Pardon me while I quickly toot my own horn: I’m honored to be on The Business Insider’s list of the 25 Top Tech and Gadget Gurus You Should Follow on Twitter and to have gotten a nice write-up in Folio’s Folio:40 list. (There, I’m done!)

If you’re the type who examines Web sites really carefully, you may have noticed something new at Technologizer: the “in partnership with TIME.com” labels at the top and bottom of each page. I’m thrilled to say that our site and TIME.com are expanding the collaboration we established back in September, when I began writing a weekly original Technologizer column for TIME.com. (It also shows up in the magazine–for instance, my story on Quora will be in this week’s issue.)

What does our broader arrangement mean for the Technologizer community? In some respects, not much: The site remains an independent business. I still have the honor and responsibility of calling the shots on editorial content and all other issues; the same folks will be writing for the site. But TIME.com’s sales team will be responsible for selling the ads that make Technologizer a viable business. You’ll also see links to Technologizer stories over at TIME.com, alerting new readers to our existence.  I’ll continue the Technologizer column for TIME and guest contributions over at TIME’s Techland site–and will contribute some more ambitious stories to TIME.com as well.

In short, the idea is to use our editorial and business partnership to bring more Technologizer to more people than ever. And while Technologizer continues to be an experiment in small-scale, hand-made, small-batch journalism, it’s exciting to team up with one of the most powerful media brands ever.

I’d also like to take a moment to thank all the smart people at Federated Media, the company which signed on to be our advertising partner before the site even existed. Without their enthusiasm, creativity, and hard work on our behalf, there might not be a Technologizer at all; I’ll be grateful for their support forever, and am happy to say we still have some irons in the fire together.

Thanks to you, too: As I never tire of telling people, Technologizer is the best job I’ve ever had, and it’s you guys (here, on Twitter, and on Facebook) that make every day a new adventure. You’re an inspiring bunch.

Here’s a story from MediaBistro on the news.

A year ago, I declared July 14th as Technologizer’s birthday–which means that we’re turning two today. I almost forgot.

When people ask me what my job is like, I have a standard response: It’s both the toughest gig I’ve ever had and the most fun. I’m not one of those journalists who seethes with doom and gloom about the media business. I choose to be an optimist about the amazing changes this industry is going through; I find new reasons to get excited every day, and can’t imagine a better place to ply my trade than right here.

This is the first era in journalism history in which a paperless, not-many-resources-required microbrand like Technologizer is even plausible, and I feel fortunate that I happen to be around to give it my best shot.

The best thing about my job by far is hanging out with smart people–by whom I mean the community that comments on our stories, chatters with me on Twitter, and visits our Facebook page. Thanks to all of you. I’m in awe of the quality of conversation that goes on around our content, and am immensely grateful that you choose to share your insights and knowledge with us.

I’d also like to thank…

• …all of our contributors, especially the prolific and venerable Benj Edwards, Jared Newman, Ed Oswald, and David Worthington, plus Christian Johnson, who’s helped out behind the scenes with proofreading;
• …Steve Bass of TechBite and Dave Zatz of Zatz Not Funny, both of who let us borrow some of their stories;
• …the fine folks at Federated Media who handle the advertising side of Technologizer and otherwise help make it a sustainable business proposition;
• …the tech wizards at Automattic’s WordPress VIP hosting service, who make sure that Technologizer doesn’t choke even when a popular story leads to a 60X spike in traffic;
• …my old pals at PCWorld, who syndicate our articles and get them in front of an even bigger audience.

These first two years have been a blast. There’s lots more to come, and I hope you’ll stick around as we continue this little experiment over the next couple of years and beyond.

If you’re a regular in Technologizer’s comments, you may have spotted a new look today: We’ve switched from plain old vanilla WordPress comments to IntenseDebate, a much fancier system that, like WordPress itself, is a product of our pals at Automattic. It brings a bevy of new features with it, including threading (so you can reply to a particular comment) and the ability to log in using your Facebook or Twitter account. (As before, you can long in with a WordPress.com ID, or comment without registering for or logging into anything.) We’re also displaying tweets that refer to a particular post along with the comments on it.

One of the best things about IntenseDebate is that it’s highly customizable. So let me know what you think–I expect to tweak our setup a bit in the days to come.

When I started Technologizer back in June of last year, it was never my intention to be a one man band. I knew I wanted a bunch of other folks contributing–in part because I can’t crank out an unlimited number of words a day, but mostly because I wanted the site to benefit from the voices of multiple contributors with different sensibilities and areas of expertise. I’ve been remiss in not telling you more about the people behind the bylines. I’ll correct that in a series of posts I’m calling Meet the Technologizers.

It’s utterly obvious that the first such post should be about Ed Oswald. Other than yours truly, Ed is Technologizer’s longest serving, most prolific author: He contributes one or most posts most days, and sometimes tackles stories before I’ve gotten up in the morning or after I’ve hit the hay. (He does work a different shift from me that gives him a head start–he’s based in Reading, Pennsylvania–but as far as I can tell, he never sleeps)

I first came across Ed’s work when he was a reporter over at BetaNews, a site where he worked for four years before going freelance last year. But tech reporting, it turns out, was not always in his blood:

Journalism was actually not my first choice of profession. Actually as a kid I wanted to be a TV weatherman. Seriously. However, once high school came around I joined the TV crew and took an interest in reporting. My grades in math and science just weren’t there, so I decide to pursue a career in journalism.

Getting into tech journalism seemed natural to me. I have been a tech geek for as long as I can remember. My first computer back in the early 1990s was an old Panasonic portable computer with an included thermal printer and two floppy drives that I picked up at a ham radio swap meet. Couldn’t do much on it, but I could get on Prodigy, and I was in heaven. I can even tell you my first username on there–VSJT79A. Yeah, I’m a dork.

Writing about technology is great fun to me, and comes natural. I love gadgets, and I’ll say the best part of this job is the chance to play with all the latest and greatest stuff. A techie couldn’t ask for anything more.

As you can tell from his Technologizer contributions, Ed is a generalist–but he’s particularly passionate about anything relating to digital media, as well as the products of a certain company headquartered in Cupertino, California. Other beats include “net censorship,  the intersection of politics and the Internet, and online copyright.”

Oh, and his post about a weird auction site called Swoopo ranks among this site’s biggest hits–he wrote it four months ago, and commenters continue the conversation to this day.

Outside of tech, Ed is still a weather buff. And a Volkswagen fan. And a snowboarding newbie. I’m very happy to have him on board–and I’m glad that he’s happy too.

Okay, that’s one Technologizer introduced; stay tuned, and I’ll tell you about the rest of the crew…

Is the month over already? Nope–but it will be in a little over seventeen hours, Technologizer time. So it’s only a little early to count down our ten most-read stories of September. Read ‘em all!

10. Is Swoopo Nothing More Than a Well-Designed Gimmick? A new auction site from Europe has landed in America. It promises brand-name products at low, low prices. Are there any catches? Yes!

9. Google Chrome: Hey, That Logo Looks Vaguely Familiar! Idle musings on the look, feel, and color scheme of the logo for Googe’s new browser.

8. Twelve Bizarro Googles. We mark the search kingpin’s tenth birthday with a look at weird variants, from Klingon Google to all-spam Google to design-your-own-Google.

7. Windows 7 Starts to Come Into Focus. Slowly. Microsoft is playing it closer to the vest than usual with the next version of Windows, but little by little, it’s beginning to reveal its plans.

6. Apple to iPhone Developers: Don’t Compete With Us? The company appears to maintain that iPhone applications that tread too close to Apple apps will be rejected from the App Store. That can’t be healthy for anyone involved–including Apple.

5. Are Macs More Expensive? Let’s Do the Math Once and For All. We published this story in August, but folks are still discovering it.

4. Project Fakebar: Improvising a Google Toolbar Substitute For Chrome. When I discovered that thousands of Chrome users missed the Toolbar, I tried to help.

3. Ten Questions About Google Chrome. Even before I got my hands on Google’s browser, the implications were rocketing around my brain.

2. Needed for Chrome: The Google Toolbar. Once I tried Chrome, I discovered that it neither supported the Google Toolbar nor replicated its functionality. I was sorry to learn that. So were thousands of other folks, and they all found this post.

And Technologizer’s runaway #1 story of September:

1. The Thirteen Greatest Error Messages of All Time. I named ‘em, from Abort, Retry, Fail to Does Not Compete to the worst one of all time, which you’ll need to read the story to learn about. (OK, a hint: Its initials are BSOD.) And then hundreds of thousands of people read my list, and chimed in with hundreds of messages about other famous and infamous error messages they’ve known. They’re great reading in themselves–and will form the basis of a sequel.

Thanks for making September by far the busiest month in Technologizer’s short history. We’re having fun here–and we hope you are, too…

Just a quick note on some places you’ll find me other than Technologizer:

–I just launched a new blog! It’s called McCracken on Media, and it’s aimed at folks like me who are riding the bucking bronto that is the media business in 2008 and beyond. I plan to share much of what I learn as Technologizer grows there, so if you’re into behind-the-scenes stuff, please visit.

–I also guestblogged recently for the American Society of Business Publication Editors on some early lessons from the Technologizer experience.

–And I’m part of a conversation going on at Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends on entrepreneurial experiences. Here’s a post on technology that’s been unexpectedly helpful. Here’s one on achieving profitability. And here’s one on defining moments.

Got a growing business? Then I think you’ll like Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends, a Web site that’s chock-full of real-world advice for small companies that don’t want to stay that way. At the moment, it’s also spotlighting some advice from…well, me: I was invited to contribute to the site’s Small Business Success Center, and had a lot of fun writing a post about some of the dopey things I’ve been known to do when it comes to technology. My post, “Oh, the Tech Mistakes That I’ve Made,” is here. And I’ll be answering a few questions from Anita in the coming weeks about my small-business experiences as the founder of the very small business known as Technologizer. Stop by if you have a chance!

If you haven’t checked out the Technologizer Community lately–or at all–here’s a good reason to pay a visit: We’ve launched ten special-interest groups on popular tech topics that a lot of people are interested in.

Each one features a discussion forum and a wall; they’re a great place to find folks who share your interests and exchange opinions and advice.

Registered members can participate in any or all of the groups–and registering is free and easy. (Still skeptical? As with the rest of the Technologizer Community, you can read content in the groups without registering.)

Here are the new groups:

* Windows
* Apple/Mac
* Linux
* Firefox
* Google
* Digital Photography
* Social Networking
* Games
* Vintage Computing
* HDTV/Internet TV

We plan to add plenty more groups, but don’t wait for us–registered members can create their own groups on any topic.

Me, I’m a member of all of the Technologizer Community’s groups. I hope to see you in one or more of them…

I’m tickled to report that my friend David Spark recently interviewed me for his Be the Voice blog and podcast, and has posted the results here. I talked with David about my experience launching Technologizer and trying to ramp it up quickly, and share some of my trade secrets about creating Web content that gets read and enjoyed.

I began blogging in earnest on Technologizer six weeks ago. As David mentions, the site has gone from having no traffic whatsoever to being read by thousands of folks every day. I’m proud and pleased–but more than that, I’m grateful to everyone who reads the site, and in particular to those who take the time to leve comments and/or join the Technologizer Community. Thanks for helping to make Technologizer a success–and please stick around. I have more stuff in the works for this site which I think you’ll like…

When folks ask me about how Technologizer is doing, I say that it’s doing very nicely indeed–but it’s still in soft-launch mode. That means that we’ll be rolling out a number features that haven’t yet appeared–and one of those features will be contributions from folks other than me.

Those contributors will be freelancers, not staffers, and the work is not going to be huge in terms of either volume or pay. I’m particularly interesting in finding a person or two on the east coast, simply because the one downside of doing this from the Bay Area is that most of the country is awake and doing newsworthy things before we get up out here.

If you know and love personal technology, are extremely well-informed about news, have a smart take on things and know how to express it in the form of blog posts, and are interested in contributing to Technologizer, I’m interested in hearing from you. Drop me a line using my contact form. I can’t promise anything…but I will respond to everyone who I hear from.

One of the key things I’m trying to do here at Technologizer is create a place for smart folks who like to share opinions and advice about personal technology. Which is why I built the Technologizer Community on Ning. It’s home to social networking features such as forums, groups, and profiles; you can check it out without registering, but if you choose to join, it’s quick and painless.

My post on Microsoft’s Windows Vista apology/defense struck enough of a chord that it’s the most-read item in Technologizer’s short life. So I’ve created a forum thread in the community for further discussion of Vista. If you’ve got an opinion, I hope you’ll weigh in…

During the past few weeks since I announced this Web site, I’ve been delighted by the response. But whenever anybody’s asked me when it was launching–and boy, have a lot of folks done so–I’ve been vague and shifty. “Soon,” I’ve said. “Soon.” And then I’ve tried to change the subject.

Let the evasiveness end. I’m ready to begin posting on Technologizer, and will be doing so just about every day. And I hope you’ll hang out here with me.

I’m happy to report that I’m publishing Technologizer on the wonderful WordPress blogging platform. And like a bunch of bloggers I admire, from Om Malik to Curt Schilling, I’ve asked Automattic, the company behind WordPress, to host my site. (Automattic also hosts blogs for The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and others.) Special thanks to Automattic’s Lloyd Budd, who did much heavy lifting to ready Technologizer for prime time from a technical standpoint.

I want this site to be as much a conversation as a soapbox, and much of the conversation will go on in the Technologizer Community I’ve set up on Ning. Thanks to Ning, a service I not only use but enthusiastically admire and endorse on multiple levels, Technologizer will let members participate in forum discussions and groups, publish profiles, connect with friends with shared tech interests, post photos and videos, and a lot more. Signing up is painless, and I hope you’ll do so if you don’t have a Ning ID already–more than sixty people are in the community as I write this.

That’s it for now. See you shortly, and thanks for being here.

My name is Harry McCracken. I’m the founder of Technologizer. We haven’t officially launched yet, but I’m glad you found us.

Technologizer will cover the fun, fascinating, and sometimes frustrating world of personal technology–from the Web to digital entertainment to both PCs and Macs. My goal is to create a site that’s always forthright, always opinionated, and always entertaining. Whenever possible, we’ll put products through their paces in hands-on tests before we write about them. And I want all the folks who visit the site to have the opportunity to share their opinions and expertise, too.

I feel like my whole life has led to this project. I’ve been an avid user of personal computers and related stuff for almost as long as there have been “personal computers.” For almost fourteen years, I was a journalist at PC World, the planet’s largest computing magazine and one of its biggest tech sites. I worked with amazing colleagues, helped PCW win a bunch of awards, and ended up as editor in chief. And in general, I had a ball. But in May, 2008 I resigned to try my hand at building something from scratch. Technologizer will be that something.

Technologizer will be an independent site, owned and operated by me. (If you don’t like it, you’ll know who to blame.) But I’m extremely pleased to say that I’m starting it in partnership with the smart people at Federated Media. FM will be handling ad sales for the site and providing other forms of help on the business side–just as they do for a bunch of the biggest blogs on the Web, including several of my favorites.

The site will launch…well, I’m saying later this summer, but it won’t be very long. And I may blog a bit on this preview site a bit before the full-blown Technologizer site goes live.

Meanwhile, here’s some shameless self promotion for me. And if you want to reach me for some reason, you can do so here.

See you soon!

(Photo credit: Marie Domingo)