As usual, this matrix is just the tip of the molehill—if you want to really get in deep with these colorful characters, here's where to look:

• NYT - David Pogue

• WSJ - Walt Mossberg

• USA Today - Ed Baig

• Wired - Steven Levy

• Cnet - Kent German

• Engadget - Josh Topolsky

• Ars Technica

• Laptop

• Crunchgear

• Gear Live

• Gizmodo - Jason Chen

And if we've missed your review, send it in: we'll add it to the list.

In the Palm Pre reviews, nobody used the word "iPhone" as much as WSJ's Walt Mossberg—he was a third more likely to use it than his colleagues David Pogue (NYT) and Ed Baig (USA Today) were, and he even lead with a discussion of it, before mentioning the Pre. Nobody wrote nearly as long as Josh at Engadget: His review is over 10,000 words; ours, the next longest, was just over 3,000. There was a lot of consensus here, though notable disharmony when it came to Sprint service and the Pre's tight keyboard.

And nobody, but nobody, mastered the metaphor like Jason Chen. Except maybe David Pogue. Read on...

Of course, there's no way to fit even all the main points into the review matrix, so if you want to go and check out the other reviews for yourself, damnit, you should!

*Apologies for not including Steven Levy's piece from Wired. We saw it too late to include it in the mix.

• NYT - David Pogue
• USA Today - Ed Baig
• WSJ - Walt Mossberg
• Engadget - Josh Topolsky
• Gizmodo - Jason Chen

UPDATE: Check Out All These Other Palm Pre Reviews
• Time - Josh Quittner
• Newsweek - Dan Lyons
• PC Magazine - Sascha Segan
• Laptop - Mark Spoonauer
• SlashGear and MyPre - Vincent Nguyen
• PC World - Ginny Mies

I haven't heard of it, but if you like gadget news, this app appears to have you covered. Only thing it's missing is offline access—you can save articles, but they're not readable without a network connection. It's a buck. [Gadget Junkie - iTunes]

You're welcome, internet. That was for all of you.

Video: Chris Mascari; Song: Django Reinhardt - Minor Swing; Thanks to the Engadget crew for being such good sports.

The press has often played up the competition between our sites, and I admittedly contribute to that reporting for the sake of the story. But however different our executions are, we both have the goal of doing the best editorial possible within a given time span. He's been welcome company at shows where our tasks ran more in parallel than any other two people in the room. At events we'd cover, we would often arrive early, both sneaking away early from, say, a liveblog to cover the next step of the story first, and then staying later than most. Where we went, Ryan was already there, or was about to be there shortly. Watching him work, I've had enough chance over my last +2 years at Giz to know he's an outstanding guy, historic rivalries aside. And so, as he moves on, I hope he makes ample use of his editor-at-large position and posts frequently.

But not too frequently. I could use some time off.

[RyanBlock]

Entitled "The blogs of war: Engadget vs. Gizmodo," the one-page story recounts the origins of the two tech sites and competitiveness between us two, rightly surmising that the fight between us makes gadget blogging better overall.

While nobody's screaming, "Cry havoc! and let slip the dogs of war" (Shakespeare's Julius Caesar), we do have a competitive instinct around here, and any time there's a race going on, we intend to win. But maybe it's not a zero-sum game; while some say Giz vs. Engag is a fight between the cats and the dogs, others think matching up the two sites is more like comparing apples (lower-case) to oranges. [Fortune]

He was thankful for the essay, and passed the letter on to all his executives, even though he didn't agree with all parts of it. One section of the response made me scratch my head, though. "Let's remember that it is very early in the evolution of the smartphone and there is enormous opportunity for us to innovate. We have only just begun to fight!" I wouldn't call it early, Ed, but I'd agree it's far from over. No one is arguing that the Treo doesn't work well; but much of the overarching essay's point is about the fetish factor of the phone; it's just not sexy anymore. It's time to take some risks on all levels and build a new flagship that impresses on all fronts. It's going to take a fight, but most of that is going to be internal, as you shake off the old ideas of what makes a phone great. Most of all, I'm glad you recognize that there are important thoughts in the tech blogs that you might not find in less opinionated traditional media. All in all, a nice conversation between Engadget and Palm that hopefully makes a difference. [Palm]

Ryan explains that his source is a confirmed Apple employee, and that he did indeed try to confirm the rumor with Apple's PR staff before posting, but failed. Knowing how he operates, I knew that, but it's nice to give the world confirmation. He also says that he could have labeled the info a rumor but didn't think that was appropriate. Me? I would have relayed it as rumor. What does it cost you to ask your readers to be careful? Nothing. (Unless you're pulling a prank on them.)

But that's not the point. Newspaper print retractions all the time. The difference is, a matter of impact, and result. When a newspaper screws up, where does the damage control happen? Online. Who's here to back up the fastest news medium around? Readers, if you want the stuff that's been combed over and confirmed 100%, wait 'til tomorrow's paper. Just know that you'll be 20 hours behind the news, and you still can't be sure that the facts are right.

Ryan: Hang tight man, one more day 'til the weekend. – Brian Lam

Regarding yesterday's Apple news [Engadget]

They quickly redacted the factual errors, but not before the stock tumbled 3%, as people sold off many Apple shares. Apple's market cap, according to Valleywag, dipped $4 billion. Business 2.0 Blogs are quoting commenters as asking for an SEC investigation. Ars reports that someone sold off millions of shares within minutes of the post. People lost a lot of money, because of something they read that was wrong.

People have asked me if I'm gleeful. Hell no. Giz and Engaga are in the same boat. This sort of thing affects our rep, too. Sure, I could take a swipe at Engadget's reliability. I could put my fingers in my ears and shout, Nya Nyaa Boo Boo and stick my tongue out at my competitors. But I won't. Ryan, the real heart of Engadget's daily operations, is a great guy and I respect his work. We're both in the same situation of having to post news quickly, sometimes before confirmation. I knew that Apple would never spout this info internally without making it public first, but someone here could have easily made the same mistake if they weren't paying attention or drunk, which sadly happens quite often here. (Travis and Chen!)

Jokes aside, now is as good a time as any to tell you guys about some rules we've been working around the last few months: As stated above, we'll label unconfirmed information as rumor until we know it's true, and update existing posts with new data, which can be found under our corrections tag. So let us know when we get it wrong. And going forward, we'll be hiring even more traditionally trained journalists (not the boring, slow kind, but the kind that report). We will continue to speculate wildly on boob-shaped gadgets.

BTW, here's Apple's response to me, which confirmed the gut feeling:

This communication is fake and did not come from Apple. Apple is on track to ship iPhone in late June and Mac OS X Leopard in October.

When I asked them what would happen to the poor soul who forwarded both the real and fake email from within Apple's network, I got no response. Frankly, I think the stupid son of a bitch is already dead.

Apple employees: When you tip us, don't do it from within the Infinite Loop Matrix Network! (But Giz loyal readers, you knew that already.) – Brian Lam

Don't believe everything you hear: iPhone and Leopard NOT delayed [Jacqui at Ars]
Apple has a Worm..Can that Worm [WSJ Blogs]
Fake Memo Roils Apple Stock; Investors Call for SEC Probe [Biz 2.0]
Engadget sends Apple stock plunging on iPhone rumor [CNet]

[Disclosure: AOL's Engadget is the main competitor to Gizmodo, Gawker Media's gadget blog. ]