Name Andy Walker | ||
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Born July 4, 1967 (age 56) ( 1967-07-04 ) Norwich, England | ||
Andy Walker (born July 4, 1967) is a Canadian television personality and journalist.
He is best known as having been a co-host alongside Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur of Call for Help, a technology help television program on G4techTV Canada in Canada and the HOW TO Channel in Australia. His most popular segments on the show were what he called "food demos" which use household groceries like cheese and whip cream to show how complex technology mechanisms work. In one show he built a transistor out of cheddar cheese and tomato juice.
Walker is also the owner of Cyberwalker.com [1], a technology advice website, and the author of The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Security, Spam, Spyware and Viruses and Windows Vista Help Desk both from Que Books. He also co-authored the book You Call This the Future? (Chicago Review Press) with Nick Sagan and Mark Frary.
In December 2013, Walker announced he had signed deal with Pearson Education to write his 5th book called Super You: How Technology is Changing What it Means to Be Human. It will be co-authored with blogger Kay Svela (LittleMissWife.com; DeathisObsolete.com). Walker is engaged to Svela, who is pregnant with their first child, a boy, due in February 2014.
Background
Walker was born in Norwich, England, but immigrated to Canada at the age of eight and was raised in Beaconsfield, Quebec. He studied journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto.
On August 31, 2005, after hosting Call for Help with Leo Laporte for over a year, Walker announced that he was leaving the show due to an unsatisfactory pay cut in his proposed contract renewal.
Walker hosted two spin-offs to Call For Help called Web Gems and My Media. Web Gems focused on tips and tricks on navigating the Internet. My Media was focused on TV and living room technology. Both shows aired on G4techTV Canada until late 2006. He appeared as one of the first guests on Leo Laporte's old television show The Lab with Leo Laporte, which started production in Vancouver, Canada in April 2007 and aired in May 2007 on G4techTV Canada in Canada and the HOW TO Channel in Australia. Walker also co-hosted an internet technology podcast called Lab-Rats with Sean Carruthers until late 2011. But in 2012, Andy Walker and Sean Carruthers once again started the Lab Rats podcast which can be found at Lab Rats.
In January 2013, it was announced that Walker would be a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Medal. Walker's community service includes founder of the Little Geeks Foundation, a national Canadian non-profit charity that provides computers to school children from families in need. Walker also serves as a technology advisor to His Honour David Onley on his aboriginal children literacy initiative. Walker is also a technology advisor to Kids Help Phone, a national 24-hour telephone and online counselling service for children.