APP CENTRAL is an original 30-minute production dedicated to exploring the growing culture and business of apps for smartphones and tablets. Hosts Amber MacArthur and Michael Hainsworth and a team of tech experts help viewers navigate the thousands of apps on the market. APP CENTRAL shares reviews of the latest tech gadgets on the market, delivers star power with Celeb e-Watch as stars offer up their social media, technology, and smartphone habits, and tackles viewer questions with The Help Desk using real world examples and demonstrations.

The most-watched app program of its kind, APP CENTRAL features smartphone and tablet knowhow with co-hosts Amber MacArthur and Michael Hainsworth. APP CENTRAL has the edge on the app market with special themed reports from producer Michael Bancroft and tech experts Maurice Cacho, Doug Stephens, and Mike Cameron.

Social Media Links:
Official Facebook: Facebook/AppCentral
Official Twitter: @appcentraltv

Contact Us at: appcentral@ctv.ca

About The Hosts

Amber MacArthur (@ambermac), better known as “Amber Mac”, is no stranger to tech TV with nearly a decade as one of Canada’s top digital media journalists on the small screen.

In addition to co-hosting APP CENTRAL she blogs for Yahoo! Tech, writes a “Trending Tech” column for The Globe and Mail, contributes tech stories regularly to CTV’s Canada AM, is the best-selling author of Power Friending: Demystifying Social Media to Grow Your Business, and is the founder of MGImedia, a web strategy company based in Toronto. She also speaks throughout the world about social media marketing.

Amber Mac is originally from P.E.I. and is the mom of a toddler, Connor, who loves to play with his mom’s iPad.

Follow her on Twitter @AmberMac

Michael Hainsworth (@hainsworthtv) is the co-host of BNN’s APP CENTRAL. This show is a perfect fit for this self-professed “computer geek”.

Hainsworth hosts some of BNN’s top rated programs, including The Business News (weekdays at 12 p.m. ET on BNN) and The Close (weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on BNN). He is also seen across CTV News and on CTV News Channel with reports on the Canadian and international financial news of the day.

Hainsworth, a Toronto native, lives in the city’s Riverdale community with his wife Ann and young daughter Olivia. He’s got 43 apps on his Smartphone, 42 of which are fart joke apps Olivia finds hilarious.

Follow him on twitter @hainsworthtv

About The Producer

Michael Bancroft is the accomplished producer driving the production of the most watched app program of its kind in Canada – APP CENTRAL.

He began his broadcast career at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in Brisbane. He has lived and worked in Tokyo, Sydney, London (UK), Los Angeles and now Toronto. He’s experienced all sides of a production as a writer, producer, presenter, and anchor having covered everything from red carpets in Los Angeles to the jungles of Rwanda.

Bancroft holds a Bachelor of Communications from Griffith University, Postgraduate Degree in Journalism from UCLA, and an MBA in Finance from Queensland University of Technology.

To submit a pitch for APP CENTRAL, email appcentral@ctv.ca
Follow him on twitter @MBancroft80

About The Reporter

Maurice Cacho

By day he is a producer for CTVNews.ca with a knack for explaining technology and social media headlines. Cacho’s online commentary lands him daily on CTV News Channel and he is featured as a tech expert frequently on Canada AM and other CTV News properties.

By night he is a reporter for APP CENTRAL where he presents the latest in tech gadgetry, puts lifestyle apps through their paces, and shares the latest technology news.

Cacho joined CTV in 2008 as a web journalist and was the face of CP24’s award-winning web team and co-hosted CP24’s Webnation for three years. Cacho is also a blogger for MSN’s geektown.ca.

He is a graduate of Ryerson University’s School of Journalism and in 2008 won the Jerry Davey Award for News Photography. In 2010, Cacho was appointed as a director of the Ryerson Journalism Alumni Association.

Follow him on twitter @morningmoe.

About The Contributors

Doug Stephens

Founder of retailprophet.com, Stephens is one of the world’s only retail industry futurists. Stephens lives on the cutting edge of technology trends in retail and consumer marketing and is APP CENTRAL’s consumer app expert.

Stephens is an in-demand speaker for global organizations, governments and trade associations. His intellectual work and thinking have influenced many of North America’s best-known retailers and brands including Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Hudson’s Bay Company, Disney, Loblaw, Benjamin Moore and Air Miles.

Prior to founding retailprophet.com, Stephens spent 20 years in the retail industry in a variety of senior international roles.

Stephens is the author of the soon to be released book The Retail Revival.

Follow him on twitter @RetailProphet

Mike Cameron

Mike Cameron has been a tech nerd all his life. It started when he was assigned as the audio/visual specialist at his elementary school in grade three. Cameron is a contributor for APP CENTRAL where he delivers zany field reports that bring technology to life.

His passion for taking things apart and putting them back together was nurtured by his father, who worked for IBM. He would bring home new products and ask young Mike to “figure it out”. Since then, Cameron has been involved in many facets of technology and has worked with top companies such as IBM, DataMirror and Microsoft.

Before his role with APP CENTRAL, Cameron worked behind the scenes as a producer for one of Canada’s leading FM stations, Toronto’s CHUM FM and national lifestyle program The Marilyn Denis Show.

Follow him on twitter @mickeyc12