David Bunnell
Encyclopedia
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
pioneer who was involved in the earliest days of personal computing revolution and industry. Following a long career in technology publishing, he got involved in the wellness field as a entrepreneur, author and wellness coach.
Bunnell grew up in the small town of Alliance, Nebraska, where he was on the State champion cross-country team and where he worked with his Father who was the editor of the Alliance Daily Times-Herald newspaper. During his senior year in high school, Bunnell served as the sports editor of the newspaper.
Bunnell attended the University of Nebraska from 1965-1969 when he graduated with a B.A. majoring in History. While at the University, he was active in the anti-Vietnam war movement and was elected President of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Following graduation, Bunnell moved to Chicago where he taught elementary school. He continued his involvement in the anti-war movement, attended the Chicago 8 Trial, and was in the March on Washington in the Fall of 1969.
After two years in Chicago, Bunnell moved to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to a new teaching position in Kyle, South Dakota, working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. During his stay here, he supported the American Indian Movement's takeover of the village of Wounded Knee and transported food and other supplies to the insurgents.
In 1973, Bunnell got a job as a technical writer
Technical writer
A technical writer is a professional writer who designs, creates, and maintains technical documentation...
at a small electronics company called MITS
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems was an American electronics company founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico that began manufacturing electronic calculators in 1971 and personal computers in 1975. Ed Roberts and Forrest Mims founded MITS in December 1969 to produce miniaturized telemetry...
in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, paying US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
110 a week. In 1975, he was vice president of marketing, when they introduced the Altair 8800
Altair 8800
The MITS Altair 8800 was a microcomputer design from 1975 based on the Intel 8080 CPU and sold by mail order through advertisements in Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics and other hobbyist magazines. The designers hoped to sell only a few hundred build-it-yourself kits to hobbyists, and were...
. While at MITS, Bunnell worked closely with Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
founders Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
and Paul Allen
Paul Allen
Paul Gardner Allen is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates...
, who created the first programming language for the Altair, Altair BASIC
Altair BASIC
Altair BASIC was an interpreter for the BASIC programming language that ran on the MITS Altair 8800 and subsequent S-100 bus computers. It was Microsoft's first product , distributed by MITS under a contract...
.
Bunnell is the founder of several major media properties including PC Magazine
PC Magazine
PC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...
, PC World
PC World (magazine)
PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...
, Macworld
Macworld
Macworld is a web site and monthly computer magazine dedicated to Apple Macintosh products. It is published by Mac Publishing, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California...
, Macworld Expo, New Media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
and BioWorld. He was the CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Upside Media, publisher of Upside magazine
Upside (magazine)
Upside was a San Francisco-based business and technology magazine for venture capitalists. It was published from 1989 to 2002. It had a circulation above 300,000.-Beginnings:Upside was started by banker Anthony B...
, from 1996-2002. Bunnell is the recipient of the only Lifetime Achievement Award from the Computer Press Association
Computer Press Association
Founded in 1983, the Computer Press Association was established to promote excellence in the field of computer journalism. The association was composed of working editors, writers, producers, and freelancers who covered issues related to computers and technology...
. Tony Gold, Eddie Currie and Bunnell founded PC Magazine in 1981. Bunnell and some friends and his wife (Jacqueline Poitier) comprised, in part, the magazines founding staff.
Bunnell was in Triumph of the Nerds
Triumph of the Nerds
Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires is a documentary film written and hosted by Robert X. Cringely and produced for British television by Oregon Public Broadcasting. The title refers to the 1984 film, Revenge of the Nerds, and the documentary itself is based on Cringely's book...
, a 1996 documentary, commenting Paul Allen demonstrating their BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 and how it was significant.
Bunnell is also the founder of Computers & You, a community computer learning center at Glide Church in the heart of one of San Francisco's poorest neighborhoods, the Tenderloin district. Computers & You provides computer training to thousands of poor adults and children. For several years, he also served a member of the board of the Northern California American Civil Liberties Union.
In 2007, Bunnell authored the book, "Count Down Your Age" with Dr. Frederic Vagnini (McGraw-Hill). Also that year, he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of ELDR Media, publisher of ELDR Magazine and eldr.com. The magazine, which was targeted at "enlightened seniors" who live a healthy lifestyle was named the hottest new startup by an industry trade group and the companion website won a number of design awards. Unfortunately, ELDR Media fell victim to the recession that hit the United States in the summer of 2008.
In 2009, Bunnell started the Bunnell Wellness Network, a marketing company that uses social media to market goods, services and ideas for a group of doctors and wellness professionals.