DARREN MURPH

Six years ago, my life changed. I went from working 6-3 every day to working 6-midnight. (My first post ever was published at 11:27PM after at least 5 hours of edits.)

It was a glorious day. A few people commented, the 3-4 people currently working nights at Engadget were pleased to have the help, and I had found exactly what I was looking for.

Every July 10th since, I’ve reminded myself of how fortunate I am to work at a place that gives me the kinds of opportunities that I have. I love writing about technology. I love talking to people about technology. I love seeing technology move the world forward, inch by inch, every single day. I’ve written just about 20,000 posts at this point, and it’s still just as thrilling as it ever was.

I started writing about technology before the iPhone even existed. I don’t even remember how we functioned back then. I started out with a Windows Mobile device and Netscape v1.5b. (Only partly true.) Six years later, it’s really insane to see how far the world has come, despite (still) trudging through some pretty awful times financially.

Six years is a good little while. I have Ryan Block and Peter Rojas to thank (endlessly!) for the opportunity, as well as countless Engadget editors for helping to teach me the ropes. When a work anniversary feels like a birthday, you know something’s going right. Thanks to every reader — kind and crude — that has showed up since 2006.

I owe each of you a Cook-out mikshake.

On October 3rd, 2011, I boarded a plane from Tokyo to San Francisco. The reason? A week earlier, Apple had invited me to its headquarters in Cupertino for a press event, an event that would undoubtedly lead to the unveiling of its next iPhone. Around 12 hours after I arrived, I co-liveblogged the unveiling of the iPhone 4S with Tim Stevens. It was Tim Cook’s first solo press event as Apple CEO, and it never occurred to me that anything was different.

Cook pulled off an Apple event in spectacular fashion. The cadence was correct. The adjectives were correct. The flow was correct. The mood was correct. It speaks volumes about Cook’s respect for Steve, and it’s proof — at least to me — that Cook has devoted his working hours over the past months and years to learning how to best fill a pair of shoes that will never truly be filled again. At least, not with the same mold.

After 5+ years at Engadget, this was my first time on Apple’s campus. I’ve felt exceedingly privileged to devote my working life to Engadget and the consumer technology industry as a whole, and it was a remarkable privilege to be able to bring the latest creation from Apple to our readers. It’s truly humbling to do the work that I do, and showing up at 4 Infinite Loop reminded me once again what a fantastical world we live in. A day later, the man that co-founded Apple and literally invented products that have entirely reshaped the world passed away. I can’t help but wonder how much Tim Cook knew before going on stage, but he handled the event with poise, regardless. That should not be overlooked. It’s a situation that many would’ve faltered in.

I woke up, back in Tokyo, stunned and saddened by the news. The gravity of the situation is incredible. A sitting president of the United States of America paused to issue an incredibly heartfelt statement on the loss of one of America’s beacons. I was fortunate enough to co-liveblog Steve’s final keynote as an Apple employee: WWDC 2011 in June. The photo below is the final one I took of him, as he was walking off of the stage and the entire crowd within San Francisco’s Moscone West was rising to applaud his appearance. I count myself lucky to have even come this close to a man that will unquestionably go down in history books with the likes of Albert Einstein, Alexander Bell and Johannes Gutenberg.

What saddens me most about the loss of such a luminary is how the future of consumer technology will be less, in some way, without Jobs around. It is incredibly rare to invent something that you can convince a global audience is worthwhile. It is even more rare to do it on multiple occasions, even with enormous industry pressures and plenty of pundits. The iPod, for all intents and purposes, defines the portable media player universe, despite being almost universally panned for its absurd price tag and limited reach upon launch. People that don’t even understand, or care to understand, technology still adore the iPod. This is part of the reason that Jobs’ death is impacting more than just technologists. Even music lovers are fully aware of how their lives have been improved by the introduction of the iPod.

Jobs, and the wildly talented team that he placed around him, quite substantially changed the game with the iPod and iPad. Are they perfect products? No. But the lightbulb, even in 2011, still emits too much waste heat. I don’t see anyone disputing the game-changing nature of that.

My job, and the lives of my friends, colleagues and peers, was made more interesting by Steve Jobs. Regardless of the state of consumer electronics as a whole, there was always one man that we could count on to shake things up. Be it the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, or his unwavering stance to never adopt Blu-ray despite plenty of reasons to do so, he simply made life more interesting. And in most cases, more enriching.

In closing, it’s hard to express exactly how saddened I am by the fact that Jobs will not be around to invent anything else. He invented the iPod and iPad, amongst other things, during my short stint on Earth. I can assure you that the next 30+ years would’ve been filled with even more inventions if Steve were still here. I hesitate to even hazard a guess at what would’ve come next. Would we even have Android without iOS? Would Windows 8 be taking the approach it is without iOS and OS X? Would there be any pressure at all for RIM to innovate without any of the above?

I sincerely hope that Jobs spent as much time as he could pouring whatever knowledge he could into the mind of Tim Cook and the people surrounding him. America needs that breed of innovation to continue. The world does, too. As dark as today seems in the world of technology, my hope is that entrepreneurs, startups and technologists celebrate the life of a visionary by pushing themselves further than they ever thought possible. I can’t say for sure that I’ll ever have the privilege to write about another person with the same level of impact as Jobs, but I want to. Badly. I hope that Jobs has proven that technology can change the world, time and time again. I hope that he has proven that mere mortals are capable of engineering the impossible. And I hope — for the sake of Google, RIM, HP, Dell, Samsung and every other company and consumer wrapped up in the technology universe — that Apple continues to innovate in the way that it has in recent years. Trust me, we’re all better off if it does.

Today I received the following statement in an email:

“you’re one of the worst looking people i’ve ever seen. ever, dude.”

This was presumably in connection with an Engadget Show video that I was in, which was published today as a standalone post. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a trained actor. I also didn’t have the luxury of seeing a makeup artist prior to filming. I write about gadgets. I strive to be a good husband. I play with my dog. That’s about it. I do not act. But I’m fairly certain the video published today isn’t the worst piece of rubbish ever produced, and even if the above statement is true, did it really need to be said?

I’ve been growing increasingly frustrated with the internet society, and the seemingly endless variety of ways to lambast fellow humans for no good reason. A week or so ago, Dana Wollman’s “Growing up Geek” piece went live — we had to outright ban over a dozen commentors after they made unfathomably hurtful remarks. A few months ago, a different human made actual death threats against another one of my colleagues, Myriam Joire. She’s one of the most kindhearted individuals I have ever met in my life.

And it’s not just Engadget. Any site with free and open comments knows exactly what I’m talking about. Removing the anonymity doesn’t help. People willfully and willingly connect their comment profiles to their Facebook accounts and continue to spit fire.

But here’s the thing. Whether you like it or not, we’re all on the same planet together. We all breathe the same air, and we all have get through life living side by side. There’s no reasonable means of escaping it. What’s most troubling here isn’t that someone said something less than glowing about the way my face is constructed, or that someone made a sexist remark against one of my colleagues. It’s that people would spend even a millisecond of their life — of which another moment is not promised — uttering things that serve no purpose but to insult and put someone down.

To better understand just how awful things have to be to get me to say anything about it, you should know that it takes a lot to offend me. A whole lot. I love political incorrectness, and by and large, I find a way to laugh when an unintentional stereotype slips into conversation. But since when has it been okay to take time out of one’s day to openly bash someone with no intention whatsoever of providing constructive criticism? How is this not tremendously embarrassing to the insulter? How is this not shameful to the masses?

I say all this to make a plea: be kind to other humans. It’s hard enough for many just to pull oneself together and push through another day. The last thing they need is senseless hate further marring their perception of humanity. And if you ever catch me violating my own plea, please call me out on it — nicely, if possible.

Man. What a crazy day this has been. It started in the heart of North Carolina, and ended in New York City with a dinner shared by my new boss, Tim Stevens. It’s a little crazy — nah, insanely crazy — to think about this. Right around five years ago, I was hustling out of NC State and taking a job I knew I’d hate. Nine months transpired between my original application to my original Engadget hire date, and the next six months were pure torture. Ryan Block edited me almost exclusively, and given that Engadget was his baby, he wasn’t about to cut me free to publish on my own until I was a bona fide Engadgeter. Some of my early posts took eight or nine hours to complete after all-night edit sessions. Eight hours to perfect 150 words. I can’t count the times I pondered quitting, but for some reason, I hung on.

It paid off. The lessons Ryan taught me enabled me to make up lost ground over the next four years, and I knew I’d found my calling. I loved this job even when I hated it. And after Ryan cut me loose, I never rolled out of bed without being genuinely excited about the day ahead. How many employees in any line of work can say that? I’m blessed beyond imagination to have this job, and I can’t imagine a world where I’m not informing and entertaining on a daily basis.

I’ve met my best friends at Engadget. People I’ve laughed and cried with, people I’ve stayed up all night working with, and people that I’ve learned to deeply respect. There’s no question that I’ll miss working directly with a cadre of my best friends. I love them. They helped mold me and shape me.

I vividly remember a night not too many years ago, during a conversation with then-Associate Editor Joshua Topolsky. You may know him now as the EIC that took Engadget to Late Night, among other things. He pinged me in between bouts of punching the wall and pulling his hair out. “Dude, I can’t deal with this.” Those weren’t the exact words I’m sure, but that was the gist of it. “How are you dealing?” Before the night was over, I’d assured him that all was going to be fine, and that after my own bouts with frustration during the early months, sticking it out was the best decision I’d ever made. He stuck around, and became larger than life itself. He also taught me what genuineness truly is, and I’ll be grateful to him forever.

A lot has transpired since 2011 began. I visited my 50th state with a trip to Alaska. I drove in Montana, Alberta and British Columbia in a single day. I saw Manchester United play a match on the same day that I was trying to find our next new hire. And I’ve effectively spent every waking hour intently focused on Engadget. Through a crazy set of circumstances, I’ve found myself as Managing Editor of Engadget, and I’m beaming inside. The outpouring of love has been overwhelming, and while I’ll be working more than any sane human should for the foreseeable future, I can’t help but be excited about what’s next.

Wild new meetups. Great new Engadget Show segments. Insane liveblogs, hopefully with various members of Smash Mouth and / or aliens from Samsung’s lunar station. I’ve never been more excited to grind away, and I can’t accurately express how thankful I am to be in these shoes. If you’re reading this, you’re to thank, too. I hope you enjoy Engadget in the months to come, and I hope you know that I’ll enjoy making it enjoyable. My life has been truly insane over the past five years — I can’t even begin to think what the next five hold. Let’s find out together, shall we?