I don't know about the "best," since that is often a matter of opinion, but two of my favorite technology journalists are Marshall Kirkpatrick and Steve O'Hear. Both of them have written for ReadWriteWeb, and O'Hear also writes fro Tech Crunch Europe and The Guardian. Even though I am not in Europe, much of O'Hear's work applies to people everywhere. O'Hear is also a filmmaker who produced a documentary about Silicon Valley entitled "In Search of the Valley." Kirkpatrick can still be found on ReadWriteWeb much of the time, and he offers valuable advice that is beneficial to not only technology entrepreneurs, but also bloggers, other tech writers, and people who write for the Internet.

Technology journalist is often such a broad term in a time when "journalist" could be anyone that writes for not only traditional forms of media, but also for the web. There are many people without formal training in journalism that have still managed to make a name for themselves by writing online or blogging. Also, people who are perhaps experts in another field sometimes cross over and do a lot of writing on a topic that they feel passionate about in order to educate other people. Guy Kawasaki is one that, while not technically considered a journalist, has left an impressionable mark on a large number of people. I would consider Guy more of a business expert than anything else, but he also frequently writes about technology from a business perspective. While he seldom writes for the web anymore, he has published nine books about business, technology, and entrepreneurship.

I would have to say Leo LaPorte. Therea re very few tech writers out that that can write at a level that tech addicts out there can support while still writing for the average person that has issues finding the USB port. While I have spent a lot of time reading tons of tech writers over the years, LaPorte is one of the few that I find myself going back to over and over again.

For those of us that enjoyed watching his shows like, "Screen Savers," on the old Tech TV, we felt that we had grown a friendship with him. His down to earth style was perfectly matched with his endless knowledge of the computer world. Unlike many of the tech writers out there, he does not have to search for sources for his knowledge, he is the source.

As a professional writer, I find myself drawn to those writers who write in a conversational tone. In the early part of my writing career, I tried to write in third person as much as possible. I came to a point, though, in which I realized that I was not writing in the style that I liked to read. I ended up reflecting on those styles that I liked to read the most.

What was interesting is that I found myself reading a lot of Leo LaPorte's articles to see what it was that he was doing that I was not. While I rarely write tech articles, I realized that I write a lot of articles that should be conversational. A few years later, I find myself incorporating more and more of his writing techniques into my own style. I woudl go as far to say that he is one of the tip writers who have influenced my style the most.