Former Gizmodo editor launches new tech site, Wirecutter

Brian Lam, the former editor of Gizmodo who took the site from a few million pageviews a month to more than 100 million, is launching a new site.

Called Wirecutter, it is a consumer-focused tech site. Unlike other gadget sites, Wirecutter is organized primarily as a leaderboard, highlighting the best products in a variety of categories (cameras, laptops, TVs, etc.). Instead of a constant stream of news and reviews, Wirecutter will recommend the top products in a variety of categories, with research and reviews to support its conclusion. The leaderboards will be updated only when a new product bumps another one out of the top slot.

There is a blog, but Lam says he’ll be updating it more slowly than most gadget blogs.

“Consider it a Billboard for electronics; a Casey Kasem Top 40 if Casey Kasem were a geek; a wink and a nod to those engineers who have built something wonderful,” Lam writes in his introductory post.

“I think the gadget news cycle is not very good at floating the best gear. … the rumble of a large tech publication generally means a high noise to signal ratio–what the trolls call a slow news day. And in gadget land, almost every day is a slow news day,” Lam writes.

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