As BoomTown reported earlier, AOL has confirmed that Tim Stevens (pictured here in a classic Speed Racer pose, but see his real face below) will replace Josh Topolsky as editor in chief of Engadget.

Stevens has been working at the large tech gadget news and reviews site since 2007, most recently as its automotive editor.

Unusually, he was a part-timer at Engadget until a few months ago and lives several hours north of New York City, where AOL has its HQ. The company said Stevens will commute as necessary.

In his bio on the Engadget site, Stevens noted, in part, that he’s “an avid gamer, amateur motorsports enthusiast, lover of most outdoor activities, and proud creator of the first (and possibly only) two-player game for the Sega VMU.”

Geek credentials–check!

The appointment comes amid a fair bit of hubbub, with the announcement last night of a new competing tech site with eight new staff members, all of whom have recently left Engadget.

An Apple-obsessed, gadget-loving, nerdy-McNerd Gang of Eight!

That includes Topolsky, who is joining Jim Bankoff at his well-funded SB Nation sports and news start-up to launch the still-unnamed site.

Bankoff–in even more only-in-tech interconnectedness–was key to the purchase of Engadget many years ago when he was AOL’s top content exec.

An AOL spokesperson said in an email that “Engadget stays the same, with an obsessive focus on news.”

He correctly pointed out that “there’s a long tradition of handing down the editor in chief baton to someone from within: Pete Rojas to Ryan Block to Josh Topolsky to Tim Stevens.”

The site’s editorial director since 2009 has been Josh Fruhlinger. Recently promoted managing editor, Darren Murph, will also remain in the job at AOL.

In a statement to me, Fruhlinger said:

“As a member of Engadget since 2004, I know that we built our success on a commitment to what matters most to readers: staying focused on the latest technology news. Tim has a reputation for sharp news coverage and is a natural leader–our staffers are deeply loyal to him and stand behind him as we move on to the next generation of Engadget. Darren has an intuitive sense for discerning news and trends that matter. And we’re thrilled to be working with Arianna Huffington as part of The Huffington Post Media Group, as Arianna has a history of die-hard support for the work of journalists.”

Earlier Fruhlinger also tweeted: “In case anyone wondered, Engadget will be hitting tech news when we all wake up. Just like today. Just like 2004.”

Thus, everyone back to work as before!

Until more Engadget news is committed, here’s Stevens–who thinks he looks more like Racer X in the photo above–with an actual face on display (“I AM THE STIG” is yet another car-racing reference):

No, you may not, and that’s what I said on Leo Laporte’s terrific “This Week in Tech” online show last Sunday about why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his recent $100 million donation to schools in Newark, New Jersey, on the same day as the splashy Hollywood movie–”The Social Network”–eviscerating him premiered.

Because the powerful television talk show host wanted him on that week, since she was focusing on education reform! And what Oprah Winfrey wants, Oprah Winfrey gets–which is pretty much my motto for life.

Bad timing? Good timing? Whatev–kids in need get a piece of the Silicon Valley wunderkind’s pile of moolah, so I am good with it no matter when Zuckerberg announced it.

Also joining Laporte as guests on the program were tech super-couple Veronica Belmont of Tekzilla and gdgt’s Ryan Block. The show is a lively one.

Topics included were: TechCrunch’s Angelgate (I really have to ignore this faux-controversy now), the alleged Facebook smartphone, China spying on Gmail, making room for new set-top boxes, Google (GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt’s Bing FUD, Zynga’s Farmville panic, brodown throwdown and, of course, the Facebook Movie.

Here’s the full video:

Peter Rojas, 35, and Ryan Block, 27, veterans of tech blogs Gizmodo and Engadget, think so. Last year, they launched gdgt, a new take on a discussion forum for gadget lovers.

Investors appear to believe in it. Spark Capital and True Ventures are leading a $3.165 million round of funding for gdgt. Betaworks, AOL Ventures, Lerer Media Ventures and a bunch of individuals also participated in the round, which closed last month.

It’s the latest sign of momentum for gdgt, which raised $550,000 in initial “seed” financing from Betaworks and True Ventures last year.

Rather than hiring writers, gdgt relies on its users to generate reviews and answer questions about thousands of gadgets. Users create a list of gadgets they own or want. Then gdgt shows them content–such as a brief review or a pertinent product question–that other users have submitted about the item.

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BoomTown just made it through the snow-choked Donner Pass in the Sierras of Northern California, so excuse my laxity in posting this episode of “This Week in Tech,” the very fine Leo Laporte-helmed online chitchat show done on Sundays.

I appeared in this one, which, though posted in the middle of last week, was from the Sunday before, and included fellow guests John C. Dvorak, Ryan Block and Owen Stone.

It has a lot going on, including predictions about the Apple (AAPL) iPad launch, online content paywalls by News Corp. (NWS) and a lively debate related to the Twitter fracas I was involved in over inaccurate tweets about embargo-breaking, which turned into an interesting discussion on media in the blogging age.

Here’s the full video:

The site is the work of Peter Rojas, who helped build Gizmodo and Engadget, and Ryan Block, who took the torch from Rojas after he moved on. Gizmodo and Engadget are the best known and most powerful of the new generation of gadget sites, which makes Rojas and Block revered by the gadget gang. That’s why we’ve been hearing about gdgt, in dribs and drabs, for many many months.

But as well known as Rojas and Block are, they’re still going to have to work hard to make a dent in the crowded field. In addition to the two blogs they created, the gadget spectrum includes everyone from staid players like CBS’s (CBS) CNET to rumor sites for Apple (APPL) obsessives, like MacRumors, to sites for real obsessives, like the handful of people who still own Palm (PALM) Treos. (And, of course, there’s All Things Digital’s Walt Mossberg, who bestrides all of this like the colossus he is, and is also my boss. Hi, Walt!)

Rojas and Block argue that their site is different because it’s not going to be driven by editors but by the site’s users, who will gather there to swap info, stories, rumors, opinions, etc. In other words, Facebook for gadgets, though I gather they’d recoil if they heard that. The other pitch, though they won’t spell this out, either: Their site takes a bunch of features and content that you can find other places and presents them in a better way.

There’s a bunch of nifty features, like a gadget-finder that lets you find products via specs instead of brands, and the site seems to be pretty slick. But it’s better if you have a look yourself instead of having me describe it. And gdgt.com won’t really hit its stride until actual users start using it. I look forward to hearing what they have to say about my upcoming phone dilemma: iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre or Blackberry Tour?

But as much as Rojas and Block argue that this is a community site, it’s their names and reps that have people interested in the project. And that’s what has convinced investors to plow money into an ad-supported Web site in an era when the economy sucks and there are way too many ad-supported Web sites.

The duo won’t discuss funding, but I’m told that last fall they were discussing investments of up to $1 million, but ended up taking less than that via a group of VCs and angel investors. I don’t have a complete list of investors, but people familiar with the company tell me that early-stage investor True Ventures led the round, which also included New York-based incubator Betaworks and Mahalo’s Jason Calacanis.

Calacanis’s name will resonate with longtime followers of the tech blog world: He was one of the founders of Weblogs Inc., which created Engadget as a rival to Gawker Media’s Gizmodo, and hired Rojas away from Gizmodo. Calacanis eventually sold Weblogs Inc. to Time Warner’s (TWX) AOL for a decent pile of cash, some of which I believe ended up in Rojas’s lap.

Click the image below to see a screenshot of what gdgt’s homepage ought to look like.

And I only had to ask nice once after I complained in a post here that the online video show was not viral. Horrors!

Malik hosts the interview show weekly with lawyer Joyce Kim. Now you can see me talking with them about my thoughts about Dow Jones under new owner Rupert Murdoch, as well as on topics like blogging, traditional journalism and the doings at Facebook and Yahoo.

The video also includes a session before mine with Ryan Block of Engadget. Plus you get to see a rare, limited-edition Walt Mossberg “Craplets!” T-shirt.

Thanks Jim! (And also for paper-airplane-sitting Louie, while I blabbered away.)

Here’s the video:

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

They included getting me to talk about what I really think of new owner Dow Jones owner Rupert Murdoch (quick summary: He’s certainly been a controversial media mogul, but we’ll see!), as well as my thoughts about blogging, traditional journalism and my two favorite Web companies to report on right now, Facebook and Yahoo.

Bonus: First up in the program is the always clever Ryan Block of Engadget, who I think is one of the sassier tech reporters out there.

I seem unable to embed the whole program–Om, get on it!–but you can see it here, and also hear it, too. But here are some pictures below, including me showing off my limited-edition Walt Mossberg “Craplets!” T-shirt.

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Block was getting ready to throw a party for attendees of the E3 games conference in Santa Monica, Calif., so we decided to have a little video chat about the iPhone–Engadget’s bread and butter of late, including such posts as an imagined mock-up for a cheaper next-generation Apple device pictured here–and also WAP and other trends.

But, of course, we asked about life at AOL. Sorry, Ryan!