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Ryan Block

Ryan Block

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For the commercial building in St. Joseph, Missouri, see Ryan Block (St. Joseph, Missouri).

Ryan Block (born June 25, 1982) is a San Francisco-based technology entrepreneur. He was the editor-in-chief of AOL’s Engadget[1] before he co-founded the community site gdgt.[2] With gdgt's sale to AOL in 2013, he returned to the company and headed up its product group, but left in 2015 to start a new business.[3]

Quick Facts Born, Occupation(s) ...

Block co-hosted MVP, a technology podcast, with frequent collaborator Peter Rojas. There have been no new episodes since October 2, 2016.

He lives in San Francisco, California with his wife, Veronica Belmont.[4]

History

Block joined technology news website Engadget as a part-time reporter in June 2004, and started full-time in June 2005.[5] He went on to replace the site's creator Peter Rojas as editor-in-chief in 2007.[6]

In July 2008 Block posted on Engadget that he would be stepping down as editor-in-chief to create a new company, leaving then Associate Editor Joshua Topolsky in charge.[7] On 1 July 2009,[8] using $550,000 in initial seed financing received from Betaworks and True Ventures, Block and Rojas launched gdgt; a discussion forum that generates reviews and answers questions about thousands of gadgets.[9] gdgt was sold to AOL in 2013[10] , and Block left the company in 2015.

Comcast support call

See also: Criticism_of_Comcast § 2014_customer_service_scandals

In July 2014, Block and his wife attempted to disconnect their Comcast service over the telephone and were repeatedly blocked by the Comcast representative in a call which lasted 18 minutes. The last 8 minutes of this phone call was recorded by Block and posted to Reddit, immediately going viral across the internet. The next day Comcast apologized.[11]

References

  1. [1]
    Boutin, Paul (2010-04-03). "Gadget guru: We can't know yet what's best about iPad". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2010-05-06.
  2. [2]
    Mumm, Chad (2010-04-24). "The Engadget Show Live! With roboticist Dr. Dennis Hong, Ryan Block, Rick Karr, and more!". Engadget. Retrieved 2010-05-06.
  3. [3]
    Panzarino, Matthew (2010-09-08). "Ryan Block Leaves AOL Alpha For Something New". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  4. [4]
    Veronica Belmont fun facts from Mahalo
  5. [5]
    Collardeau, Thomas (2008-01-08). "Interview with Engadget's Ryan Block". ontheinside.info. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
  6. [6]
    Rosmarin, Rachel (2007-12-18). "The Gadget Guru". Forbes. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
  7. [7]
    Block, Ryan (2008-07-22). "Some news from the editor's desk". Engadget. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
  8. [8]
    Arrington, Michael (2009-07-01). "GDGT Launches For Non Stop Gadget Action". Techcrunch. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
  9. [9]
    Vascellaro, Jessica (2010-04-07). "Gdgt Raises New Financing with New Concept". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2010-05-06.
  10. [10]
    Block, Ryan. "Engadget is getting a whole lot bigger: profiles, forums, product database, and so much more!". Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  11. [11]
    Stampler, Laura (15 July 2014). "Recording of Man's Attempt to Cancel Comcast Will Drive You Insane". Time. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
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