Rupert Goodwins is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 writer, broadcaster and technology journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

.

He began his career as a programmer

Programmer

A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...

 for Sinclair Research in the early 1980s, working on the ZX Spectrum

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

 ROM

Read-only memory

Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...

. He moved to Amstrad

Amstrad

Amstrad is a British electronics company, now wholly owned by BSkyB. As of 2006, Amstrad's main business is manufacturing Sky Digital interactive boxes....

 after it bought the rights to the Sinclair name and range of products.

He has written for a number of UK computer publications, including:

• Sinclair User
  Sinclair User
  Sinclair User, often abbreviated SU, was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum...
  
  
• Personal Computer World
  Personal Computer World
  Personal Computer World was a long-running British Computer magazine.Although for at least the last decade it contained a high proportion of Windows PC content , the magazine's title was not intended as a specific reference to this...
  
  
• MacUser UK
• PC Magazine (UK)
  PC Magazine (UK)
  There are several different versions of PC Magazine. The UK edition was taken over by VNU in 2000 and ceased publication in 2002, although they still maintain a website.The columnists moved to Personal Computer World....
  
  
• IT Week
  IT Week
  IT Week is a weekly newspaper for the UK computing industry, published by Incisive Media.It was launched on 18 May 1998 and was originally published by the UK subsidiary of American media company Ziff Davis. In late 2000, Ziff Davis sold all its UK print publications, including IT Week, to VNU...
  
  
• Nature
• The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
  
  

Rupert also wrote the 64-page novella accompanying the game Weird Dreams

Weird Dreams

Weird Dreams is a game by Rainbird Software which was published for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and DOS. A modified version of it served as the visual component to a phone-in quiz on ITV's Motormouth.-Features:...

 by Rainbird

Rainbird

Rainbird, Rain Bird or Rainbirds may refer to:- Birds :* Rainbird, colloquial name given to various birds thought to sing before rain, including the European Green Woodpecker, Jamaican Lizard Cuckoo, Pacific Koel, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Burchell's Coucal and Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, as well as...

.

He is editor of ZDNet

ZDNet

ZDNet is a business technology news website published by CBS Interactive, along with TechRepublic and SmartPlanet. The brand was founded on April 1, 1991 as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication owned by CNET...

 UK. His most notable contribution to the site is Rupert's Diary, which preceded the blogging phenomenon by some years. He occasionally appears on CNet

CNET

CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...

 UK's technology podcast, Crave, and the Dialogue Box video series.

In addition to journalism, he also writes short stories, often with a technological theme to them. He is a regular contributor to radio and television news and current affairs programmes on business and technology issues.

Rupert is also a keen amateur radio operator

Amateur radio operator

An amateur radio operator is an individual who typically uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other similar individuals on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators have been granted an amateur radio...

 with the call sign

Call sign

In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...

G6HVY.