Jim Heid describes himself as a poster child for iLife: he has been taking photos, making movies, and playing music since he was a kid.

He began writing about personal computers in 1980, when he computerized his home-built ham radio station with a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I. As Senior Technical Editor of one of the first computer magazines, Kilobaud Microcomputing, he began working with Mac prototypes in 1983. He began writing for Macworld magazine in 1984, joined the masthead as Contributing Editor, and is now a Senior Contributor. He has also written for PC World, Internet World, and Newsweek magazines, and wrote a weekly, nationally syndicated technology column for the Los Angeles Times.

In 2007, Apple approached Jim to help develop the iLife ’08 video tutorials that are available at Apple’s Web site.

Jim is a frequent speaker at user groups, conferences, and other events. He has taught at the Kodak Center for Creative Imaging in Camden, Maine, at the University of Hawaii, and at dozens of technology conferences in between. He also co-hosts “Point & Click Radio,” a biweekly computer radio show, which you can listen to at www.kzyx.org/pc.

Jim and his standard poodle and mascot, Sophie, divide their time between San Francisco and the rugged coast of Mendocino, California.