• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 17, 2005

Yahoo! plans to release an entirely new Web site devoted to technology and gadget reviews, a senior Yahoo! engineer has divulged. Jeff Boulter, engineering manager for Yahoo! News, said in a recent blog post that he is currently looking to hire "for a new Yahoo! site focused on technology--cell phones, cameras, computers, and other nerdly gadgets." At boulter.com/blog, Boulter continued: "If you ever wanted to play with cool toys and get in on the ground level of building an entirely new Yahoo! site, here's your chance!"

Yahoo! Search's Jeremy Zawodny posted the link on his blog this week. Zawodny is a Yahoo! marketer and a well-known industry blogger.

A Yahoo! spokesman said that while the company is planning to broaden its tech editorial offering, the exact form it will take is not yet clear. But Yahoo! has been adding content and services furiously in recent months, in an attempt to compete for online ad dollars--which rose 33 percent to $9.6 billion last year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Yahoo! is building out its news site, developing VoIP services, and expanding its video search capabilities, among other efforts.

The spokesman said that Yahoo! has had its eye on tech reporting since April, when it hired CNET's Editor in Chief Pat Houston to run its immature tech division. Houston, who couldn't be reached for comment, will now be competing directly against CNET, as well as Gizmodo and other online technology and gadget authorities.

To illustrate the market's robust growth, CNET's sites had 27 million visitors in the United States in April, compared with 19 million a year earlier, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Revenue rose 18 percent at CNET to $291 million last year, and net income was $11.7 million, after four years of losses totaling nearly $3 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Boulter wrote on his blog that he is looking for "smart engineers who can express ideas clearly in written and spoken communication," among other prerequisites.