Behind The Sites: A Mini Series Profiling Mac Webmasters
#4: Daily iMac's Amy Hoy

by Joey Cooper

Amy Hoy is editor-in-chief of Daily iMac, a site with tons of news, how-tos, and just plain Mac fun! She took some time to answer a few of our questions, and here are the answers!

Q: How did Daily iMac come about?

Well, let me say first that I love the idea of helping people learn new things. I've done phone tech support (mostly Windows) and while sometimes it can be a pain, it's worth it when you know someone is interested in learning for themselves. There's no feeling better than knowing that someone wants to learn and is eager to hear what you have to say instead of just wanting a canned solution; they say "help me fix it" instead of "fix it for me and get it over with."

With this in mind, I was inspired by the spirit of iMac into creating a user-friendly web site with the goal of making high technology available in everyday terms to everyday folks. I wanted to provide insights, in English, into technical issues and shortcuts to the kinds of things you generally only learn by tinkering and accidents over many years, or things we "power users" simply take for granted (like knowing what all the window widgets do). It took me until the March after the iMac/266s were introduced to get Daily iMac together and launched. Since then the angle has changed somewhat, but as the site grows, I'm trying to get back to basics and write more how-to type material because I still see that the topic is something that Mac web sites, for the better part, ignore.

Q: What do your duties at Daily iMac include?

The phrase "kitchen sink" comes to mind! Just about everything content-wise on the site I do, with the exception of a few articles written by other people. I do the large majority of features, all the news, editing, and just about every other business aspect, at least at the moment.

Q: What kind of computer setup do you have?

Currently my main machine is an iMac/350, adorned with the free flame decals I got from the Epson promotion some time back, and a clear sticker with "Power" written in black letters placed before "iMac" on the front bezel. (My friends find this rather hilarious. I like it!) Chansey, as I call the iMac, will be joined by a new PowerBook whenever Steve decides to announce it. My other Macs include a Quadra 840av, which I bought to use with my QuickTake 200 as a webcam machine for an unrelated project, and a IIcx without a hard drive. I also have two PCs, the nicer of which runs Debian Linux and is used as a firewall for my home network and for network back-up/storage. The second is a $125 Pentium 133 that runs Windows, 'just in case' we ever need it -- it mostly collects dust. Connected to the network was a LaserWriter IIg, but I recently donated it to a school and replaced it with a snappier LaserWriter 12/640.

Q: Your first Mac?

I got in rather late in the game, and my first Mac was a IIsi with a whopping nine megabytes of RAM, purchased in 1993 after a housefire. It was a big leap from my humble little Apple //c, but it didn't take me long to adjust. I soon also purchased a PC, but I got disgusted with it quickly and exchanged it for a Centris 610. Since then I've purchased a new Mac every two years or so, usually selling the old one to replace it, but I've still got my trusty old C610.

Q: Who else do you work with at Daily iMac?

Mainly I work with David Phelan, who has the title of "technical editor." He actually rarely edits anything because his job is to keep the back-end of Daily iMac running smooth and up-to-date. He's behind all the nifty features of Daily iMac such as the Color Preferences which lets a user choose which flavor the site is in, and all the mundane ones you don't see like article database management. We also work together as a small web design firm and he's recently been doing some back-end work for quite a few other major Mac sites.

Right now I'm trying to bring some columnists to Daily iMac to distribute the work and add some different viewpoints. The first so far is Dan Willis, a sparkling fountain of wit and good writing, whose yet-unnamed column is published every Friday starting this week. Allen Newman, Daily iMac's reporter from Behind the Counter, has put his column on hold for the time being but will return as soon as he has the time. I'm still seeking more writers, however, and encourage anyone with a strong grasp of language and humor to apply.

Q: What's your favorite part of working on Daily iMac?

I love knowing that people actually read what I have to say, and maybe it makes them think or learn something they didn't know before. That's the best reward any writer could ask for.

Q: Do you have a favorite Mac author or columnist?

No, not really. I'm extremely partial to Andy Ihnatko and David Pogue, but honestly I appreciate anyone who can write with personality and individuality in these days of anonymous mass Mac media. I know it's very hard to make your writing sound like it's easy and friendly, and anyone who masters that skill is someone I respect.

Q: Can you give us any hints of surprises coming in the future?

Hints? Well, there's a lot of hot stuff going on here under wraps. Daily iMac, shall we say, is a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. I've said that it's been my recent priority to recruit some fresh new blood for Daily iMac, but that is just one aspect of a greater transformation: a new name, a new focus, and more and varied content for every Mac user. I really want it to be "the Mac site for all of us." Aside from that, you'll have to wait and see!

Go ahead and give Daily iMac a visit... thanks for your time Amy!

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