That rumor going around today

Well, looks like my man Mike finally found occasion to write about me (little does he know, I’ve spent years plotting my way onto TechCrunch). Granted, I’m not commenting on that (or any) rumors about my career and future, but it’s never a bad thing to have people interested, right? It’s certainly a lot better than the alternative.

What I will say — and it’s the same thing I told Mike earlier today — is that, as I enter my fifth year at Engadget, I’m still totally focused on it, our team, and living up to the enormous level of trust our readers place in us day in and out. (As I’m sure Veronica would tell you, I’m probably actually too focused.) I can also say that I had no idea until today that I owned 39+ domain names, but that’s pretty awesome.

Veronica profiled in August issue of PlayStation Mag

Nice, Veronica was profiled in the August issue of PlayStation: The Official Magazine! I don’t think it’s on newsstands yet, but I can’t wait to give it a read. Photo from V’s Flickr.

Maybe we’ll pay you, AP, if you pay us

Of all the AP quotation commentary floating around in the last week, I think possibly the most effective point came from [edit] a certain well-known conservative author [/edit] who, by the AP’s own scale, claims she’s “owed” some $130k for unauthorized quotes and excerpts from her blog. Clearly, if the AP wants to impose these totally arbitrary rules on others, it’d better be prepared to live by them itself. (And let’s not even get into the irony of the AP accepting free, in-the-field breaking news submissions from “citizen journalists.”)

It seems like life in the (rapidly shrinking) print bubble has severely distorted the AP’s outlook in the midst of an increasingly predominent all-digital media landscape. If I were them I’d be careful in the coming weeks and months — unlike the print pubs that syndicate their news, there isn’t any real need for the AP on the internet, and at this rate I’m not sure they’ll be missed.

Joystiq turns four!

Hard to believe Joystiq is four years old today! I remember the old days with Pete and Ben Zackheim (who’s actually still in the AOL Games family), working to get it off the ground, helping fill in stories for Joystiq between posts on Engadget. Four bits of Joystiq trivia:

• Joystiq’s first E3 (Engadget’s second) is where we all brainstormed with Cat Schwartz on the infamous DS vs. PSP video.
• The following E3, former co-editor Vlad Cole (now at Microsoft) was writing a book on all-Pizza diets. This, of course, meant Engadget and Joystiq editors all wound up eating basically only pizza. Not sure I’ve ever lost the weight.
• James Ransom-Wiley has been with Joystiq since early July 2004, making him the longest-tenured editor there. Go James!
• Contrary to popular belief, Kotaku actually started in October of 2004, seemingly as a response to Joystiq.

My favorite trade show of the year is usually E3 — partly because it means we get to regroup with Joystiq and do it up together. Looking forward to that next month, and happy birthday Joystiq!

Bonus trivia: Last E3 myself, Chris, and Pete were all ticketed for jaywalking — at a crosswalk. For some reason my ticket was withdrawn, but Pete and Chris still had to pay theirs. Pics or it didn’t happen, right? Here you go.

Leica’s pixel dog

If I had a dog, it would absolutely have to be this breed. [Via Core 77 and Comunicadores]

Biggest day ever

This is Engadget.

This is Engadget when Apple launches a new iPhone. Any questions?

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by today to read our coverage of the iPhone 3G launch — it’s always an extraordinary amount of fun and a real honor to be the go-to place for big news in the gadget world.

And yes, I was fortunate enough to play with it and definitely can’t wait to really put the spurs to one.

Page one!

Excuse me for a moment of self indulgence here, but I noticed my search referrers were going up for my first name — and as it turns out, I’ve gone from page two to page one (number ten, to be exact) for “ryan.” Okay, I know it’s nothing compared to Veronica, who claims the number one spot for her name, but watch your back, Ryan Adams, because number nine is only a matter of time now.

Qore is go!

Veronica’s big, long awaited, heretofore secret project Qore launched for download last night — we grabbed it this morning to see how the final version looks. Very hot. And I’m not just saying that, because, well, you know. Also, I’m declaring myself the first (ok, maybe second) to have unearthed the Qore easter egg: press L2 from the home screen and you get taken to a mini-game called Death Orb. More from Joystiq and PS3 Fanboy, and Veronica; Death Orb shot after the break. More…

Joy of Tech brings me joy

I know Steve is a daily Engadget reader, but I never fully understood why until now.

Mentoring the next generation of gadget bloggers

Late last year Peter and I began a mentorship program with some students of the Torah Academy of Bergen County; Eli, Chaim, and later Charlie and Tzvi got together to begin writing an editing a gadget blog aimed at teenagers casually interested in technology, dubbed the TeenTechBlog. These kids have definitely made a lot of progress over the past six months. Starting a site and following it through isn’t as easy as it looks, and they’ve have been continually upping their game despite their demanding school schedule.

I think the question I’m most often asked by people not already in the industry is, “How do I break into writing about technology?” The answer is pretty simple: start writing, keep writing (even when the initial luster has worn off, even if you’re not collecting droves of readers and scads of review units), and with any luck you’ll hone your skill and catch your break — not unlike the path the crew at TeenTechBlog are already on.