This Saturday, March 2, 2024, Engadget turns 20 years old. Originally founded by Peter Rojas — you can read more about those early days here here — the site has eight editors-in-chief and, by my count, seven major organizations to answer to. What started as a really reputable tech blog has evolved into a media organization dedicated to breaking news, providing non-BS buying advice and highlighting the tech stories that matter. We’ve written millions of words, won awards, and somehow survived several media apocalypses. It’s been a ride – and if you’ve been with us from the beginning, we salute you.
To mark the occasion, our team reflects on how the tech industry has changed over the past two decades. At the heart of our anniversary pack is a retrospective collection of more than a dozen key gadgets and apps, illustrated by brilliant apps that didn’t exist 20 years ago. Koren Shadmi.
Engadget, believe it or not, is older than YouTube, the iPhone, Uber, WhatsApp, Android, Tesla EVs, and countless other things that are a huge part of our lives today.
We planned to open this holiday month with an editor’s letter, but last Friday, Engadget’s parent company laid off several people from our small team, including our editor-in-chief Dana Wollman and managing editor Terrence Oh. Brienne.
While the site doesn’t yet have an editor-in-chief, we have a strong leadership team that has collectively been on the site for decades. There’s no way things can be “business as usual,” but we’re committed to moving Engadget forward.
A bittersweet time to celebrate an anniversary, but the show must go on. Having edited Dana’s letter before publication, I want to take this opportunity to pick out key talking points that are more important than ever to the rest of the team:
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People who love technology are still at the heart of this website. Although our masthead is smaller, that’s no less true than it has been for the past 20 years – you just don’t get into tech journalism without caring about technology.
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All the stories you see on Engadget are written by people. Like all humans, we make mistakes sometimes. If you see a typo or even a misspelled fact, you can blame the person behind the keyboard, not the robot.
So happy birthday. We are getting started Take a look at how video streaming is changing the fabric of the internet. We’ll have more articles in the coming days and weeks, including a guest post on the legacy of the Tesla Model S by Tim Stevens, our editor-in-chief from 2011-2013. Stay tuned till March for more stories. and a heavy dose of nostalgia.
