Welcome to my new chapter!

Towards the end of February 2024, I was one of the ten people who were laid off at Engadget. This ended my 14+ years of tenure, which was a rare feat in the tech media industry.

Truth be told, I had been thinking about getting out of my comfort zone soon after Engadget Chinese folded in late June 2023. Part of me had the urge to try something new — something which would only be possible without certain corporate shackles. But it would take a lot for me to proactively leave my dream job, not to mention my awesome teammates from both Engadget and Yahoo sides (and from various regions, too).

Alas, I would later be forced to make a move, but at least I departed as the site’s longest-serving writer at the time. It’ll be an uphill battle for my remaining ex-colleagues, but I hope someone will eventually break my record.

I joined Engadget as a London-based contributing editor in October 2009, and that was all thanks to the then senior editor, Thomas Ricker. During the mass exodus that ultimately formed The Verge, I chose to stay behind and was converted to a full-timer in February 2011. I would soon move back to Hong Kong, which helped me connect with Asian brands like Meizu, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo (then OnePlus), Vivo, Lenovo, ASUS, HTC, Samsung, LG and many more.

With Xiaomi in particular, apparently I was the only “foreign” media representative at its very first product launch. I chose to attend the Beijing event — my very first one, too — because I had a good hunch about the then nobody. Since then, I got to witness Xiaomi evolve from a relatively small team to the giant it is today.

With easy access to Shenzhen, I also caught some attention with the discovery of a Dell Streak prototype, a Sony Xperia Play aka “PlayStation Phone” prototype, and authentic white parts for the iPhone 4 before Apple eventually launched the white version. I still remember getting the rockstar treatment by showing up with my treasure finds at the Engadget Shows in New York.

My lucky streak continued thanks to my superb connections in Hong Kong, who helped line me up with the famed “Nintendo PlayStation” prototype, along with the Puma Fi self-lacing sneakers and a Google Pixel 3 XL unit which got leaked days before launch.

Some of my other notable features include my profile piece on ASUS chairman Jonney Shih, the interview of which involved him spending a good 10 minutes talking about Einstein’s theory of relativity. I may have to dig that to rewatch at some point.

Another memorable one was my cheeky interview with PlayStation’s Shuhei Yoshida, in which I got him to comment on the authenticity of the “Nintendo PlayStation.” He was a good sport, and we’ve kept in touch since then. It’s always good catching up with him in Tokyo.

Other fun features include my HQ tours of Dyson, Vertu (RIP) and Meizu, my gadget market tours in Taipei, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, my Mario Kart VR experience in Tokyo, my annual games with OMRON’s table tennis robot, plus my overclocking attempts (with lots of liquid nitrogen!) at Computex. I also had interesting interactions with Huawei’s Richard Yu and Alibaba’s Jack Ma, but I haven’t seen them for a long while.

While running Engadget Chinese, I got to collaborate with Yahoo Hong Kong, Yahoo Singapore, Engadget Japan, TechCrunch US, TechCrunch China and TechCrunch Japan over several projects — usually as a presenter or panel host. Because of that, I got to interview legendary comedian Hannibal Buress, too. That was wild. I’m grateful for all the opportunities given and connections made along the way.

Fast forward to today, I’m ready to try something new. I want to cover consumer tech — and potentially some lifestyle topics — in a more personal tone. I want to pick subjects that are either innovative or interesting enough, regardless of their regional availability. I want to help share these teams’ stories.

I’ll still be picking up freelance projects here and there, as I seem to be doing a good job at that as well (especially for the people or brands that I’ve bonded with), but I’ll gradually be shifting focus to my own content creation. Until then, feel free to follow me on Instagram, Threads and X (Twitter) for more frequent updates and giggles — you may see me singing karaoke there, too.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned.