As you already may know, today is Ryan Block's last day as editor-in-chief of Engadget, and, consequently, the beginning of my tenure in that same position. If you've ever met Ryan, read his work here on the site (and you'd better have), or seen one of his appearances on television, then you know that he's that rare kind of obsessive technology nerd who also happens to be incredibly erudite and funny. Along with founder Peter Rojas, he made Engadget what it is today, so while there's no question that he'll be missed here, we've got great expectations about his new project, and we're happy to say he'll remain on-board as editor-at-large for columns, advice, and picking up the tab when he's in town.

All of that said, however, I'm incredibly excited about getting started on what tomorrow brings: the next phase of Engadget's evolution. Stepping into the role that Ryan is vacating isn't just about emulating the accomplishments that he and Peter worked for, but building off of those successes and bringing something new to the table, and you can be sure that's what I plan on doing. Still, what's core to Engadget won't change, and we'll continue to be the definitive voice in tech journalism thanks to the tireless work of our team (the best in the industry), and the dedication of the legions of readers that visit this site every day (also the best in the industry). It's a huge honor and challenge to take the reins here, and I know it's going to be an amazing ride.

For obvious reasons, we're not really big believers in optimizing Engadget for individual devices or platforms. Despite the unrelenting number of requests for an iPhone-optimized version of Engadget, we thought we'd let Apple stand by its whole "the real internet in your pocket" thing. And then we ran the numbers. We could hardly believe it.

So far in 2008, the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod touch account for some 95.8% of all mobile views on the full site. We're not even kidding. That doesn't factor the visitors who hit our current mobile version of the site, but it's pretty hard to argue with any number like that, so we're rolling out a new beta version of Engadget optimized for the iPhone at i.engadget.com. (Don't worry, we'll still be keeping original mobile site active at m.engadget.com.) Please feel free to let us know what you think in comments!

Oh, and for the stats nerds in the audience, you can check out Engadget's mobile device breakdown after the break.

Remember how when we launched Engadget Poland a couple weeks ago we said that we were just getting started rolling out new international versions of the site? Well, today we're announcing two exciting new Engadgets we've waited for years to get started: Korean and German! They're both in beta, so to speak, so try not to mind the sawdust as we work out the kinks. Big ups to Brian, Jason, Manfred, and everyone at our international teams that made these new sites possible. Oh, and if you're waiting for Engadget in your language of choice, don't worry, Korean and German aren't the last we'll be rolling out!

Read - Engadget Korea
Read - Engadget Germany

The end of an era; a fresh beginning; good riddance -- whatever you think of Bill's final day at Microsoft, it's impossible to deny that his tenure there helped forever re-shape not just technology, but the world as we know it. So we're declaring June 27th Bill Gates Day here at Engadget and hopefully you'll forgive us for, like, totally tearing up now that he's finally stepping out of his role as nerd-baron and into the shoes of full-blown immortal philanthropist. Hey, it's Sir William Henry Gates III's world, we just live in it -- that means you, too, Steve.

We'll miss you big guy.

P.S. -Keep this on the DL, but we heard this rumor he's thinking of returning to uni for his post-post-post-doc, and it won't even be honorary. We'll keep you posted. In the mean time today, expect plenty more Bill.

Oh sure, you love gadgets -- but do you have the chops to write about them? We'd love to know if you think you do, because we're looking to actually pay people to do this stuff. Professional writing experience isn't necessary (though it doesn't hurt), but what we really care about is that you can write skillfully about gadgets with wit, concision, and authority. And being obsessed with Engadget is good, too.

• Full-time editor - Full-time, salary, benefits, the whole nine. Can be based on the East Coast (preferably NYC) or West Coast (preferably SF).
• European editor - Part or full-time (freelance), must be based in Europe, preferably London.
• Evening or Australian editor - Part or full-time (freelance), West Coast, odd hours, or Sydney / Oz-based are all solid.
• Engadget Mobile contributing editor - Part time or full-time (freelance).
• Columnists (wherever -- just have good ideas to pitch!)

Want to apply? Read on.

Hard to believe, but four years ago today we launched our videogame-leaning baby, Joystiq. It's so rewarding to see our dear little site all growed up (and now with lots of adorable children of its own), so head on over and help 'em blow out the candles on their cake (which is not a lie).

Yep, Apple's big developer conference kicks off in under 24 hours. We know some of you won't sleep well tonight, but you've got some time to kill, so why not take a moment to make your original iPhone feel appreciated one last time -- before you kick it to the curb in favor of the new 3G model His Steveness will be announcing. Everything you need to know is below, and don't forget to bookmark the keynote page. There there, original iPhone, it'll be okay.

Where you need to be:
Steve Jobs WWDC 2008 keynote - live coverage
All WWDC 2008 coverage [RSS] [Twitter]

Time zones:
Local times posted here

En Español
El WWDC empieza este lunes 9 de junio a las 10:00 PST USA... ¡prepárate!

Rumor roll call: 3G iPhone: check. Mid-range Mac desktop: check. Tablet MacBook: check. Tablet iPod touch: check. New MacBook Pros: check. Wait. You do realize that this is WWDC, and Apple usually only announces one, maybe two new pieces of hardware, right? They really just tend to focus on the software being that it's their, um, worldwide developer conference. (iPhone 2.0 firmware: check. OS X 10.6: check. Me.com: check.) Whatever, set your alarm clocks because we'll be there blowing it out live.

Where you need to be:
Steve Jobs WWDC 2008 keynote - live coverage
All WWDC 2008 coverage [RSS] [Twitter]

En Español:
El WWDC empieza este lunes 9 de junio a las 10:00 PST USA... ¡prepárate!

What time to post the GO AWAY note on your door on Monday, the 9th. (Leave more time zones in comments!)
07:00AM - Hawaii
10:00AM - Pacific
11:00AM - Mountain
12:00PM - Central
01:00PM - Eastern
05:00PM - GMT
06:00PM - London
07:00PM - Paris
02:00AM - Tokyo (June 10th)

Also, how do you want us to write this thing up? We usually do the latest updates at the bottom (so it reads like anything else -- top to bottom); at Macworld we polled and did newest updates at the top, and a lot of people told us afterward that they preferred it the old way. So, what say you?

Whoa, hard to believe its been three years since the last internationalized version of Engadget launched, but we're back and have a number of new sites in the pipeline -- kicking off with Engadget in Polish!

Why Polish, you ask? Well, besides the fact that we had some amazing talent waiting in the wings to blow it out, it's also a smaller (dare we say underserved?) market to soft-launch in that allows us to work out the kinks as we prepare to do even more international versions of Engadget in the coming weeks and months.

So if Polish isn't your bag, just hang tight, you'll be seeing even more localized Engadgets soon enough. And if it is, head on over and welcome our Polish team to the fold!

You nominated, everybody voted, and the results are in. The winners of the 2007 Engadget Awards are...

It's been well over a year since our last big redesign, which in gadget time means our last design was unveiled circa original Walkman. So we're freshening up the whole joint -- all seven sites -- with a brand new design. Oh, and we're also adding an eighth site to the Engadget network: Switched!

Our latest addition, Switched will be dishing out features for those with a more casual interest in tech, as well as highlighting fresh, hand-picked tech news from our network of sister sites. So expect to see hot stories from Engadget classic, Mobile, HD, TUAW, and Download Squad running over there, as well as news from other geeky Weblogs, Inc. sites like Joystiq, Xbox 360 Fanboy, and Wii Fanboy.

As for Engadget's new design, we went through and really cleaned up the joint, yanking out old modules and ads wherever possible. You might spot our new and improved photo gallery browsing and updated looks on things like comments and polls, but it's hardest to miss the new rotating carousel over on the right. Keep an eye on that thing, it's where we'll be plugging in our biggest stories and must-see features.

Of course, launching eight sites at the same time is bound to cause a few problems, so please tap that first adopter attitude and bear with us as we squish bugs and tweak styles. And definitely hit us up in comments to let us know what you think (or if you see anything wonky)!

P.S. -Big ups to the gang that worked tirelessly to make this happen: Matt, Mark, Erik, Gavin, Celly, Alex, Christoph, Charlie, Marty, and the rest of the crew!

Jealous of all those Engadget commenters with avatars, leaving their mark in the boards with the greatest of ease? Just a reminder on how to edit your password, profile, and avatar: hit that link and be on your way to the commenter's pleasure dome.

Alright iPhone nerds, it's the eve of iPhone's next big day. The SDK may or may not actually be released tomorrow, but we'll finally find out what's going on with it -- and what those "exciting new enterprise features" are that Apple teased. Check back tomorrow (and feel free to leave your local time zone in comments), we'll see you there!

08:00AM - Hawaii
10:00AM - Pacific
11:00AM - Mountain
12:00PM - Central
01:00PM - Eastern
06:00PM - London
07:00PM - Paris
09:00PM - Moscow
03:00AM - Tokyo (March 7th)

Where you need to be:
Live from Apple's iPhone SDK press conference

You know, this last week we closed up two contests where you'd have the chance to win an HDTV (among other things), but we were feeling a little magnanimous and decided to leave them open through this weekend. Just remember, you can enter both contests one time, but you can't enter either contest more than once. Check out all the details and rules below:

Read - Win a Philips 42PFL5603D 42-inch 1080p HDTV
Read - Win an LCD HDTV, Xbox 360, and plenty of Old Spice

We're creeping up on the Oscars, which means it must also be time for you to vote in the 2007 Engadget Awards! Based on your nominations (and a couple of our own) we've compiled a list of over 150 gadgets and technologies that made 2007 the blockbuster year it was for consumer electronics.

Votes will be tallied until Saturday, March 1st; after we've checked for abuse we'll publish the results alongside our own Editors' Choice picks the following week. May the best gadgets win!