I'm David Pogue, columnist for NY Times and Scientific American, and host of "NOVA" miniseries on PBS. AMA!

Did you know an anagram of your name is Avoided Pug?

I can honestly say I never realized that.

What's in your pockets right now?

I've been carrying around the iPhone 5s Apple loaned me to review, but now I have to ship it back. My own iPhone 4s is due for replacement (yes, I'm on a 2-year contract just like everyone else), and I'm mulling what to replace it with!

How did you end up being the host of Nova?

Wow, that is a WEIRD story!

They had this grant to make a miniseries about materials science. Yeah, THAT'S a great topic for a TV show! Everyone thought it'd be dry as dust.

So they hired this genius outside producer, Chris Schmidt, to come up with a concept. His idea: (a) have a host (NOVA doesn't usually have hosts). (b) Pick a non-scientist host, someone who's curious and funny and represents the viewer. (c) immerse him in extreme situations--hang gliding, swimming with sharks, pouring gold--to illustrate the science.

For a reason that mystifies and delights me to this day, he and the head of NOVA both thought of me simultaneously!

Hi David!

Thanks for combining humor and tech. (and for the awesome song in your ted video).

1. Why is a tech writer's website not mobile friendly? come on already...
2. What do you find the most amazing/promising about emerging technologies?
3. How do you pronounce your last name for goodness sake?

Keep up the awesome!

1. Trust me, I'm aware of how awful my site is. We're redesigning it as we speak!

2. Wearable tech is very cool. So far, nobody's really figured out what to PUT into our wearable technology--but the fact that people are trying is very exciting!

3. It rhymes with "vogue." Or "rogue."

I'm now laughing to myself a little imagining that there is any other way people could pronounce your last name. Pog-you. Pog-you-ee.

Haven't you whippersnappers heard of the Pogues?!

I also kind of like "Pogue-way," because that's how you pronounce the word segue, after all!

What is an industry where tech hasn't yet made an impact but you think will be impacted by it soon?

There are examples all around us! Just look at Nest, whose Internet-connected, intelligent thermostat shook up the thermostat business (which hadn't changed in 50 years)! Now they're introducing a smoke alarm that will have the same effect!

We have much farther to go with cars/traffic/transportation. With groceries. With customized clothing shopping online. We're at the Commodore 64 era with those!

What are your 5 most-visited websites? SFW, of course :-)

Cool question! I'm a hardcore Google Voice user, so that link is first on my bookmarks bar. (That's where I can read--yes, READ--my voicemails. And send and receive texts. From the laptop.)

I also tune daily into NY Times, Facebook, Techmeme, and my local town news site, westportnow.com.

How do you read your vm??

Google Voice automatically converts your voicemails into text--which they can text you or email you. It's amazing.

In your opinion, which of these "big player" social networks will be the first to fail and why?

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. Instagram
4. Google +

Well, Google+ seems to have a rarified audience of tech folks; I'm not sure it has a real chance at becoming, you know, Facebook.

And Instagram is awesome, but also an easily duplicated, easily incorporated feature; such photo sharing might eventually be built into other gadgets and networks. So basically, I'd say #4, #3, #2, and #1, in that order!

We are starting to see companies like T-Mobile make an effort to give consumers more power and choice - do you think big cable companies will ever see the light and do the same?

Not for a long time. As much as we like to report how people are "cutting the cord," they're really not. Last year it was 1 million people... out of hundreds of millions of customers. So it will take many more years for the cord-cutting wave to make the cable companies start being nice!

That time will come eventually, though!

Do you think the amount of smartphones hitting the market at the same time is overwhelming consumers or is the availability of different types of phones better for consumers?

OH, man, no question: it's overwhelming consumers. ALL of tech is overwhelming consumers. It's too much, too fast. It's a firehose. Terrible for our pocketbooks, terrible for the environment when we throw this stuff away in 13 months.

Unfortunately, the entire industry is based on the Upgrade Cycle business model. Everyone has a vested interest in churning out new models every six months.

I loved your Making stuff Nova series! When's part two coming out? Also, what's your favorite album?

Why thank you, dasslerv! What'd we say I would pay you--$5?

Tonight is "Making Stuff: Faster." It's the only episode I've seen finished, and it's phenomenal. Really.

Then a new one every Wednesday. Next week is "Wilder," then "Colder," then "Safer."

Album? Do they still make those?

Do you practice any methods of "disconnecting" from tech?

Yep! It's called "evenings and weekends with my kids!"

I'll admit, though, that I'm absolutely never without the phone to check texts and emails--but I'm not one of these creeps who does it at mealtimes or when you're talking to me.

Thank you, Reddit! I'm gonna wrap it up now. Those were fantastic questions--you come prepared!--and this was excellent fun.

Hope you like "Making Stuff" tonight--9 ET on PBS!

Hey David! It's been ages since I talked to you or ran into you at a Macworld Expo or somesuch, but I'm vaguely curious if you remember this :)

(I know this is kind of a frivolous question and not really relevant to the present, I just still find it pretty cool that I got to hang out with you all those years ago before you were a NY Times columnist and TV host and I was just into your books. I've continued to follow your work in more recent years and I'm still a big fan.)

HOLY COW!!! That is an OLLLLLLD picture! What, 16 years ago?

Great to hear from you!

If I can find my copy of Hard Drive, will you sign it?

Of course!

There's a lot of hullabaloo these days about "privacy", but some of us (yourself included I believe), don't mind giving the information in order for a more "personalized" tech experience. Where should we draw the line? And why should those who are worried about privacy not be so much?

Superb question!

For me (and I know there are MANY who disagree), the line is: "At what point does it matter?"

If it's just somebody KNOWING something about my life, I guess I don't see how it matters.

If that information gives them an unfair advantage, or puts me at a disadvantage, or otherwise MATTERS, then the line has been crossed. But I was born without the gene that senses the Creep Factor in its own right.

I loved the original "Making Stuff" NOVA specials and am excited for tonight's program. Was there anything cool that didn't make the final cut you'd like to tell the world about?

Oh wow--there were, for some reason, SO MANY stories that we filmed for this season that didn't make the show!

We filmed a robotic, remote-controlled hummingbird that the military has developed. Astonishingly realistic--REAL hummingbirds actually attacked it!

Also a robot BEE, 1/30th the weight of a penny! It actually flies. You actually control it!

We had one disastrous trip to Austria to film a "Colder" story about how they're saving the melting glaciers by covering them with reflective blankets! But we landed during a 100-year-flood! Our site, our scientist, and our thermal camera were all trapped behind the floodwaters--and then we were hit by a whiteout blizzard. Unforgettable--and kind of hilarious, in a way.

Hi David,

How do we best enable young women, particularly those from a socioeconomically disadvantaged background, to participate in a tech economy? Thanks for doing this!

Dang. I have no good answer!

I'm good at recommending cameras and stuff, though...

If you had a choice, would you prefer a smartwatch or smartglasses (ala Google Glass)?

The watch, for sure.

I think Google Glass has some profound social problems to overcome. When you're talking to someone wearing them, you're acutely uncomfortable. You know they could be filming you. It puts them in this artificially elevated social position, and it's profoundly obnoxious.

Plus, they'll be banned everywhere: movie theaters, courtrooms, stores, restaurants, sports events--anywhere that it's uncool to hold a camera in front of your face now.

When will the next NOVA episode air? The one after tonights episode?

They're every Wednesday night, starting tonight! 4 episodes in all...

What's the biggest perk of being a NYT tech writer? What's the biggest downfall?

The biggest perk, for sure, is the instant credibility. "Oh wow! The New York Times! I've heard of that!"

They're an amazing group to work with, dedicated and doing important work. I guess the only real downfall is being associated, in some people's minds, with the Man. The Liberal Elite. The Whitebread East Coast Establishment. I get that sometimes.

Got my DVR set for tonight!

My question is...how did you become a tech writer? What was your first review about?

Ha! Funny story.

I was a musician in New York, making pocket change working for a computer user group. Finale, the sheet-music program, had just come out for $1000. I wanted it BAD. But I couldn't afford it.

So the editor of our newsletter said, "Why don't you ask them for a free copy, and you review it for our little publication?"

I did. And I was hooked!

What Kickstarter projects have you backed?

I backed the Snuglet, which has changed my life... www.snuglet.com

[deleted]

I guess the expected answer would have something to do with privacy. You know: "Facebook" or "Google" or "Apple", because they're tracking us all and selling our data for Evil Purposes.

Truth is, I'm probably more relaxed than most about privacy. We get a lot of really cool, great tech for free in exchange for our data. There are cases where data should be private (your past, your medical history, etc.), but I'm really not bothered if Stop 'n' Shop wants to see what I bought.

[deleted]

Answer the phone and say "yes."

Very few people can plot the course of their lives. Almost nobody grows up to be an astronaut, like they thought as a kid. So answer the phone and say "yes" to every offer.

If you were to make a "Missing Manual" for something other then tech and software what would It be?

Oh man--taxes. Relationships. Parenting. Wines. Cellphone companies. Health. (Not that there's nothing out there about health--it's that there's TOO MUCH! Somebody should just tell us what to do, reasonably, and be done with it!)

I always fall asleep during your NOVA Making Stuff (smaller, lighter etc.) episodes, despite the fact that it is all super interesting. Is there anything you'd recommend so you can get my full viewership, and thus get full credit for my participation?

Main thing is to watch tonight's premiere, "Making Stuff: FASTER."

It is one VERY pulse-pounding science show, if I may say so.

If you can't stay awake watching $100 million carbon-fiber sailboats capsize, or 83-mph bicycles spin out and crash, then there might not be much hope!

Hey David;

Ever make it back to Cleveland? Always on the lookout for transplants who made it elsewhere.

keep up the great work.

Yep! My parents still live there, so I get back a couple times a year!

Did you watch Gravity? What did you think?

Just saw it. In IMAX 3-D, the only way to go.

I thought it was one of the most technically amazing movies ever made. I mean, eye-popping.

I guess the characters and dialogue didn't grab me quite as much. But it didn't really matter!

Are you friends with Neil DeGrasse Tyson? What's he like?

I only just met him recently, at a conference.

He was VERY warm, gracious, expansive, complimentary. (I replaced him on "NOVA ScienceNow," so that makes it extra-garcious!)

He's also brilliant and articulate and a powerful speaker, but you knew that.

Dou you see a future for Chromebooks? Will it kill PCs eventually?

Yes! I think they're really catching on.

But no, they won't kill the PC. Nothing will kill the PC. In tech, new products generally add on--they don't replace. Things splinter. We'll just have more and more categories of things!

Can I re-do your website for you? It's not very becoming of a tech journalist :-) I sent you an email when you posted about this on your twitter account, but haven't heard back yet.

I haven't had a chance to go through all the proposals yet, but I will -- soon!

What was the first tech product that made you think "wow!"?

If you really mean FIRST...

It was the Whistle Switch. Maybe 1974. I was nine. You could make this high hissy sound, either with your mouth or with a provided squeezy toy, to turn an appliance on or off. (Kind of like the Clapper.)

To me, it was magic. I eventually McGuyvered my entire bedroom, using the Whistle Switch to start a Rube Goldberg sequence involving a record player, Erector set motor, lights coming on, clothes folding by themselves...it was called "The Automatic Room," and it was my masterpiece.

1. Are you planning on ever making a sequel to The World According to Twitter? I found it very entertaining to read.

2. How would you feel about releasing an SDK for the AppleTV? What kind of apps would you most look forward to?

1. Yes, actually! This time, I think it should be an e-book. Maybe free, maybe $1. "The World According to Twitter" basically sank like a stone--nobody bought that book--even though, as you say, it's pretty awesome. I think people thought it was a book ABOUT Twitter. Or something!

2. At the very least, Apple TV should get all the services that Roku does! How about Twitter feeds?

How about the top item each day from reddit.com/r/funny?

Any reason you stopped doing the videos you use to do for the NYT?

Actually, I started doing them again a few months back! Here are the most 25 recent ones: http://www.nytimes.com/video/david-pogue/

Originally, the Times wanted 60 seconds, max, so they could incorporate these videos into their other Web broadcasts. Nowadays, they've lifted that limit, so they're usually 2 minutes or so...

You've done a lot of things in your career.

1. How do you find the time for all of these things? Do you have a social life?
2. Are you really doing them yourself, or do you have help (such as researchers for books, ghostwriters etc)

I have an incredible assistant, Jan, who does all the bureaucratic stuff for me: billing, travel, ordering and returning products. She leaves me free to do the creative part, which is an insane luxury!

Otherwise, I'm just superproductive, I guess. I use macro software and text expanders extensively; I carry my Air around constantly so I'm always working in planes and taxis; I've never had writer's block a day in my life! I basically run from one deadline to the next, always keeping one step ahead of falling behind!

Hello David, are you going to be again participating on TED conference? I totally love it, Simplicity sells and 10 tips are my favourite :)

Jacob

You are so kind, good sir Jacob!

I LOVE speaking at TED. It's an experience like no other!

But you have to be invited, so...it's really up to them!

What's the best MacWorld column authored by you that someone today should read?

I think this one is probably my best:

http://macguild.org/wonderful.html

We actually acted it out a couple of years ago, with LeVar Burton starring as Steve Jobs! Here it is: https://vimeo.com/9417389

Quick! Name the first 3 things that come to your mind.

Lunch. Sleep. Tonight.

What is your personal digital camera?

The Sony RX100. Quite simply, the best pocket camera ever made. HUGE HUGE sensor, amazing f/1.8 lens.

Now there's a sequel, the RX100 mark 2, with a tilting screen and WiFi. Both are amazing.

When do you think Apple will come out with a TV?

I'm not sure they will!

They usually don't tackle a new category unless they have something profoundly different to bring to it. And Steve Jobs isn't there anymore to decide what that should be...

But, of course, nobody really knows!

Hi David, I've been reading you since your days as "The Desktop Critic". (The most I remember of eight years of music lessons are the stacks of Macworld issues my teacher gave me, which I still have…)

As the author of my much-loved copy of "The Great Macintosh Easter Egg Hunt", I ask you: whatever happened to easter eggs? Was it Apple clamping down on them after Jobs returned, setting a trend for other companies? Or has software become so transient—almost disposable—that programmers seldom bother putting them in? Or maybe there's still plenty of them out there, never to be discovered because we're all on reddit instead. Thoughts?

Wow, I have wondered that myself SO OFTEN! It's so sad, the decline of Easter eggs!

As it's been explained to me, the problem with an Easter egg is that, by definition, it's untested. It's not part of the spec for the software. It's a wild card. And these days, software is deadly serious business; the marketers-that-be don't dare risk anything so uncontrolled. Sad, really!

Have TED talks really gone downhill? Or are we just exposed to more of them, and there was always the same ratio of pop-sci to interesting science? There was always a performance element of course, but now it's just...

Agree, disagree? And what could be done to either improve their quality, or their public image?

There are just as many great TED talks as there have ever been--but now there are so many TED conferences (TEDx, TEDglobal, etc), it's harder to come up with home runs every time!

In other words, if there are 25 truly astonishing speakers a year, they're now spread out over ten times as many conferences...

In other other words, I think your theory is correct. :)

What can I do to get my future kids interested in math/science?

Predictable answer: Watch NOVA with them!

Better answer: Do it WITH THEM! Get one of those Home Science Projects books from the library, and build some stuff on a Saturday. Vinegar-baking soda volcano. Egg in the bottle. Food coloring exploding on milk. That kinda stuff. Anything that YOU seem passionate about has a good chance of igniting THEIR interest!

One website for the rest of your life. What would you pick?

You could probably do a lot worse than Reddit!

Is your educational background in journalism or technology?

Neither!

I was a music major. I spent ten years conducting and arranging musicals on Broadway, in fact.

My interest in tech probably stems from my interest in magic, which has been with me since I was tiny; seems like consumer tech is the closest thing we've got!

Did you ever get a copy of Windows 8.1 to review?

Yes! Thanks for asking!

I find it astounding that Microsoft would not give reviewers a copy of Windows 8.1 in advance of the public release. In 13 years of writing for the Times, I can't ever remember that happening!

So I asked on Twitter, and a friendly stranger offered me access to his developer download! 15 minutes after I asked, I had my copy.

Twitter, man. Twitter.

Do you have any stories about your interactions with Steve Jobs? Would he ever complain about your reviews?

OMG, all the time. Jobs would call me at home, often late in the evening, to scream at me for something I'd written. Or flatter me, if it's something he liked. I've never heard of any other CEO--or ANY executive--doing that!

Once he called after I posted this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vniMR6Ez9cE

I was sure he was going to rip my head off. But he said it was "fking hilarious" and asked for the original QuickTime file!

Hey David, thanks for doing this AMA. Just wondering, I'm work for a tech company and I'm always reaching out to tech journalists. Ideally, what's the perfect pitch? Also, any way you can check us out? SimpliSafe

Perfect PR pitch to a tech writer:

Email. Short. Illustrated. No tech jargon. Express some familiarity with what that writer WRITES about.