Gadget wars!
: Actually, that’s a sensationalistic and false headline, but I enjoyed it.
You’ve probably noticed some musical chairs (or perhaps, relevant to the topic, I should say MP3 chairs) in the gadget blog world (can we get more inside baseball than this?).
Pete Rojas, late of Gizmodo, has left to create Engadget in the weblog empirette of Jason Calacanis. Rumor has it there were promises of equity and Amazonian maids.
Meanwhile, Gizmodo creator Nick Denton returns from a sun-baked holiday in Brazil (hobnobbing with Bjork — no joke — and probably a few Amazonians as well) and replaces Rojas with game guru Joel Johnson and guest bloggers of note, starting with Brendan Koerner (an unhappy looking chap… but then, Pete’s no Jim Carey himself), a contributing editor to Wired and columnist for the Village Voice and Slate (which is Nick’s way of saying, I’ll see your bet and raise you).
Calacanis is tripping over himself to say that this wasn’t about his erstwhile feud/pissing match with Denton and I think that’s true. If Jason just wanted to start a gadget blog, he could have gone and found a dozen candidates to do it (it’s not as hard as, say, finding just the right voice for a Gawker); I think this was a melding of mutual interests.
In the meantime, Nick is finding and grooming talent and they will sometimes move on; that’s what happens in the editorial world. But he created the format of Gizmodo so it can continue easily; it’s a brand.
And many flowers bloom.
: UPDATE: Sippey says what he’d do if he ran Gizmodo — focusing more on the gadget user than the gadget (or as I’d put it: on the lifestyle). A fascinating discussion ensues, bringing in Denton.
