Engadget

Engadget is a multilingual technology weblog and podcast (with the latter on hold as of August 31 2007) about consumer electronics. The weblog has won several awards. Engadget currently has four different sites, all operating simultaneously with each having its own staff, which cover technology news in different parts of the world in their respective languages. The U.S. Engadget site made its 20,000th post on August 25, 2006.

Founding and membership

Engadget was co-founded by former Gizmodo technology weblog editor and co-founder, Peter Rojas. Engadget is a member of Weblogs, Inc., a blog network with over 75 weblogs including Autoblog and Joystiq and formerly including Hack-A-Day. Weblogs Inc. was purchased by AOL in 2005. Engadget's editor-in-chief Ryan Block announced on July 22, 2008 that he would be stepping down as editor-in-chief in late August, leaving the role to Joshua Topolsky.

Weblog

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

Since its founding, dozens of writers have written for or contributed to Engadget, Engadget Mobile and Engadget HD, including high profile bloggers, industry analysts, and professional journalists. These writers include Jason Calacanis, Paul Boutin, Phillip Torrone, and Susan Mernit.

Engadget has been nominated for numerous awards, including a 2004 Bloggie for Best Technology Weblog, and 2005 Bloggies for Best Computers or Technology Weblog and Best Group Weblog; Engadget won Best Tech Blog in the 2004 and 2005 Weblog Awards.

Gmail, Google's webmail service, as well as many other RSS readers, has included Engadget as a default RSS feed, pulling the latest articles which appear at the top of all user's mailboxes.

To extend readership, the blog is available in several languages including Spanish, Japanese, Polish, and Chinese (traditional and simplified). As the blog continues to gain popularity around the world, the available languages will most likely increase.

Podcast

The Engadget podcast was launched in October 2004 and was originally hosted by Phillip Torrone and Len Pryor. He was the host for the first 22 episodes of the podcast at which point Eric Rice took over. Eric Rice is known for his own podcast, called The Eric Rice Show and has also produced podcasts for Weblogs Inc. Eric hosted and produced 4 episodes of the podcast for Engadget until the show was taken over by Peter Rojas and Ryan Block. After about twelve episodes of both hosting and producing (episode 38,) Engadget hired podcast producer Randall Bennett, who worked as Engadget, and Weblogs, Inc.'s rich media producer until May 2006.

The topic of discussion for the podcast is technology related and closely linked to events that have happened during the week in the world of technology. The show generally lasts from 30 minutes to an hour. The show is normally weekly, however there are events that disrupt this occasionally. When events such as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) come around each year, the podcast has been known to be broadcast daily during the event to cover the latest news on gadgets. More recently, special versions of the podcast have been made including the "Engadget Lovecast" and a listeners' voicemail podcast.

More recently the podcast has been sponsored. Organisations sponsor the podcast in return for a mention in the show. The host of the podcast will typically mention the sponsor during the beginning, middle and end of the show. Sponsors have included Best Buy, Nikon and most recently Castrol.

The Engadget podcast is available as a subscription through iTunes and as an RSS feed. Alternatively, it can be downloaded directly from the site in either MP3, Ogg, AAC or m4b format. The m4b version features images related to the current topic of discussion and can be displayed in iTunes or on a compatible player.

Trademark infringement

In early 2006 Engadget reported that they were victims of their likeness being stolen and used as a store name at a mall in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, however, they stated they would not be taking any action. The store has since changed its name (or possibly shutdown and a new store opened with a new name). In July of last year, another store had opened, also in Malaysia, with a logo bearing the same resemblance to Engadget's.

Reader meetups

Engadget hosts meetups for readers in different cities. They are completely free to attend and prizes are handed out. Previous locations include New York, Iceland, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Amsterdam, Merced, Seattle, and Boston.

Part IV - Seattle, Washington Sponsors: Griffin, Microsoft, Nintendo, Samsung, and T-Mobile.

Current senior editors

Current contributors

Columnists

Ross Rubin (Has written the weekly Switched On column since October 2004)
Benjamin Heckendorn (Joined - October 10, 2006)
Mark Weber Tobias
Ariel Waldman
Jeremy Toeman
Niall Kennedy

Former editors

Contests

Sometimes Engadget holds contests/giveaways in which readers can win gadgets and other things.

Criticisms

In May 2007, Engadget published a story based on an email sent to Apple employees announcing that the company was delaying the launches of both the iPhone and Mac OS X Leopard. After the story ran, Apple's share price dropped 3% Less than 20 minutes later the story was retracted after the email was discovered to have been a hoax perpetrated on Apple employees. Apple's shares eventually recovered, and Ryan Block apologized for the mistake Some readers have also complained about bias towards Apple and Nintendo products in the comments on Engadget.

Misattribution

In March 2006, DAPreview, a website about digital audio players, noted that Engadget used a photo that had originally been taken by DAPreview, and then removed attribution by cropping the DAPreview logo off

Engadget's managing editor Ryan Block agreed that the photo had been copied and cropped, stated that it had been a mistake, and apologized and restored the image's attribution

T-Mobile accusations

On March 31st 2008, Engadget reported that T-Mobile had sent a letter requesting that Engadget cease using the color magenta in its Engadget Mobile site, claiming that T-Mobile had trademarked the color. Engadget issued a response on April 1st, mainly by repainting the Engadget sites and changing the Mobile logo for the day to a logo that looks as though it is saying "Engadge t-mobile". The site has since returned to normal format, with the exception of the highlighting color.