David Pogue, a long time technology columnist for New York Times, is leaving the company after 13 years to move to Yahoo! Inc to create a consumer-technology site that will focus on consumer advocacy, troubleshooting, secret features, and how-tos.
Pogue will start his role at Yahoo! in the next few weeks.
"It's not easy leaving the Times, especially when you admire it as much as I do. No matter what happens to prose on paper, the Times itself, as a gatherer and curator of news, will always be necessary and important. The culture may be changing, and the readership may be shifting, but this paper steadfastly focuses on responsible journalism, ironclad ethics and superb writing. I'll always be a loyal ally," said Pogue through his blog on Tumblr.
"I'll be writing columns and blog posts each week, of course, and making my goofy videos. But my team and I have much bigger plans, too, for all kinds of online and real-world creations," he added.
Pogue also pointed out that Yahoo! might be an underdog but is a company that is revitalized and aggressive under the new leadership of CEO Marissa Mayer.
Yahoo! continues its momentum to rebuild the brand by improving its products, buying companies, and creating more interesting content. Since 2012, it refreshed the photo-sharing website Flickr, sports sites, news, and even its e-mail platform.
"Yahoo is in a unique position to bring to life great editorial about the technology consumers are using every day. David is tremendously talented, has a great sense of humor, and is gifted at explaining technology. He also just happens to be one of the nicest and most positive people I've met. He has always been one of my favorite journalists, and I can't think of a better person to make technology more accessible and helpful for the hundreds of millions of people who come to Yahoo every day," said Mayer through the Yahoo! official blog.
Aside from writing for the Times, Pogue also published a series of instructional books including the "Missing Manual" and several "For Dummies" books that aimed to help people have a better understanding of gadgets such as the iPhone and software products such as Windows.
Several popular writers of the New York Times who have developed their personal brands have also jumped ship earlier this year.
Pogue received criticisms before because of his other writing gigs that others perceived as a conflict of interest. He was asked by the Times before to publish a statement to disclose the titles of books he has authored.
Pogue is also a correspondent for CBS and hosts a show on PBS.
