We are very happy to launch the next version of the Dabbledoo network design. We have already rolled this design out to Gadgetell and Appletell, and will follow-up with Gamertell in two weeks. Here is a rundown of what we were trying to achieve with the new site and some of the changes that went along with it.

Our goals with the new design were:

1. Do a better/cleaner job of organizing/featuring/laying out content
2. Fully integrate social aspect/membership network
3. Keep the site looking fresh

• (this was never intended as a redesign, rather a refresh)

A few things to notice:

• The 3 latest headlines are now big and bold for a quick glance. These will either be the latest news or breaking news from the site.
• ’Hot articles this week’ and ‘Hot topics today’ can be found in the second column. There are what they say and change based on the page you are on within the site (to best fit that content).
• A Featured Content box now sits under the Latest Headlines and lists 3 articles at a time…9 total. These will be exclusive content to the site and that site only, such as interviews, contests, reviews, columns, industry analysis, site announcements, and more!
• To help you browse faster and scroll less we we have condensed the article down the page and are now presenting them as excerpts with thumbnails.
• Keep track of your favorite writers with a full listing of the team masthead on the homepage. All names are links and go to the writer’s profile page.
• Wider post pages with less word wrapping: a cleaner look, larger images, and ready for high-res video.
• You can now log-in from the top of the page and we have begun to roll our even more member benefits throughout (profile pages, avatars, etc) and have more to come. If you haven’t created an account, sign up now.
• Use of “Share This” on article pages to share articles on social networking sites and email

Please leave any and all feedback you have in the comments below. We are sure there are still a few bugs that we missed, so drop those in here as well.

We hope you like it!

Congrats to the Gadgetell team for being selected as a “Best of Blogs 2008” by Trends Updates.

We would like to congratulate you for Gadgetell.com being spotted amongst “Top Top 25 Technology Blogs”. The order and visibility of the blogs here is purely driven by their Technorati, Alexa and Google ranking and of course exclusive nature of posts.

Read more: Best of Blogs 2008

Managing and leading our flagship property, Gadgetell, takes a lot of hard work, patience, creativity, and dedication—it is not a job for the weary or the weak. Over the past 10 months Robert has expanded Gadgetell’s reach and presence on the web, while tirelessly working with the writers to improve the coverage and quality of our content. But as we prepare to take the next step to grow the sites, we collectively feel that it is time to pass on the “publish button” to a new editor.

We are excited to announce Iyaz Akhtar as the next (and second) Gadgetell editor, as we approach our 3rd birthday. Iyaz comes in with prior experience from TheAppleBlog, MacCast, and ChannelFlip—a true tech junkie. He is extremely energetic, creative, and driven: a seemingly winning combination.

History as Tech Guy:
Iyaz Akhtar started podcasting as a distraction from his studies.  When his coursework allowed, Iyaz became a blogger and wrote for himself at first, then TheAppleBlog.com, and MacCast.com.  Iyaz has always been interested in technology and cannot throw away any gadget because he might need it later.  When would he need a Radio Shack 64K Pocket Data Directory with Infrared Transfer?  No one knows the answer to that question.

Current Tech Guy-ness:
Iyaz is a tech-junkie.  He is the co-host of “ChannelFlip Tech” on ChannelFlip.com alongside Robert Borgesi.  They also produce a number of video podcasts for their production company, FiniteComedy.com. 

Education:
Iyaz Akhtar received his Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Boston University, his Juris Doctor degree from Vermont Law School and his Master of Laws in Taxation from the New York University School of Law.  Iyaz quit his job as a professional student to pursue the pot of gold at the end of the Internet rainbow. 

Real Life:
Iyaz lives in New York State and fills every spare minute with something.  “Something” includes, but is not limited to, his wife, his dogs, his house, his friends, and all other related items.

The transition between Robert and Iyaz is effective today, as Iyaz will be taking over full time. We are pleased that Robert will be staying on as a associate editor and focus on original content.

Please join us as we welcome Iyaz.

Following along with their list-mania, Blogs.com has created a list of the top 10 best Apple Secret Blogs. Congrats to the Appletell team to be listed high-up on this list!

Telling the world about Dabbledoo Media and our sites are essential in driving traffic to our sites and setting the editorial tone. After a good deal of strategic thinking and wordsmithing we are glad to post updated “About Us” pages across the network. Please click on to learn more about what Dabbledoo Media and our publications have to offer!

About Dabbledoo Media
About Gadgetell
About Appletell
About Gamertell

Kudos to the Gadgetell team for making it to #29 on Evan Carmichael’s the Top 50 Entrepreneur Geek Blog Of The Year.

Monday turned out to be a terrible day for me.  Not only did the server not stand up to the test of a WWDC live-blog, but it was 100% out of my hands.  This past Friday, I knew I had to upgrade our server to be able to handle the huge traffic spike we were expecting the following Monday (yesterday) on Appletell.  I didn’t want to take any chances, so I had them up the amount of RAM by four times.  Since they had to take the server offline so they could put it on their workbench and insert the sticks of RAM, I sent out a note to the D-team letting them know we would be down sometime between 2:00AM and 7:00AM Eastern on Saturday morning.  As far as I knew, all of the work got completed as scheduled.

Keep reading »

Last week I shared a few things that we had implemented across the network. Here are some things we’re working on:

1. Auto-links - we will link certain keywords to their tags so no matter where they show-up on the site, by clicking on them you will get to more about that word. For example, the word “Sony” would link to the Sony tag…and this would automatically happen whenever you publish a post with the word Sony in it.

2. EE 2.0 -  we are still super excited for EE 2.0 and I think you should be as well. There is not a set launch date besides “summer” but it is getting warm out so we know it must be getting close. (preview here: http://expressionengine.com/ee2_sneak_preview/—it will be more than just a pretty face).

3. Dabbledoo Wiki - We are starting to populate a Wiki with everything our writers and editors need to know for working at Dabbledoo. I expect that this will be a great resource for current writers and a essential place for new team members.

4. Dabbledoo Tools - Though Dabbledoo Toolshas a lot of a great stuff in it (photo gallery, live blog, writer articles summary, total impressions per month, “Claim Me”, and our internal blog), we feel that it could use a bit of streamlining and some cleaning up. It remains usable, but there will be some changes and improvements here. A key addition will be the ability for writers to track their writer impression bonuses and general article payments. We also are continuing to consider chat room integration.

5. Site tweaks - We have a few things that we think can help make the front end of the sites a bit cleaner. Nothing major overall but a refresh can never hurt.

More: I am sure there will always be more such as upgrading our mobile versions of the sites, adding in branded site video players, etc.

Over the past year (since launch) Appletell has seen numerous small Apple announcements including MacBook and MacBook Pro updates as wellas the re-launch of the iMac in addition to the majors; MacBook Air, Leopard, Time Capsule, Apple TV 2, and the iPhone. We have also re-launched the design of the site as well as finally cracking the logo.

About five weeks ago Mike informed us that he has had a blast working on the site but it was time to pass the role over to someone new. While we were extremely disappointed, we impressed with where Mike has grown the site since launch. Thankfully, Mike will be popping his head in from time to time as a contributor to Appletell and Gadgetell. This set off a chain of events in the search for a new editor, leading to today. We are pleased to introduce Kirk Hiner to the Dabbledoo team, as the v2 Appletell editor. Read on for more about Kirk and please join Doug and I as we welcome him to the team.

Kirk Hiner has been covering Apple and Macintosh related products on the web since 1996, most recently as senior editor at Applelinks.com. There, he managed a staff of five to ten writers while also contributing reviews, news coverage, how-tos, interviews and feature columns.

An avid Mac user since 1988 when he first worked on a Macintosh SE, Kirk has followed Apple from the IIGS to his current Intel iMac, in the process surviving Gil Amelio, Microsoft Word v6.0, and the clone years. His all-time favorite Apple product is the current Intel iMac, and he firmly believes all Apple laptops should look exactly like the eMate.

Kirk is a graduate of Ohio Northern University, where he received a B.S. in English with teacher certification. He published his first novel, “Mowin’ the Heavenly Lawn,” through iUniverse. His first play, “Spoon Millionaires,” recently premiered at Lima Playfair, where it was the first play in the festival’s history to run the entire duration of the event.

Kirk lives in Ohio, with his wife and their children. He spends his free time reading and writing fiction, gaming on the Nintendo Wii and DS, playing bass in his band The Adam Routine, and teaching his children about the joys of football, hockey and Queen.

We don’t publicly blog about everything we do on Dabbledoo but these are particularly exciting accomplishments (nice job Doug) so here we go. Here is what has been keeping us busy lately…

1. Related Articles - As part of upgrading to the new Tagging system, we now have the ability to show related articles. If you check out an individual post page you will now see related articles are listed under the post. This seems to be working really well, but also means that GOOD tags are even more important. A tag like “black” or “iPod” or “upgrade” won’t really help get at the best related content possible.

2. Cross Posting - We are also even more excited to introduce cross posting to Dabbledoo. Stay tuned from the top articles (which are appropriate) from the network to be hitting the main column on your favorite site.

3. Search across sites - When you search on a Dabbledoo site it no longer only searches the site you are on, but the other sites within the network. Try it out and you’ll see (it is only on Gadgetell as of this second but it will be hitting Appletell and Gamertell soon)

More to come soon! If you are interested in learning more, please feel free to contact us.