Tech help
for people and small organizations
Hi, I'm Justin. I teach and troubleshoot so your technology works the way you want.
Friendly help: low jargon, no condescension, and plenty of patience.
Get remote tech support nationwide, or on-site in Berkeley, California & nearby.
Computers, phones, TVs, Wi-Fi, accounts, and business tools - let’s align the technology in your life with how you live, work, and create.
Services
You can think of me as a guide, advisor, coach, tutor, or trainer.
Supporting Your Personal Technology & Digital Life
- Devices Purchasing, setting up a computer or other tech
- Projects Personal publishing; digital archives for writers/artists
- Accounts Apple ID, Google, subscriptions
- Home office Wi-Fi / LAN, printing, scanning, ergonomics
- Workflows Shortcuts, shared calendars, digital organization
- Security Password manager, backups
- Finance Personal finance software setup
- Media Smart home, AV, consoles, car infotainment
- AI What can you do (better) with AI?
Supporting Small Organizations
- Online identity Web design, blog setup, Google Business, Apple Maps, Yelp
- Social Media Presence design, posting tools and protocols
- Email Google Workspace setup, Mailchimp, Klaviyo campaigns and flows
- Customer Service Zendesk, Zoho, WhatsApp, SMS
- Commerce E-commerce setup, merchant processing guidance
- Ops Point-of-Sale, scheduling, booking tools
- Admin QuickBooks, Gusto, Slack, Project Management
- Comms Presentations, video production, speeches/articles
- Data Leveraging data, analytics, Drive/Dropbox sharing
Supporting Families and Communities
- Adult children Ease your burden of being your parents' IT department
- Elders Technology in the home for safety and comfort
- Parents Kids’ apps & permissions, media management
- School Groups Parent-teacher organization systems and communications
How it works
Intake
Let’s have a brief, free phone chat to discuss your goals.
Work
Remote or on-site - I’ll fix the issue or co-work with you so you can see how to make better use of tech.
Follow up
You should feel confident and in control - I’ll follow up to be sure. And I'm happy to show you how to use free, off-the-shelf AI tools to reduce future support needs.
Rates
| Service | Rate | Description |
|---|---|---|
| On-site service | $200/hr | Billed in 30-minute increments; 1-hour minimum charge. |
| Remote / phone support | $200/hr | Billed in 15-minute increments; no minimum charge. |
Sliding-scale options available.
I've worked with
Writer: digital archive
- Built out a digital archive organizing decades of written and painted works to be donated to a University library.
Retiree: remote accounts migration
- Remote work consolidating key logins, account information, and subscriptions to migrate a decades-old work email account to a new independent digital identity.
Event venue: calendar + reservations
- Launched a public events calendar plus an internal booking workflow.
Small business: ecommerce + payments
- Set up an online store with high-risk credit card processing and warehouse fulfillment systems.
Various: online presence + digital culture
- Work featured in: New York Times, Rolling Stone, Wired Magazine
- Spoken at: South by Southwest: Interactive, Sundance Film Festival, Lollapalooza, Flying Robot International Film Festival, Webzine, XOXO, SFMOMA, SIGGRAPH, SIGCHI
- Collaborated with: Creative Artists Agency, Microsoft Xbox, Nokia, Boston Consulting Group, Xerox PARC, Rand Corporation
About
Hi, my name is Justin Hall. I’ve worked with technology and communication systems for several decades, across personal, creative, small-business, and startup contexts. My background spans hands-on technical work, systems design, and helping non-technical people make informed decisions about their tools. My Supportive Tech practice focuses on making your devices easier to use for your benefit. Read more
My first job was selling software over the counter when I was 13 in 1988. Customers started asking me if I could come to their house and teach them to use the wares they'd just purchased. I ended up being a middle school computer consultant, installing networks, setting up printers, teaching business software. I could help people understand these powerful creative machines. I loved making these tools more accessible to people. I still love it.
Between when I started in tech support and now, I've been exploring tech culture. I published an early expansive personal web site. In 1994 I worked as an editorial assistant at Wired Magazine when we launched HotWired, the first commercial online magazine. I worked as a journalist covering technology. I traveled the world giving speeches about online life and media-making. I lived in Tokyo in 2001 when the world's first 3G phones launched with video chat. I got an MFA in Interactive Media and Video Games from the USC Film School. I produced a massively-multiplayer online game in a Firefox toolbar. I produced a top eight grossing iPhone game about a virtual cat. I produced "overshare" - a documentary about the internet. In 2018 I co-founded a legal cannabis delivery business on bud.com, a domain I had registered in 1994 when I was 19 years old.
I find our digital technology world so stimulating and fascinating; I can't stop experimenting. My hope is that these machines of connection can ultimately amplify our empathy and awareness; I'm not always so sure. I know I enjoy being creative with technology - making things. I've spent decades exploring these mind amplifiers and I love seeing what other people do with them. Let's see what I can help you do!
More specifics on my professional background are available at linkedin.com/in/justin.
Contact
Remote support nationwide.
On-site in Berkeley, California & nearby.