance:

• Twitter: what I call my “public notebook,” that’s historically been the first place I’m likely to share some amusing, insightful or irrelevant observation, but my tenure there looks increasingly uncertain given Elon Musk’s vindictive mismanagement of the property;
• Mastodon: I’m robpegoraro@journa.host on that federated social network, which looks increasingly likely to replace Twitter as my public notebook;
• Patreon, at which you can help underwrite my work in return for access to patron-only posts and more of my time;
• LinkedIn: the most current, detailed version of my resume;
• Flickr: photos from conferences, trips, and around town, plus the occasional screenshot;
• Instagram: yes, I finally decided to de-lurk on this service;
• My public Facebook page: where you can see the occasional selfie and learn 25 random things about me;
• Reddit: if somebody shares a story I’ve written, I try to answer any questions about it in the comments thread;
• About.Me: this exercise in self-marketing seems redundant at this point.

Last update: 12/18/2022