''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

network with daily coverage of

gadgets A gadget is a mechanical device or any ingenious article. Gadgets are sometimes referred to as '' gizmos''. History The etymology of the word is disputed. The word first appears as reference to an 18th-century tool in glassmaking that was devel ...

and

consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic (analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usually r ...

. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editorial staff. It has been operated by

Yahoo Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...

since September 2021.

History

''Engadget'' was founded by former '' Gizmodo'' technology weblog editor and co-founder

Peter Rojas Peter Rojas (born March 18, 1975) is the co-founder of technology blogs Gizmodo and Engadget, as well as the video gaming blog Joystiq (2004). Education Rojas attended Harvard University from 1993 to 1997 where he managed the school's radio sta ...

. ''Engadget'' was the largest blog in Weblogs, Inc., a blog network with over 75

weblogs Weblogs may refer to: *Plural of Blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically dis ...

, including ''

Autoblog A spam blog, also known as an auto blog or the neologism splog, is a blog which the author uses to promote affiliated websites, to increase the search engine rankings of associated sites or to simply sell links/ads. The purpose of a splog can be ...

'' and ''

Joystiq ''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 as part of the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs, now owned by AOL. It was AOL's primary video game blog, with sister blogs dealing with MMORPG gaming in general and the popular MMORPG ''W ...

,'' which formerly included ''

Hackaday ''Hackaday'' is a hardware hacking website. It was founded in 2004 as a web magazine. Since 2014, Hackaday also hosts a community database of open-source hardware designs. History Hackaday was founded in 2004 by Phillip Torrone as a web mag ...

''. Weblogs Inc. was purchased by AOL in 2005. 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 ''Engadget'' ( ) 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 editori ...

that covers tech and gadget news stories that happened during the week. On December 30, 2009, ''Engadget'' released its first mobile app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Overnight, on July 15, 2013, Tim Stevens stepped down as the editor-in-chief, placing ''gdgts Marc Perton as the interim executive editor. In November 2013, a major redesign was launched that merged ''gdgt''s' 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". As of April 2014, Michael Gorman was the editor-in-chief, alongside Christopher Trout as executive editor. 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."

Controversies

William Shatner and Twitter verification

On June 21, 2014, actor

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

raised an issue with several ''Engadget'' editorial staff and their "

verification Verify or verification may refer to: General * Verification and validation, in engineering or quality management systems, is the act of reviewing, inspecting or testing, in order to establish and document that a product, service or system meets ...

" status on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. This began when the site's social media editor, John Colucci tweeted a celebration of the site hitting over 1 million Twitter followers. 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. Over a month later, Shatner continued to discuss the issue on his Tumblr page, to which ''Engadget'' replied by defending its team and discussing the controversy surrounding the social media verification.

''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 James Philip Bankoff (born December 23, 1969) is an American businessman who is the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Vox Media. He previously worked for AOL and joined Vox Media's predecessor, ''SB Nation'', in 2009. ...

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".

References

External links