Engadget Reloaded: Topolsky working with SB Nation on new tech website

Topolsky was editor-in-chief at Engadget. He left after AOL bought it and he didn’t like their policies. Now he has announced his latest project [via Marco Arment]: a cooperation with SB Nation.

What we will to build together at SB Nation is a new media company [...] and part of that new media company will be the as-yet-unnamed gadget and technology site that I’ll be working over the next few months to create. When we launch (hopefully in the fall), I will be editor-in-chief of a property that I hope will inform, entertain, and engage fans of technology in whole new ways.

Why SB Nation? [...] the people at SB Nation share my vision of what publishing looks like in the year 2011. [...] They’re building for the web as it is now. [...] it’s a testbed and lab for some of the newest and most interesting publishing tools I’ve ever seen. [...] SB Nation believes in real, independent journalism and the potential for new media to serve as an answer and antidote to big publishing houses and SEO spam.

It sounds like “Engadget Reloaded”. I wonder if part of the reason they take so long to start up is that he has to adhere to a non-compete clause in his previous contract (for, say, 6 months). Marco Arment comments on AOL:

I imagine anyone fighting for these [high] standards at an AOL-owned property knew it was a losing battle.
AOL is not in the business of making good content — they buy valuable sites to clear-cut their property and replant it as endless content farms.

Update 2011-04-25: Until the new website is up, Topolsky and friends are temporarily blogging at “This is my next”.

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