Former Engadget editor Josh Topolsky has unveiled The Verge, a new site dedicated to tech. The site launched early on Nov. 1.
Topolsky says the new site will not just be “a stagnant, fixed entity, but an evolving, growing piece of technology.” He describes The Verge as “akin to an app—a piece of software that is being constantly developed and updated.”
“Today we're launching with The Verge 1.0, but 1.1 and 1.2 are just around the corner,” he writes on the site’s welcome page.
The new site will feature tech news and features, and a large community "silo," based around topics that readers are passionate about, such as Apple and Android.
Topolsky left AOL’s tech blog Engadget in March this year, taking several editorial and technological staff with him. As Adweek reported, Topolsky felt that the Engadget team was being held back by AOL’s management. “I thought we could be more successful elsewhere,” he said.
Topolsky and his team set up The Verge’s predecessor, the technology blog, This Is My Next, as an interim site in April 2011.
Time magazine named This Is My Next one of its 25 best blogs of 2011. “It may be temporary, but it's also exemplary,” Time writer Harry McCracken wrote, “with everything from meaty reviews to smart analysis of tech-related lawsuits to a fun weekly podcast." The temporary site has already drawn around 3 million unique visitors and over 10 million pageviews, according to paidContent.
To accompany the launch, The Verge’s parent company, the sports network, SB Nation, is rebranding as Vox Media. “Vox will be the company, SB Nation will be the sports vertical, and Verge will be the technology one,” SB Nation chairman and CEO Jim Bankoff told Business Insider.
