Great article in Wired about the rivalry between the two tech blogs. This part made me laugh, then shake my head:

But the bonhomie goes only so far. Around 5 pm, Jason Calacanis — who cofounded Engadget’s parent, Weblogs, Inc., and sold it to AOL in October 2005 — inadvertently wanders into Gizmodo territory. Calacanis immediately spouts off: “F— Gizmodo. Engadget rules.” Then he throws up three fingers twisted into the shape of an E, the Engadget gang sign.

Calacanis’ outburst is a reminder of what really motivates both sites — more than money or prestige, it comes down to a frat-like rivalry, driven by boyish egos and measured in pageviews. The feud dates back to 2004, when Denton reportedly denied Gizmodo’s founding editor, Peter Rojas, an equity stake in the site. Before long, Rojas quit Gawker Media, a notorious blogger sweat shop, and joined Weblogs, where he launched Engadget with the sworn aim of besting his former employer. (Rojas, who became Block’s boss, also refused to comment for this article.) Engadget brought in a stable of reporters — Gizmodo was operating with a staff of one — and began posting more stories than Gizmodo. Within a year, it was reeling in more traffic than its rival. When Rojas left the post in 2007 to pursue other interests (including a digital music company called RCRD LBL), Block, who had been writing for the site, took over.

…

Meanwhile, in the rush to beat one another to scoops — time-stamped trophies to lord over their opponent — each site has occasionally tarnished its own reputation. Last May, Engadget published news that the release of Apple’s iPhone and Leopard operating system would be delayed. Apple stock plunged, causing a $4 billion drop in the company’s market cap. But Engadget’s only source, an email purportedly sent to Apple employees, turned out to be a fraud. (Block immediately published a retraction, and the stock bounced back.) And Gizmodo has suffered its own share of Apple-related gaffes. It fell for phony iMac upgrade details, fed by an Australian teenager posing as an insider.

Doesn’t it seem like everything is high-stakes nowadays? Blogging? Really? Is there a high-stakes world of Scrabble I’m not aware of? High-stakes pillow manufacturing?

…I can’t think of more benign examples…but my point stands.

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