Welcome! I’m Matthew S. Smith, a prolific technology journalist and author from Portland, Oregon. For 17 years I’ve covered cutting-edge technology from a variety of perspectives.
I was among the first to try Microsoft HoloLens, I’ve reported extensively on the technical and legal issues surrounding AI, I’ve interviewed CTOs and technology leads at innovators like Perplexity and Anaconda, and I’ve reviewed thousands (literally thousands) of PC laptops, desktops, monitors, and other consumer gadgets. My work is currently featured in IEEE Spectrum Magazine, Business Insider, and PC World, among several other publications.
I also write on computer and video game history with a focus on hardware and games from the late 1990s.
Shoot me an email if you want to get in touch.
Sign up for my newsletter, Work From Here
Work From Here is my weekly newsletter that rounds up the latest tech of interest to remote workers. I provide recommendations on the best gear for home office setups, commentary on trends in the work from home lifestyle, and reviews of essential productivity software.
Read my book
My book on the history of EverQuest, published by Boss Fight Books, is now available to fund on Kickstarter and slated to release this fall.
“You’re in our world now.” This bold tagline led Sony’s 1999 ad blitz for EverQuest, the year’s most anticipated massively multiplayer game. Though just five words long, it challenged players to live in a virtual world beyond anything they’d experienced before—and delivered. The game that proved the MMORPG’s potential, EverQuest outsold all prior entries in the genre and was the most popular subscription game in North America for five years until Blizzard’s World of Warcraft overthrew it. Yet EverQuest lives on, with tens of thousands of players logging in every day.
Based on new interviews with EverQuest developers and veteran MMORPG developers, I explore EverQuest‘s unlikely creation at a studio built to develop sports games, a rocky release which overwhelmed the game’s ill-prepared datacenter, the enticing game loops that placed EverQuest in a media firestorm around gaming addiction, and the real-money black market for EverQuest items that foretold the future of digital goods.
Where to find my writing
The publications I’ve worked with include IEEE Spectrum, PC World, Reviewed, PC Mag, MIT Tech Review, The Verge, Ars Technica, Wired, Business Insider, Lifewire, IGN,, MakeUseOf, Kotaku, and Consumers Digest, among others.
I was an editor at leading independent consumer technology publication Digital Trends for nearly six years, starting in the role of Computing Editor and rising to the role of Reviews Editor. I led a group of editors to cover products in literally every major category of consumer tech. Together, the team tested over 1,000 products every year.
Where to watch (and hear) me:
In addition to my professional journalism, I make documentaries on video game history for Computer Gaming Yesterday, my YouTube channel. The channel covers computer games from the turn of the millennium including real-time strategy and massively multiplayer games.
I frequently appeared on Digital Trends’ YouTube channel during my time with that publication. This included video reviews and exclusive features, such as a deep-dive on Intel’s Hades Canyon NUC which, at the time, was the most powerful gaming PC of its size.
I also co-hosted a PC hardware podcast with Greg Nibler and Brad Bourque in 2016 and 2017. Close to the Metal issued over 50 thirty-minute episodes during its run.
Get in touch
You can reach me by email here, or reach out to me on LinkedIn.