Gizmodo

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Gizmodo
250px
Gizmodoscreenshot.png
Web address gizmodo.com
Commercial? Yes
Type of site
 Design, technology, science, science fiction, blog
Registration Optional
Available in English, French, Dutch, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese
Owner G/O Media
Created by Peter Rojas
Editor David M. Ewalt[1]
Launched July 1, 2002; 21 years ago (2002-07-01)[2]

Gizmodo (/ɡɪzˈmoʊdoʊ/ giz-MOH-doh) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. Gizmodo also includes the sub-blogs io9 and Earther, which focus on pop-culture and environmentalism respectively. Since April 2019, Gizmodo is part of G/O Media, owned by private equity firm Great Hill Partners.[3]

History

The blog, launched in 2002, was originally edited by Peter Rojas, who was later recruited by Weblogs, Inc. to launch their similar technology blog, Engadget.[citation needed] By mid-2004, Gizmodo and Gawker together were bringing in revenue of approximately $6,500 per month.[4]

Gizmodo then launched in other locations:

  • In 2005, VNU and Gawker Media formed an alliance to republish Gizmodo across Europe, with VNU translating the content into French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, and adding local European-interest material.[5]
  • In 2006, Gizmodo Japan was launched by Mediagene, with additional Japanese contents.[citation needed]

  • In 2007, Gizmodo Australia was launched in the US,[6] by Allure Media under license from Gawker Media.[7][better source needed] This site incorporates additional Australian content, and is branded Gizmodo AU.[6]
  • In September 2011, Gizmodo UK was launched with Future, to cover British news.[9] Gizmodo UK was later shut down in September 2020,[10] with all web links redirecting to Gizmodo.com.

In February 2011, Gizmodo underwent a major redesign.[11]

In 2013, Matt Novak moved his Paleofuture blog to Gizmodo from Smithsonian.[12]

In 2015, the Gawker blog io9 was merged into Gizmodo. The staff of io9 continued with Gizmodo and continued to post articles on subjects covered by the website, including science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and astronomy.[13]

Gizmodo was one of six websites that was purchased by Univision Communications in their acquisition of Gawker Media in August 2016. Univision in turn sold Gizmodo and an array of sister websites to private equity firm Great Hill Partners in 2019.[14]

In Australia in 2018, after Nine Entertainment merged the business behind PEDESTRIAN.TV with that of Allure Media,[15] forming the larger Pedestrian Group,[16] the website and associated company changed its name to Pedestrian, and also incorporated the brands Gizmodo AU,[6] Business Insider Australia, Kotaku and POPSUGAR Australia.[17][18]

Sub-blogs

As part of its output Gizmodo currently contains two sub-blogs as part of the wider site:

io9

  1. REDIRECT Template:Main


  • This is a redirect from a page that has been moved (renamed). This page was kept as a redirect to avoid breaking links, both internal and external, that may have been made to the old page name. For more information follow the bold category link.

io9 is a science fiction and fantasy pop-culture focused sub-blog which was launched as a standalone blog in 2008 by then editor Annalee Newitz under Gawker Media,[19] before being folded under Gizmodo in 2015 as part of a reorganization under parent company Gawker.[20] The current editor is James Whitbrook.[21]

Earther

File:Logo of Earther dot com.png
Earther logo used from 2017 to 2023.

Earther is an environmental news sub-blog which was launched in September 2017.[22] Earther launched with the mission to chronicle three main topics: "The future of Earth," "The future of humans on Earth," and "The future of life on Earth."[23] Founding managing editor Maddie Stone said that the site was created because it "felt like a salient and important time to create a destination for environmental news where folks can go to read up on the latest studies, but also hear the latest news about how natural disasters are affecting people, the big important environmental policies being raised around the world, and some of the biggest conservation stories."[22]

During its lifetime, former Earther journalists Yessenia Funues, Brian Kahn, and Molly Taft won SEAL Awards for their environmental reporting. [24][25][26]

As of broader G/O Media layoffs in November 2023 the last member of the sub-blog, Angely Mercado, was laid off meaning there are currently no staff listed as working for the sub-blog.[27][28][29]

Controversy

TV-B-Gone

Richard Blakeley, a videographer for Gizmodo's publisher, Gawker Media, disrupted several presentations held at CES in 2008.[30][31] Blakely secretly turned off TVs using TV-B-Gone remote controls, resulting in his being barred from CES 2008, and any future CES events.

iPhone 4 prototype

In April 2010, Gizmodo came into possession of what was later known to be a prototype of the iPhone 4 smartphone by Apple.[32] The site purchased the device for US$5,000 from Brian J. Hogan, who had found it unattended at a bar in Redwood City, California, a month earlier.[33][34] UC Berkeley student Sage Robert, an acquaintance of Hogan, allegedly helped him sell the phone after failing to track down the owner. With Apple confirming its provenance, bloggers such as John Gruber and Ken Sweet speculated that this transaction may have violated the California Penal Code.[35]

On April 26, after Gizmodo returned the iPhone to Apple, upon Apple's request California's Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team executed a search warrant on editor Jason Chen's home and seized computers, hard drives, servers, cameras, notes, and a file of business cards, under direction from San Mateo County’s Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe.[34][36][37] Since then, Gizmodo and the prosecution have agreed that a special master will review the contents of the items seized and determine if they contain relevant information.[38][39] Gizmodo was since barred from Apple-hosted events and product launches until August 2014, when they were invited once again to Apple's September 2014 "Wish we could say more" event.[40]

See also

References

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  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ https://twitter.com/AngelyMercado/status/1722664855239323954[bare URL]
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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