Meta, Peter Rojas and Ryan Block launch gdgt -- the Swiss Army knife of tech sites
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Jul 1st 2009 2:00PM
posted Jul 1st 2009 2:00PM
Imagine if Facebook, Wikipedia, your favorite forum, and Google Reader all got mashed into one gigantic, delicious smoothie, and you might begin to get the idea of gdgt. Instead of retreading territory in which they've already blazed a path, Ryan and Peter present a logical step forward for the gadget community -- a place where you can discuss, dissect, and grow your passion with other like minded individuals. It's an ambitious project with lots of really cool stuff to discover, like product comparison tools, the ability to track gadgets you own (or used to own, or want), news from top gadget sites (wink wink), and embeddable widgets.
Look, we've found the best way in life to learn about something is to scuttle the user manual and dive right in -- we highly suggest you do the same and take gdgt out for a spin. We think you'll like what you find.
Congrats Peter and Ryan!
It sucks.
Yeah but you know the dorks will eat it up.
"MUST... NOT... FAP... TO RYAN BLOCK"
Server kind of went down or stopped responding for the last few minutes.
Site's down? Ouch.
The site is quite definitely down. So much for that grand experiment... :p
it sucks for the reason that no one can access it right now. FAIL.
"Hmm, looks like something got pretty messed up. We've been notified, but you can let us know in discussions or contact us directly."
I googled "gtgt" and nothing relevant to that site appears. What is the web address anyways? Are they trying to be competition for Engadget?
"Imagine if Facebook, Wikipedia, your favorite forum, and Google Reader all got mashed into one gigantic, delicious smoothie, and you might begin to get the idea of gdgt."
That "SMOOTHIE" sound high in calories, full of trans-fat, steroids and additives. I pass.
The color scheme and general appearance? Yes it does.
I doubt I'll visit more than once a month. Ryan Block was always the farthest up Apple's ass. (Or whatever you call that part at the opposite end of the Apple's stem. ... http://byteshuffler.com/rospo/blog/uploaded_images/AppleSlicerCorerBottom-775262.jpg ? )
@commenting:
Maybe that's because you googled "gtgt" not "gdgt", the actual name of the site.
ugh, amateurs
Oh look, another gadget website to generate spending cash for Rojas and Block.
Anyone that signs up on that site is a sheep and a sucker, plain and simple.
First, the design of the site is just confusing and ugly... The second thing that greets you are two 256 x 256 ads, which are stupidly placed... Ok so now, i tried registering and its saying the fucking server is dowN...
I mean how are they suppose to suck on apples balls, if they can't make a site worth looking at....
Block + Rojas + gdgt = Epic fail !!!
um... couldn't they register a name that would catch on? not sure how well "gdgt" will fair in folks memories...
...and BOOM goes the dynamite!
I'm not sure I'd name my site in similar fashion to how Motorola name(s)(d) their cell phones.... ROCKR, RAZR, gdgt?
Eh.... Best of luck to you Ryan, but I'm not sure about this thing.
Even after listening to the welcome video, I still don't understand this. I inventory my gadgets then comment about them? I share this on Facebook?
No i agree .. I just explored for the first time .. It sucks .. Its basically a shopping hole .. U like this gadget? here's where you can buy it ... Um that's what amazon is for
This site is a flagrant rip off of the CNET MyTech app for Facebook.
Site seems a bit confusing, imo. The whole gadget "add to list" thing reminds me a lot of CNET. But I like how it's more personal.
It's a good start though. I see lots of potential here.
It looks like a good site to get meta-reviews on gadgets. I'm hip to that.
Wtf 20 negative comments in a row. I like the site.
First of all, I know they read these comments to get feedback. Firstly, I don't want to bash your idea because this site could evolve into something good. But for the sake of my sanity your captcha system is terrible or bugged. Before you promote it make sure it works first. Do a stress test, something. Because of my experience there, personally i will never go to the site again unless I am linked there somehow. Nice effort, but honestly, after a YEAR in development, I could have done better and I am by no means a professional. Try again.
If your looking for personal opinion I give you a:
5/10
hmmm....
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.
it's back up. i put a nice detailed archos 5 page up for them. hope they approve it... took me like an hour getting all the specs right :)
sees a storm of registration coming for gdgt
I'm loving how people are hating on the site when they don't know what it does or how it functions. Jealousy at its finest.
Yes, jealous that Peter Rojas has managed to start up two successful gadget blogs when they can't get their 5 dollar wordpress blog off the ground.
Bandon I wish I could set you to highest rank
From your discription it sounds like all other interwebs sites should close the shutter and just go home, game over, you all lose.
Here's to gdgt! :D
Another Apple marketing site?
No, .... Engadget already has that VERY well covered
Well I guess it makes sense now. Gizmodo is heavily on Apple's side, or anyone that throws ridiculous money on them, mostly Apple....spending 5,5k on a laptop is just stupid btw.
Anyways, I never knew Peter Rojas made giz and engadget. Makes sense now. However engadget>giz in my opinion. Engadget seems less heavily swayed by marketing.
Thanks but no thanks, ill stick to engadget.
Whether sarcastic or not, this was very humorous :)
Yeah cause Apple marketing sites post articles like this:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/01/video-iphone-copy-and-paste-is-a-pretty-incredible-thing-sur/
and no shit engadget is influenced by the market, they report on the market.
I never understand people, who go to certain sites just to comment about how they don't like them. The next truly great invention for the internet will be an invention which finds these people and doesn't let them comment anymore. I'll start on the douche filter right away.
@seanmoorman
actually the next great invention will be a sarcasm detector for humorless idiots
i'll keep ya posted on its whereabouts tho
Actually, judging from the colors in that screenshot (the purple and orange), it's practically a Zune site.
One of the articles on the front page is about how the iPhone 3GS doesn't make the iPhone 3G feel old and busted. Definitely NOT Apple marketing.
for a swiss army knife, its pretty rusty :/
Congrats! Just got my email with my pre-reg info.
No underscores or hyphens in username = ghey.
How can I be myself?! *sigh*
That looks great!
And the site just gave me a website developer referral!
At last.
looks very powerful
All right, finally a Gidget website. I'm sure Sally Field approves.
win.
Site's krunk!
YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
WUUTTTTTTT?!!!!!!
OOOOOOOKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sites already down...
Yup. Engadget made gdgd break.
Is the name pronounced GDGT, gadget, or (what I've been calling it) Gidget?
Either GDGT or Gadget.
It's just G.D.G.T.
Yeah its G.D.G.T. There is no vowel so you can't pronounce it.
Theres is a video on vimeo showing veronica belmont giving a full intro to GDGT and pronounces it Both GDGT and and Gadget. So both are okay.
G ood D ay G entlemen, T oodaloo
So they ask you to sign up for a username and then can't give it to you.
Okay. Let's see what's up with THIS...
Yeah, that kinda pissed me off.
Its slow as hell at the moment.
And now it doesn't even load......hmmmm.
YAY another social networking site type thing
Trying to read a couple of articles there and the pages aren't loading. Not a good way to start a relationship.
Engadget effect in full force. Like the site though.
DOA.... must be getting hit hard...
sloowwwwwww
They must be using the same registration servers that Apple uses....
They use a windows server, that explains why it broke for no reason.
can't connect...server is overwhelmed
well we killed it...
thx engadget... :P
and....it just broke....
Both Rojas and Block are elitists and they are hammering a market thats already well covered. They got lucky before by hopping on the bandwagon when the time was right. Beyond that they think their products are the best thing since sliced bread. Please...just go away.
Whatev'. Listen to their podcast. They use what works for them and have no problems telling you why it does. The only elitists I see are comment trolls that criticize without anything to back them up save their own, ill-formed opinions.
Wow. What a hater. Did they steal your firstborn child or something? Have you ever actually listened to their podcast?
I guess they didn't count on the "engadget effect"
:)
Well it didn't take long for the site to crash.
Oh yeah! Need some more voltage drops and Ohm grease to get that site rolling again!
Heh. Hope they get it working. I preregistered for my login quite a while back.
Josh
always wanted to be just "Josh" on a site. :)
so, did you opt for joshua or did i beat you to josh?
As you can see from the screen cap - he registered joshua.
aaaand, BOOM! the site's already down.
Who cares? LAME
Dangit! Engadget, you done went and broke the poor baby. It's not even a day old!
Very slowwwwww, either they're getting hammered with people or they weren't ready yet to launch
Verified! It's Broken!!
Yup, website is not working at the moment, but I eagerly await it's re-arival.
Congrats Peter and Ryan, on your new website.
The system...is down....
"Network Timeout
The server at gdgt.com is taking too long to respond."
:P
Dude goes to http://gdgt.com, survey says "I've fallen and I can't get up!"
Where's the beef?
wont let me register, keeps telling me my 10 character username is too short
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4gqsuww6lw
did ya try registering with a different nickname other than
"Idiot", "moron", and "douche" ???
User names to short : ( Cant Use Name i rock all over the Internets
too
Thanks Grammar Nazi ! Don't know what i would have done without you
Didn't that launch forever ago?
Too Many People! on the site.... oh wait, now I'm in!
I like your style engadget. You pretend like your happy for ol' Pete and tell all of us to go check out his site. We, being sheep, happily oblige, desperate to get away from all the trolling for a brief breath of fresh air...
Or do we? Since by re-directing all your traffic over there, you crash their servers! Making them look like amateur punks and making us realize that it was useless to ever believe there could be something better than engadget out there.
Like I said above, I like your style :)
+1
Damn, I hate being used...
Thanks a lot Topolsky. You killed it.
site looks like it'll be fun.
i added 2 gadgets and then the site went down.