The Digital Life of Charlie White
By Joy Pincus

“I feel our time is limited, so we might as well make the most of it.”

Charlie White, associate editor of the premier online gadgetry blog Gizmodo, lives by that creed.

At age 50, he’s already won an Emmy award, recorded an album for CBS Records, shaken the hand of one U.S. president, played in a marching band for another, and been part of yet another’s White House press corps.

But these are Charlie’s past accomplishments. Today, gadgets interest him, and Gizmodo gives him an opportunity to share that love with the world.

Charlie is the founding employee and senior editor at Digital Media Net, and has been writing for Web sites for over ten years. His blogging career, however, began less than a year ago. An avid fan of Gizmodo, Charlie noticed some mistakes on the site.

“I sent a note to the news editor, and I said, ‘Hey, would you let me do copyediting? I have reasonable rates — it’ll only take me about an hour a day,’ and he said, to my surprise, ‘You’re on!’”

Two months later, a writing position opened up at the blog, and Charlie was asked to start filling in. Before long, he was invited onboard full-time, writing 12 articles a day, five days a week.

Gizmodo, which in June 2006 passed the 12 million visits per month mark, features between 40 and 55 stories per day, covering anything gadget-related, from personal jets to water-powered cellular phone chargers.

“[Gizmodo is] either about gadgets themselves, or laws, concepts, people, or things that have to do with gadgets or which affect them in one way or another,” Charlie said.

Other gadgets covered by Gizmodo include The V8 Chainsaw, a hybrid of a chainsaw and a V8 Engine, and Cupid’s Double Umbrella, an umbrella designed to keep you and your loved one dry. Less than optimistic about this parasol built for two, Charlie writes:

“[H]ow on earth do you close it, and what does it look like when it’s closed? Does it all fold up into a neat little package or does it end up looking like a pair of rabbit ears on that old black-and-white TV? You could poke an eye out with that thing.”

Holding down two full-time jobs would be enough to keep most men busy, but Charlie White isn’t most men. At night, he works as a consultant for various clients, and he also produces and directs a weekly television talk show in Milwaukee, Focus on Diversity.

In the remaining unfilled hours of his week, Charlie and a friend, Stephen Schleicher, host an hourlong podcast called Coolness Roundup, in which the two talk about anything they consider to be interesting, informative, provocative or helpful in consumer electronics. Coolness Roundup offers listeners more detail than Gizmodo and a range of topics that more accurately reflects Charlie’s interests. For example, on a recent episode he interrupted the personal electronics banter to gush about an upcoming local visit from the Thunderbirds, the US Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron.

Having contributed to and observed Internet publishing for over a decade, Charlie believes the Internet will be the dominant entertainment and information medium of the future, and that broadcast television is a bubble about to burst.

"The great thing about blogging and about the Internet is that, if you have a topic that very few people in your hometown might be interested in reading about, if you put yourself on a blog all over the world, suddenly you have a gigantic audience... That's the wonder of blogging, that you can narrowcast," he said. "This might be the reason why I'm not so fond of television broadcasting, because I think the trend right now is moving away from broadcasting and into narrowcasting, because then you can have exactly the thing you want to hear about."

Charlie admits that there are certain drawbacks to narrowcasting, namely the danger of losing shared experiences.

"I think if you're online and you're reading blogs, you might… at the same time take a look at The New York Times," he said, "or take a look at some of what people call the mainstream media and have that shared experience with the rest of society so you'll be someone who's well-informed and knows about issues everybody else knows about. Heck, you have to have some things to talk about with other people."

Charlie checks in daily with his favorite blogs, among them Boing Boing, Tree Hugger, and Valleywag. He's also a huge fan of Jalopnik, a site about cars.

"Another really useful site that I like is called Lifehacker," Charlie said. "That's another Gawker site [Gizmodo is part of the Gawker blog network]. Lifehacker is a site that tells you about ways to make your life better -- and instead of hacking computers it helps you hack your life and helps you improve your quality of life."

Asked about his favorite piece of technology, Charlie didn't have to think twice: the iPod.

"It's a wonderful piece of technology. In particular, I'm fond of the iPod Nano, just because it's so small and is such a beautifully designed piece of gadgetry and I think it's going to change the world."

Running a close second are global positioning system devices.

"I just have a thing for them," Charlie said. "I have been experimenting with a GPS device that I use when I go walking… I also have a navigation system in my car and I have grown to depend on it. I can't believe this technology is even available -- satellites that we talk to that tell us how to get from one street to another. To me, it's just nothing short of miraculous."

Charlie loves technology and loves sharing his scoops and picks with readers and listeners around the world. One must-read is Fantastic Freebies! Top 10 free applications I couldn't live without. Fans should also enjoy I Have…, a list of some of his life's more unusual and memorable moments, found on his personal website.

Looking back over the past year, Charlie is amazed at how blogging has changed his life.

"It's shown me how much work I'm capable of doing," he said. "It's been a challenge and a grand adventure."