New York City’s technology and media elite were among the guests celebrating the twentieth birthday of Gizmodo.com at The Cutting Room in midtown Manhattan on September 21st.
The “20 Years of Gizmodo” party, presented by AMD, was held in conjunction with the publication of the tech news site’s anniversary coverage, which was published on the web over the course of August and September.
“We’re celebrating not just because twenty is a big round number, but because Gizmodo is truly special,” said Editor in Chief David M. Ewalt. “This is a site that helped define a new medium, helped define the high tech world that we live in today. Every major event in the tech world of the last two decades, Gizmodo has been there.”
Ewalt described how Gizmodo was one of the very first news sites on the web, and had a unique perspective on the development of our modern digital world. “We have been there for every defining moment… from the birth of Google, to the first iPhone, to the rise of the blockchain,” he said. “Over the years we’ve expanded our coverage far beyond gadgets to cover the fight for digital civil liberties, the most important news in science, the threat of climate change… all the most important stories of the century to come.”
The event featured musical performances representing the best of the last two decades, and the decades to come. NYC party band Y2K opened and closed the night’s festivities with rollicking sets of cover songs from the early 2000’s, highlighting the music that helped define Gizmodo and culture at large during the site’s infancy. The night’s headliner, the rap artist Sammus, performed an electric set of science, technology, and video-game-influenced hip hop that left the crowd breathless.
Guests at the event included members of NYC’s digital elite, including tech executives, media influencers, and up-and-coming scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.
“One of the most exciting things about Gizmodo is how our audience includes so many different kinds of people,” Ewalt said. “This is a really a celebration of them, of the people working hard to make the future a better place.”
Gizmodo is 20 years old! To celebrate the anniversary, we’re looking back at some of the most significant ways our lives have been thrown for a loop by our digital tools.
