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This Week in Tech · Monday, July 27, 2026

Larry Magid's Early Work on PC Manuals and Internet Safety

Co-host Larry Magid shared details about his early career, including secretly writing the IBM PC Easy Writer manual in 1981. He also noted that he wrote one of the first popular internet safety guides in 1994. Magid is also the president and CEO of Connect Safely, a non-profit organization.

personLarry MagidpersonLeo LaportecompanyIBMcompanyCBS NewscompanyLA TimescompanyConnect Safely

The tape

3 quotes
Larry, secretly, secretly wrote the IBM PC Easy Writer manual in 1981. Yeah. Is that right? It was secret at the time. Yes, it's known. Not no longer 1981. Yeah, I got it right. I got it in my shell. So he knew the PC existed before almost anyone, it says.
Leo Laporte
20 years at CBS News, LA Times columnist. wrote the first popular internet safety guide in 1994. Right.
Leo Laporte
You're president and CEO at Connect Safely. And by the way, congratulations. You're now doing radio hits all over the New York, on the big cities.
Leo Laporte
Heard on This Week in Tech — “TWiT 1094: Rest in Peace, Buzzkill - How John C. Dvorak Changed Tech Journalism Forever, published Monday, July 27, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via Gemini audio transcription · $0.13