Maya Okonkwo
Brooklyn, NYSets editorial direction and signs off on every front-page review. Former senior reviews editor at Ars Technica; named to Fast Company's 100 Most Influential Tech Voices in 2024.
Beat · Policy, Reviews, AI HardwareAbout Gizazine · A Masthead
Gizazine is an independent Brooklyn-based daily read by working journalists, not a corporate blog. We publish hands-on reviews, deep-dive explainers, and first-look reporting for readers who actually use the technology they cover.
Chapter I · The Founding, 2017
Gizazine began in a converted warehouse loft on Greenpoint Avenue in the spring of 2017, founded by five former Ars Technica and Wire staffers who shared a single grievance with the consumer tech press: the gadget blog had eaten the technology beat. Headlines chased renders. Reviews chased embargoes. The actual experience of living with a device — its seventh-day battery life, its third firmware update, its quiet failure modes — rarely made it into print.
We launched with a different bet. We would keep devices on our desks for at least fourteen days before scoring them. We would publish our testing methodology in full. We would refuse paid review placements, forever, on the record. We would hire writers who used the products they covered, and we would pay them enough to do the work slowly.
Nine years later, the bet still defines us. We publish six to nine original articles every weekday from a contributing network of 34 writers across 11 countries. Our in-house benchmarking lab tears down more than 80 devices a year. Our newsletter is read by 187,000+ subscribers, including staff engineers at Apple, Google, and Meta — readers who notice when a spec is fudged or a benchmark is cherry-picked.
What we have not changed: every scorecard on this site is funded by readers, not by PR budgets. We do not accept compensation for coverage. We do not run sponsored reviews. The reason a Gizazine review feels different from a manufacturer press release is because it was written for you, paid for by you, and edited by people whose names appear in the masthead below.
Chapter II · The Editor's Note
"If a reader can't tell who paid for a review, we have already failed. Our journalism exists because 187,000 people decided that an independent tech publication — one that tears down devices, names its methods, and never takes a paid placement — is worth a monthly subscription. Every word we publish is an argument that the gadget-blog era is over. The hands still matter. The lab still matters. The byline still matters."
Chapter III · By the Numbers
If you want evidence instead of adjectives, this is the panel that does the work. Every figure is drawn from our 2024–2025 publishing record and from independent third-party verifications.
Chapter IV · The Masthead
Gizazine reads like a real newsroom because it is one. The names below are the people who commission, edit, and sign off on every word that appears under our wordmark.
Sets editorial direction and signs off on every front-page review. Former senior reviews editor at Ars Technica; named to Fast Company's 100 Most Influential Tech Voices in 2024.
Beat · Policy, Reviews, AI HardwareOversees daily newsroom operations and the contributing network. Joined Gizazine in 2018 after seven years at The Wire covering consumer electronics and labor in the supply chain.
Beat · Newsroom Operations, Supply ChainRuns the scoring system and the 14-day test protocol. Holds the final veto on every scorecard. Previously reviewed cameras and audio gear for DPReview and Wirecutter.
Beat · Audio, Imaging, Smart HomeLeads breaking-news coverage and first-look reporting on major hardware launches. First to file stories on the Rabbit R1 and Humane Ai Pin pre-release coverage.
Beat · Hardware Launches, WearablesChapter V · Outside the Newsroom
A compact, dated list of recognitions from outlets we do not control. No marketing flourish, no superlatives — just the names, the years, and the categories.
Honored by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for editorial excellence in consumer technology publishing.
Issued by the Webby Awards, 2023Recognized by the Internet Marketing Association for category-leading editorial work in technology.
Issued by the IMA, 2024Editor-in-Chief Maya Okonkwo named to the annual list of the most influential people in technology journalism.
Issued by Fast Company, 2024Featured by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard as a publication to watch in the consumer technology beat.
Issued by the Nieman Foundation, 2022Want a longer conversation? The masthead answers mail.
Gizazine Media, Inc. · 112 Greenpoint Avenue, Suite 4B, Brooklyn, NY 11222, USA · +1 (646) 555-0182