A New Chapter for The Gadgeteer

FEATURE – If you’ve been reading The Gadgeteer for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed Julie Strietelmeier’s name at the top of the masthead. For 28 years, she built this place from the ground up. Now, for the first time since 1997, The Gadgeteer has new ownership. This is our letter to you.

Julie’s Chapter

Twenty-eight years.

That’s how long Julie Strietelmeier spent building The Gadgeteer. When she posted her farewell video, she put it simply: “After 28 years of running The Gadgeteer, I’ve officially passed the torch.”

⬇︎ Where’s Julie now?
YouTube: @JulieStrietelmeier

But that sentence doesn’t capture what she actually did.

“What started back in 1997 as just a little gadget review site,” Julie said, “grew into something way bigger than I could have ever imagined.”

She’s being modest. In 1997, I had just graduated from college. Back then, the internet meant BBS boards, forums, and AOL Instant Messenger. Most people didn’t know what a gadget blog was. But I remember reading Julie’s content, even then. I never imagined I’d one day be the new owner and Editor-in-Chief.

There was no blueprint for what she was creating. No influencer playbook, no content strategy templates, no SEO guides. Just Julie, her curiosity, and a genuine love for the devices that were starting to reshape how we live.

Over nearly three decades, The Gadgeteer grew into one of the most trusted names in consumer tech. Not because of algorithms or viral moments, but because Julie built something real: a community of writers who care, readers who trust us, and PR partners who know we’ll give their products an honest shake.

In her farewell, Julie made sure to thank everyone who made it possible: “A huge thank you to all the writers over the years. There have been hundreds of them. And to all the PR people that trusted us to test and write about their gadgets. I couldn’t have done it without all of them together, and without you guys for visiting the site and for commenting and just being loyal visitors.”

So why step back now?

Julie was honest about that too: “The day-to-day work of managing so many writers and keeping the site up just took me away from what I really want to do most. And that’s playing with gadgets and make content about them.”

After 28 years of running the operation, she’s ready to get back to what sparked it all: the gadgets themselves. She’s shifting her focus to YouTube, where she’ll create the short, hands-on reviews she’s always loved making. Less managing spreadsheets, more unboxing packages. Less email, more experimenting.

(And yes, that means I’m the one staring at spreadsheets now. Well, databases. Massive review queues. PR relationships. And a small army of AI agents I built to help keep everything running, led by one who named herself SYNTH. Julie warned me about this part. “Less managing spreadsheets, more unboxing packages,” she said. Now I understand why.)

We’re incredibly lucky that Julie isn’t going far. She’s staying on as a reviewer, which means you’ll still see her hands-on perspective right here on The Gadgeteer.

And for anyone worried about what this means for The Gadgeteer, Julie was clear: “What does that mean for The Gadgeteer website? Nothing. It is continuing on just the way it always has, with all kinds of great news and reviews and the same great writers that you’ve come to enjoy.”

She’s right. The Gadgeteer isn’t going anywhere. But before I talk about where we’re headed, I want to share what this place means to the people who’ve been part of it. Their words say more about Julie’s legacy than I ever could.

From the Writers Who Know Her Best

When I asked the team to share their memories of working with Julie, the responses came flooding in. What struck me wasn’t just the gratitude. It was the stories.

Bill Henderson remembers the panic. It was 2010, and a Canadian tech site he’d been writing for had vanished overnight, taking his half-finished review of a $1,200 pair of custom in-ears with it. Desperate, he fired off a blind email to Julie at The Gadgeteer. “I was begging for a chance,” he recalls. She asked for writing samples, gave him a shot, and fifteen years later he’s still here.

That’s the thing about Julie. She took chances on people.

Patrick Henderson came to her as a self-described “Star Trek nerd” back in 2016. “You’ve led this rag-tag group of techies very well over all these years,” he says. Chris Balcom puts it even more directly: “Thanks for giving me a chance at doing something I have legitimately dreamed of doing for years.”

Kathleen Chapman came from biology and entomology. Not exactly a traditional path into tech writing. “Julie taught me everything I know about writing reviews,” she says. “Eleven years later, I look around my home and see constant reminders of her everywhere in the products I’ve reviewed. She’s one of the best bosses I’ve ever had.”

Reading these responses, I started to understand what I’d really inherited. Not just a website. Not just traffic numbers or a content calendar. I inherited a family Julie spent 28 years building. One blind email, one audition review, one chance at a time.

Theresa Villeneuve remembers Julie’s philosophy from day one: “She never wanted any of us to feel like this was a job. And it never has. I’ve been through a lot of personal challenges while at The Gadgeteer, and Julie has always been flexible, supportive, and most of all understanding. No one deserves this more.”

Kenneth Woodham found something more than an editor. “Julie became more than an editor to me. She became a friend. We talk about movies, books, and trade goofy jokes between us. She’s a great boss and a great person.”

Julian Perry agrees: “Writing for Julie has been an amazing experience. She has left me with a lifetime of great memories and a lifelong friendship.”

Lynn Lopez discovered new passions through Julie’s guidance: “She has allowed me to review some items I never would have before. It has been a great source of pleasure in my life.”

This is what I want to carry forward. At its core, The Gadgeteer has always been about real people writing real reviews for real readers. That’s the DNA Julie embedded into this place, and it’s something I intend to honor.

Howard Sneider still wears the Gadgeteer hat Julie sent him one Christmas. “I thought it was an incredibly warm and kind gesture. It’s still my favorite cap.” He laughs recalling another memory: “We were talking about old devices in an email chain and Julie starts sending pictures of all these old Palm devices she still has in her cabinets. It turns out she might be living in a museum and not even realize it.” But Howard also captured what makes The Gadgeteer special: “Julie led the writing to include a very personal touch. The reviews are by real people who spend a lot of time with real products and come to pragmatic conclusions. That’s the special sauce Julie cooked up.”

Bob Patterson saw it too: “The thing that attracted me to The Gadgeteer in the first place was the authenticity of the reviewers. Each member of the team has their own unique style that feels natural and real. Julie’s genuine love for gadgets in their endless diversity… pens, flashlights, phone cases, keyboards… she loves playing with all the toys!”

Lex Strickland’s history with Julie goes back further than most. “I first ‘met’ Julie about 1998 when she was kind enough to give me one-on-one technical advice on my Palm Pilot.” Years later, she encouraged him to try a Pebble watch, and eventually, to become a reviewer himself. “She had me do an audition review on a watch I already owned and took me on. I felt the warm tingly feeling of being hired!”

Andy Chen remembers Julie from those same Palm PDA days. “Her work was a constant resource for me. We were also both formerly owned by Corgis,” he adds with a laugh. “I’ll never forget Julie’s review of some kind of hula hoop gadget. She was brave enough to post a hilarious video demo, which apparently has been lost to time. Happy retirement and hula hooping, Julie!”

1998. Palm Pilots. Pebble watches. Hula hoop gadgets with step counters. The Gadgeteer has been there through every era of consumer tech. Not because it chased trends, but because Julie and this team genuinely loved discovering what’s next. That curiosity is what I want to carry forward.

Garry Kolb discovered Julie’s call for new writers when he retired. “She provided a platform where I could be creative and get to play with new, fun gadgets. Plus, she lives on the way between Florida and Michigan, giving us the chance to eat lunch together when we drive through. We couldn’t have asked for a more gracious leader.”

Lee Shipman counts himself lucky: “Not only did I know Julie from my interactions through The Gadgeteer, but I worked at the same company and lived in the same community. What a magnificent achievement she has created and nurtured over all these years.”

Joseph Porletto has been writing since 2017 and credits Julie with feeding his 3D printer addiction: “It’s been one of the best creative outlets I’ve had. Julie supported me from day one. I’m really glad she’s sticking around as a writer.”

Alex Birch sums up what she built: “Because of you, The Gadgeteer is home to an amazing collective of individuals that love to share their take on tech products to a broad audience that finds that information very valuable. Keep being yourself!”

Celeste Miller, one of the newer team members, felt it immediately: “I haven’t been with The Gadgeteer for very long, but it was great to feel like I found my people.”

That last one hit me. “I found my people.” That’s what Julie created. A place where gadget nerds, tech enthusiasts, and curious minds could belong. My job now isn’t to reinvent that. It’s to keep the door open for the next Celeste, the next Bill, the next person who fires off a blind email hoping for a chance.

And Michael Strange, who still remembers getting Julie’s acceptance email at a friend’s house eight years ago, speaks for everyone: “You will always be the original Gadgeteer.”

He’s right. There will only ever be one Julie Strietelmeier. But with this team beside me, I’m going to do everything I can to honor what she built and make her proud of where we take it next.

So who’s picking up where Julie left off? Let me introduce us.

Who We Are

We’re new to The Gadgeteer, but we’re not new to this work. We met back in 2004. A week later, we both quit our jobs. I was hitting my tenth year as a tech consultant. Ewdi was a professor. We hit it off immediately and decided to build something together.

That something was SlashGear.

Just like Julie in 1997, we launched into the wild west. There was no social media. No YouTube. No influencer economy. No algorithm chasing. Just two guys who loved technology and wanted to write about it honestly. Our vision was simple: be the filter. The internet was already filling up with noise, and we wanted SlashGear to be the place where readers could trust that if we covered something, it was worth their time.

We ran SlashGear together for 17 years before selling it to Static Media in 2021. Ewdi went on to build Gixio and has been handling The Gadgeteer’s server infrastructure for over five years. I became Editor-in-Chief at Yanko Design. Now we’re back together, doing what we do best.

Fast forward to 2025, and it feels like we’re right back where we started. Except now the noise isn’t just coming from lazy content farms. It’s coming from AI. The flood of low-effort, machine-generated junk is making it harder than ever for readers to find voices they can trust.

That’s why The Gadgeteer matters. And that’s why we’re here.

In an era flooded with AI-generated content, what makes The Gadgeteer different isn’t complicated: our reviewers. Real people with real experience who actually spend time with the products they write about. Many of our writers have been here for years. Some for over a decade. They’re not anonymous content mills churning out spec sheets. They’re enthusiasts, hobbyists, professionals, and lifelong gadget nerds who bring genuine perspective to everything they test.

That’s not something you can automate. That’s not something you can fake. And that’s the thing we’re most committed to protecting.

Our vision for The Gadgeteer is simple: continue being the place where real people write real reviews for real readers. Expand our content and reach. Keep acting as a filter for products and services we genuinely believe are worth your time and money. Julie built something rare, and in a world where authenticity is becoming the scarcest resource online, The Gadgeteer’s DNA is more valuable than ever.

We’re not here to change what works. We’re here to build on it.

Vincent Nguyen, Editor-in-Chief