Leander Kahney is the author of New York Times bestseller Inside Steve's Brain (Portfolio, 2008) and the news editor of Wired.com.

My story: I joined Wired.com as a reporter in 1999. Having just left MacWeek, the legendary news weekly about Apple, I started covering the company for Wired, which didn't have an Apple reporter at the time.

Given Wired's focus on how technology is used, I started reporting on the Mac community, which had a large and vibrant presence on the Web, but wasn't getting much attention. My stories for Wired were adapted into two books, Cult of Mac (No Starch Press, 2004) and Cult of iPod (No Starch Press, 2005).

In 2004, I became the technology editor and then the site's managing editor. I'm now the news editor, responsible for the day-to-day running of Wired.com. I head up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together we produce a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology.

I live in San Francisco with my wife, Tracy, and our four children. I'm originally from the U.K., and was raised on a farm outside the village of Shifnal in Shropshire (J.R.R. Tolkien's model for the Shire). I studied psychology at Sussex University.

I trained as a newspaper reporter in Luton, England, a dirty old town with lots of crime and few prospects. I briefly reported from the war in the former Yugoslavia, an experience that taught me there's no glamour in being a war correspondent. After getting laid off from the newspaper, I immigrated to America, landing in San Francisco. I worked as a bike messenger and a waiter before talking my way into the job at MacWeek.

I've lived in London; Brighton, England; and Barcelona. I like to ride my road bike, and I commute to work by bicycle.