Yahoo Turns Their Attention To Tech

Report of My Scouting Mission

It's no secret here that over here at TechNudge we are addicted to all things tech. Whether it's hardware, software, or a new internet service, you can bet that it will show up somewhere on the TechNudge family of web sites before too long.

This week, Yahoo decided to enter the foray into the world of technology coverage. I like Yahoo for a few services, most notably their excellent email offering, and their financial tools. When I think of coverage, any number of excellent sites come to mind, right after TechNudge, of course. I will admit that Yahoo would not even cross my mind for the latest tech news. After all, I once heard that after you got rejected by the elite, tech savvy Google, getting a job at Yahoo was for more than a few folks their “Plan B.”

With that said, I can never get enough tech news (despite Bill's best efforts), and I headed on over to their newest offering. It reminded me immediately of a CNET “Lite.” Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, and it's taken CNET quite a few years to amass the database of articles and reviews that they currently have. Digging around, I find a staff of four writers, which seems a little small for a planned site of this stature. Yahoo, I'm sure, gets more page views in a good minute than some sites get in a month! Then again, we have less staff here at TechNudge, so I won't hold it against them.

I was struck immediately that they had a cloud based interface of the popular search terms on the top of the page. By varying the size of the font, I can tell instantly what is more popular, and what is not. How web 2.0! Unfortunately, the rest of the site is a disappointment.

The “articles” take you to the blogs of one of the editors. While there is nothing wrong per se, it lacks the cutting edge of a truly independent tech blog, and the polish of a reputable news organization. In short, it is simply rather lackluster.

Even on one of the “front page” stories is on “Laptops The Pros Love.” This should be A rated, top shelf stuff. However, they may love these laptops, but they can't figure out a positive comment on any of the five presented! Also, if you want a professional review, there are links to sites like PC World and PC Mag. Is this the best they can do? C'mon, this is Yahoo, a multimillion dollar company, they couldn't pony up a few grand to buy some notebooks to test? There is very little original content here apart from some user reviews. The same goes for a digital camera piece.

I next turned my attention to a computer upgrade section. Now this is near and dear to my heart, and I wanted to see what Yahoo did with this. Well, in short, Tom's Hardware is safe for at least another week. Make that another decade or two from the onslaught of Yahoo. At least. I don't really believe that a GeForce 5200 PCI graphics card is really the third ranked user upgrade. If they're running that card, they probably should be looking into an upgrade.

I could go on and on with this, but I'll spare you the pain. The new Yahoo Tech site is more about repackaging content, than anything cutting edge in the world of technology. I'd stick with us for now, and just about any other site out there, and sit tight while they get their act together, or pack up their tent and stick to something they know. If I wanted to read PC World's content, I'll just go to www.pcworld.com and avoid the Yahoo middle man. In this age of everyone and his uncle doing their own tech blog, Yahoo is going to have to do more than rely on their name recognition.

--Jonas