Gdgt launches: A community site for gadgets and gadget users

by Brad Linder (RSS feed) Jul 1st 2009 at 2:00PM

Engadget founder Peter Rojas and former editor Ryan Block are launching a new project today called gdgt. The web site isn't a gadget blog, but rather a portal for gadget specs, reviews, and other information as well as a social networking site that lets users create profiles with lists of the gadgets they have, want, or had.

If you're not interested in creating a profile and sharing your gadget lust with the world, the site still serves a few purposes. It has a decent list of existing gadgets with detailed specifications and some pretty nifty comparison charts. You can also read professional reviews from other web pages as well as user reviews and comments about each gadget.

If you do create a profile, you can submit your own gadgets, which means that the site's already decent catalog of gadgets will continue to grow over time. Users can also add items to your have, want, and had list, and embed a personalized gdgt widget on your web page or social networking profiles.

When you use the gadget finder to look for a product you own or want, it's clear that gdgt was designed by technology addicts. The level of detail available for various product types is kind of astonishing. But the site does still have a few rough edges. For instance, I wanted to add my Asus Eee PC 1000H netbook to my gadget list, but I couldn't find it under the netbook section of laptops. So I created a new page for the Eee PC 1000H, only to find an existing page later. It just didn't show up under netbooks.

It's also easy to miss items when you type them into the search box if you don't use exactly the right name. For instance, I tried adding an "Eee PC 701" to my "had" list, but it didn't show up because the gdgt name for this item is the "Eee PC 4G."

But since the web site is designed to be updated and edited regularly, I suspect that as more people begin using gdgt, the results will become more accurate and more intuitive. They're already pretty good.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, you can pronounce the site's name either as "gadget" or as "g-d-g-t." Ryan and Peter are cool with both pronunciations.

What do you think? Does the world need a social networking site for gadgets?

Tags: engadget, gdgt, peter-rojas, ryan-block