Yahoo Tech Goes Live

Yahoo today is set to launch a new technology and gadget review site, focused on offering advice to consumers. The site--Yahoo's first major launch in five years--was specially designed to appeal to a broad range of consumers, solidifying the status of tech and gadgetry as mainstream fare.

Leading the charge as Yahoo Tech's general manager is Patrick Houston, who Yahoo poached from the digital technology publisher CNET last April.

News of the site's development surfaced as early as last June, when a senior Yahoo engineer posted related job opportunities on his blog. "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!" wrote Jeff Boulter, engineering manager for Yahoo News.

Yahoo's self-described "anchor for consumer technology advertising" is launching with Hewlett-Packard, Verizon Wireless, and Panasonic as lead sponsors. Each, according to Yahoo, created custom ads for the site.

Yahoo Tech brings together multiple services and information from Yahoo's varied properties: Yahoo Shopping's product listings, reviews, and comparison tools; user community features through Yahoo Answers and Yahoo 360; and Yahoo Search.

The site also includes personalization features, based on members' research patterns and prior site activity. By the end of this month, Yahoo also expects to add a recommendation engine, which will suggest specific products based on users' detailed queries.

For original content, Yahoo has brought on four "tech advisors," each representative of distinct target demographics for advertisers--"the mom," "the working guy," the "techie diva" who speaks for the trend-conscious gadget crowd, and "the boomer." They will be posting advice daily to guide people through the information gathering and buying processes. Additionally, a team of editorial writers will be bolstering the site with product packages and rundowns on particular topic areas.

Perhaps the most buzzworthy component of Yahoo Tech is a consumer-focused series that Michael Davies--executive producer of ABC's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and "Wife Swap"--is producing exclusively for the Web. Similar to fashion makeover shows, "Hook Me Up!" takes outmoded technophobes and gives them gadgets designed to improve their lives. Verizon is the sole sponsor for "Hook Me Up!" (See related OnlineMediaDaily story.)

Yahoo is also licensing content from several partners, such as Consumer Reports, which is providing free product rankings from its computer and electronics test categories--information consumers would otherwise have to pay for. Also, publishers of the "For Dummies" technology group, John Wiley & Sons, are lending their laymen-friendly insights, while McGraw Hill has titles on hand from its tech-related series, including "QuickSteps," "How to do Everything," and "Headaches."

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