This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Engadget" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Engadget
Type of site
Blog
Available inEnglish, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Japanese, German
EditorDana Wollman
General managerSarah Priestley
Parent
URLwww.engadget.com Edit this at Wikidata
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedMarch 2004; 19 years ago (2004-03)
Current statusOnline

Engadget (/ɪnˈɡædʒɪt/ in-GAJ-it[1][2]) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. Engadget manages ten blogs, four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editorial staff.[3] It has been operated by Yahoo! Inc. since September 2021.[4]

History

Engadget was founded by former Gizmodo technology weblog editor and co-founder Peter Rojas. Engadget was the largest blog in Weblogs, Inc., a blog network with over 75 weblogs, including Autoblog and Joystiq, which formerly included Hackaday. Weblogs Inc. was purchased by AOL in 2005.[5]

Launched in March 2004, Engadget is updated multiple times a day with articles on gadgets and consumer electronics. It also posts rumors about the technological world, frequently offers opinion within its stories, and produces the weekly Engadget Podcast that covers tech and gadget news stories that happened during the week.[5]

On December 30, 2009, Engadget released its first mobile app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.[6][7]

Overnight, on July 15, 2013, Tim Stevens stepped down as the editor-in-chief, placing gdgts' Marc Perton as the interim executive editor.[8] In November 2013, a major redesign was launched that merged gdgts' features into Engadget, such as the database of devices and aggregated reviews. The changes aimed to turn Engadget into a more extensive consumer electronics resource, similarly to CNET and Consumer Reports, aimed towards "the early adopter in all of us".[9]

As of April 2014, Michael Gorman was the editor-in-chief, alongside Christopher Trout as executive editor.[10]

On December 2, 2015, Engadget introduced another redesign, as well as a new editorial direction with a focus on broader topics influenced by technology; Gorman explained that "the core Engadget audience—people who are very much involved in the industry—pay attention to it closely, but the new editorial direction is really meant to make it approachable for folks outside of that realm."[11]

Controversies

William Shatner and Twitter verification

On June 21, 2014, actor William Shatner raised an issue with several Engadget editorial staff and their "verification" status on Twitter. This began when the site's social media editor, John Colucci tweeted a celebration of the site hitting over 1 million Twitter followers.[12][better source needed] Besides Colucci, Shatner also targeted several junior members of the staff for being "nobodies", unlike some of his actor colleagues who did not bear such distinction. Shatner claimed Colucci and the team were bullying him when giving a text interview to Mashable. [13] Over a month later, Shatner continued to discuss the issue on his Tumblr page,[14] to which Engadget replied by defending its team and discussing the controversy surrounding the social media verification.[15]

The Verge

In early 2011, eight of the most prominent editorials and technology staff members left AOL to build a new gadget site with the CEO Jim Bankoff at SB Nation. On leaving, Joshua Topolsky, former editor-in-chief, is quoted having said, "We have been working on blogging, technology that was developed in 2003, we haven't made a hire since I started running the site, and I thought we could be more successful elsewhere".[16]

References

  1. ^ "What to expect at Apple's WWDC 2022 | Engadget Podcast". YouTube. June 2, 2022. Archived from the original on June 3, 2022. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  2. ^ Some speakers pronounce the name as /ˈɛnɡædʒɪt/, /EN-gaj-it/.
  3. ^ "Best Blogs of 2010". Time. June 28, 2010. Archived from the original on July 1, 2010.
  4. ^ "Verizon Media". www.verizonmedia.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2020. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Rachel Rosmarin (July 18, 2008). "The Gadget Guru". Forbes. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
  6. ^ Lavey, Megan (December 30, 2009). "Engadget releases iPhone app". The Unofficial Apple Weblog. Archived from the original on March 26, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2011.
  7. ^ "Downloads – iPhone". Engadget. November 30, 2011. Archived from the original on September 29, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  8. ^ "Tim Stevens Out at Engadget, Marc Perton To Take Over". TechCrunch. July 15, 2013. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2017.
  9. ^ "Engadget Makeover Folds In 'All The Best Things' About Gdgt As It Fields More Mainstream Readers". TechCrunch. November 18, 2013. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
  10. ^ "Engadget Names New Executive Editor, Editor in Chief". Archived from the original on June 29, 2022. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  11. ^ Alpert, Lukas I. (December 2, 2015). "Engadget Unveils Redesign Focused on Technology's Effect on Society". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  12. ^ Alan White (June 23, 2014). "William Shatner Went On A Massive Rant About How He's Sick Of "Nobodies" Getting Verified On Twitter". BuzzFeed[unreliable source?]. Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  13. ^ Ulanoff, Lance (June 24, 2014). "William Shatner: My Problem With Twitter's Verified Accounts". Engadget. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  14. ^ Shatner, William (July 29, 2014). "Abusing Verification – Segueing with Shatner". Engadget. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  15. ^ Lee, Nicole (July 31, 2014). "The perks of being 'somebody' online". Engadget. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved August 27, 2017.
  16. ^ Carr, David (April 3, 2011). "No Longer Shackled by AOL". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 7, 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Engadget.
Yahoo Inc.
Categories