AOL Confirms Tim Stevens as New Engadget Editor in Chief

As BoomTown reported earlier, AOL has confirmed that Tim Stevens (pictured here as Speed Racer) will replace Josh Topolsky as Editor-in-Chief of Engadget. Stevens has been working at the site since 2007, most recently as its automotive editor and also–until recently–part time. The appointment comes as eight former staffers at the giant tech news site said they were joining together to create a competing gadget site.

Nintendo Gives Itself High Fives for Wii and DS Franchises

Now that the year has wrapped up, Nintendo is claiming to have broken two industry-wide records in 2010 to make its portable DS franchise and the Wii two of the best-selling game systems of all time. But is past prologue?

IGN and GameStop Combine Online Content and Media Sites

IGN, the online gaming content site, and the largely offline games retailer GameStop are integrating their online media and retail offerings in an effort to target videogamers from discovery to purchase. The partnership is an unusual effort, given content and retail are not often so explicitly combined.

Almost Famous: Keith Lee of Booyah Games

This week, we took a short walk down University Avenue in Silicon Valley with Keith Lee, co-founder and CEO of Booyah Games. We talked about his time as lead developer for Blizzard, his total lack of common sense, and how he’s trying to make the whole social game world “level up.” Don’t worry–we made him translate most of the gamer lingo.

Filtering Junk Mail and Buying Laptops

The columnist answers questions about filtering junk mail from the iPhone and buying a laptop for a middle school student.

Operating Systems Offer New Choices in PC Shopping

Walt Mossberg gives tips on purchasing laptops with the latest pre-installed operating systems in his annual fall computer-buying guide.

Computer Buyers Have to Consider System Upgrades

This year, with Microsoft and Apple set to upgrade operating systems, Walt Mossberg’s spring computer buyer’s guide focuses on buying a machine for the new OS you may soon want.

Finally, Original Online Video Done Right: Andy Samberg's Lonely Island and "The Guild"

This week, “Saturday Night Live” comic and spoof video impresario Andy Samberg got some ink, because another one of his groin-focused rappish music videos–this one called “J**z in My Pants”–was racking up 6.7 million views on YouTube. But while “My Pants” is very funny in that overgrown teenaged boy sort of way that a lot of Samberg’s videos are, BoomTown is much more intrigued by the short episodic online comedy videos that he is making at his production company–The Lonely Island–with his longtime partners Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone.

Buying a PC With an AMD Processor

Walt answers questions about software-compatibility issues for AMD processors, importing bookmarks and backup drives for Windows PCs.

Consider Your Needs, Then Use This Guide to Buying a Laptop

With laptops outselling desktop PCs, Walt Mossberg offers a quick guide to the key factors you should consider when buying notebook computers.