cat schwartz

Catherine Schwartz (AKA Cat) is one of the foremost tech experts in the country. She is widely known for her electric commentary on the hottest gadgets and how to use them. As The HiTechMommy and eBay Gadget and Toy Director, Schwartz educates consumers on the wide breadth and depth of consumer electronics and toys in an approachable way.

As the tech go-to-girl, Schwartz developed new high-tech ways for distributing TV content over the Web. In 2003, she produced and hosted TechTV's 'The Screen Savers"'followed by the live computer show 'Call for Help."'For the next three years, Schwartz gained a dedicated following both on the show and on her blog, HiTechMommy.com, a catchy mix of tech spiced with Schwartz's personal musings on parenting.

We got a chance to talk to Cat about her favorite tech and gadgets. Here's what she had to say, in our latest Switched Questionnaire:

What gadgets do you always bring with you to the set of your T.V. tapings (for down-time)?

It's truly amazing to me how one little gadget can make me feel so fulfilled. My Mimoco USB drives hold up to 2 gigs of my most precious digital info (pictures of my son, Jack, some VERY hard to find Beastie Boys and Beatles tunes, a few TV pitches and some scripts) inside adorably anime-ish shaped characters. I have about 5 of them and each one has its own little jacket that can attach to my key chain. I love them and they make me feel loved.

In addition, I always toss the Flip Video into my bag because you never know when you might get video of something YouTube-worthy. It's a small video camera that has extremely basic functions (record, stop, playback, zoom and that's about it) with very cool features. There's a built in USB dongle that flips out for easy connection when I'm out and about that also packs movie management software that's pretty cool. The camera has one hour of storage, comes in different colors and sells for about $120. Love it.

Lastly, I like to rock my video watch in case I have some down time. It's a digital watch with a screen that plays MP4 files with pretty decent quality. There's not a ton of storage, 2 gigs, but I've compressed the hell out of some episodes of The Office that never seem to get old. I can also plug in my headphones to listen to MP3s, check out my photos, record and playback voice message, and tell time!

What cell phone do you have right now and what do you love/hate about it?

Right now I'm obsessed with the new SideKick LX. It's not out till the end of October, but I got one! What a bang up job T-Mobile pulled on this one. First off, the slimmer frame comes in a dark silky brown that's really smooth looking. Pretty yummy, and pretty. Next, they've upgraded the camera's quality, gave it a flash, and packed in a WQVGA screen that uses hi-def LCD technology so media is as clear as it should be at this point. The upgrades are nice to see and I'm glad they stayed true to my original attraction, the way the keyboard feels on my finger tips. The keys are a good distance apart and have nice gription. Yeah, I made that word up...

Who's the last person you sent a text message to and what was it about?

I was getting the scoop on a hot mommy friend of mine who's cheating on her husband with a famous actor. Pretty juicy stuff. The actor wants her to meet up at The Ivy for lunch. Lucky.

Where do you go (site or service) pretty much every time you get online?

Gmail, news.google.com, engadget.com, PinkIsTheNewBlog.com, and,of course, Switched.com.

What annoys you most about your iPod, cell phone, or laptop (or any other gadget)?

I hate when I'm too lazy to plug "it" in at night then struggle the whole next day with the fear that if I use my device like I want to it'll die. It causes me stress in crazy ways and I regret it every time!

Name one thing you wish your iPod could do that it doesn't do now?

I wish I could download content onto my iPod on the go.

What upcoming gadget can you not wait to get your hands on?

Touch, and the new Zeppelin Speaker System. It looks, rad but I want to see if it gives off the sound it claims it can.

You're stranded on a desert island: What gadget do you bring?

First off I'm gonna need some juice. The Solio hybrid solar charger would allow me to charge about 20 different devices with the power of the sun. Now I can bring my video iPod with my favorite music, movies, TV and pix on it so I can stay entertained. That's really all I need.
Catherine Schwartz
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Catherine Schwartz
Born March 5, 1977 (1977-27-05) (age 29)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation co-host, producer
Catherine Michelle Schwartz (often called Cat for short) (born May 27, 1977) is an American television personality best known for her former role as co-host on the TechTV television program Call for Help with Leo Laporte. She earned degrees in Broadcast Communication Arts and Sociology from San Francisco State University.

After a stint on TechTV's The Screen Savers, Schwartz became co-host of Call for Help in 2002 with then co-host Chris Pirillo. After Pirillo left TechTV in April 2003, former host Leo Laporte returned to co-host with Schwartz. Call for Help was cancelled in May 2004 after TechTV's merger with G4, resulting in G4techTV.

In the period after the cancellation of Call for Help, Schwartz appeared as a G4techTV technology expert on the Today Show segment "Gender Wars". She also made guest appearances on short segments of The Screen Savers. She recently signed-on as a columnist with Stuff Magazine, with a column entitled, "Ask the Tech Chick".

In June 2003 Schwartz became the subject of a stir in the Internet community when it was discovered that at least two cropped photographs of herself she had posted on her personal blog contained hidden Exif thumbnail images clearly showing her bared breasts, because the program she used to edit them did not create replacement thumbnails. [1]

She also appears in the music video Strange New Element by the band Low Water. Near the end of the video, she makes an appearance with fellow TechTV personalities Morgan Webb, Sarah Lane, Chi-Lan Lieu and Sumi Das.

Schwartz also claims to have invented the Swiffer during her days as a college intern. Schwartz has said that she receives no royalties and signed away her rights to the product as part of Procter & Gamble's policy.

In the early part of 2005, Schwartz and her friend Wynter Mitchell (Screen Savers teleprompter operator) started a podcast, hosted on Libsyn but there have been no new updates since May 10, 2005.

On November 25, 2005, Schwartz married South Park editor Keef Bartkus in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her married name is Catherine Michelle Bartkus but she retains the last name Schwartz in professional contexts.