Catherine Schwartz
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Catherine Michelle Schwartz (often called Cat for short) (born May 27, 1977) is an American television personality best known for her former role as co-host on the TechTV television program Call for Help with Leo Laporte. She earned degrees in Broadcast Communication Arts and Sociology from San Francisco State University.
After a stint on TechTV's The Screen Savers, Schwartz became co-host of Call for Help in 2002 with then co-host Chris Pirillo. After Pirillo left TechTV in April 2003, former host Leo Laporte returned to co-host with Schwartz. Call for Help was cancelled in May 2004 after TechTV's merger with G4, resulting in G4techTV.
In the period after the cancellation of Call for Help, Schwartz appeared as a G4techTV technology expert on the Today Show segment "Gender Wars". She also made guest appearances on short segments of The Screen Savers. She recently signed-on as a columnist with Stuff Magazine, with a column entitled, "Ask the Tech Chick".
In June 2003 Schwartz became the subject of a stir in the Internet community when it was discovered that at least two cropped photographs of herself she had posted on her personal blog contained hidden Exif thumbnail images clearly showing her bared breasts, because the program she used to edit them did not create replacement thumbnails. [1]
Schwartz also claims to have invented the Swiffer during her days as a college intern. Schwartz has said that she receives no royalties and signed away her rights to the product as part of Procter & Gamble's policy.
In the early part of 2005, Schwartz and her friend Wynter Mitchell (Screen Savers teleprompter operator) started a podcast, hosted on Libsyn but there have been no new updates since May 10, 2005.
On November 25, 2005, Schwartz married South Park editor Keef Bartkus in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her married name is Catherine Michelle Bartkus but she retains the last name Schwartz in professional contexts. On February 20, 2006, she announced on her blog that she and Keef were expecting a baby boy, due June 6, 2006. Keef posted pictures of the baby, Jack, on his moblog on June 9, 2006. The baby was 8lbs 15oz.
