Dan Abrams rolls out Geekosystem tech blog

TechCrunch, apparently, is too tech-heavy. And Valleywag is too focused on industry news. Isn't it a time for a blog that encapsulates all that is noble, weird, and colorful about geek culture? That's the idea, anyway, behind Geekosystem, the new site from lawyer and political commentator Dan Abrams. Abrams, if you remember, was once an anchor on MSNBC; in 2008, he left to become the publisher of Mediaite, a media news site.

Geekosystem steals the basic format and at least one major feature of Mediaite: The Power Grid, a regularly updated index of the major players in the industry. On Mediaite, Karl Rove and Thomas Friedman make the list. Over at Geekosystem, they're more concerned with "30 Astounding Science and Tech Geeks." Here's Leena Rao of TechCrunch on Abrams's plans for Geekosystem:

[Geekosystem will] add a dash of traditional tech news coverage, so expect to see mentions of Twitter and Facebook. But by and large, the site will have a mix of coverage and won’t be primarily focused on covering the startups and tech giants that we report on here at TechCrunch and other tech news blogs, says the site’s editor Robert Quigley. Content will be supplied by the site’s two editors, an intern, and a range of contributors. Additionally, the site will aggregate top tech and geek stories from around the web.

So how does Geekosystem stack up thus far? Well, the site is certainly busy. From the brightly-colored design to the large headline font, everything about Geekosystem seems designed to jump out at the reader. This can be a good thing, of course, but it can always be tiring on the eyes. As for the content, the site tacks towards the whimsical and the weird: There's a gallery of Pandas playing in the snow, for instance, and a story about a guy at Wal-Mart who smashed a bunch of TVs with a metal bat.

Fair enough – everyone likes quirky. But the difficulty for Abrams and Geekosystem is going to be attracting and retaining a major audience, especially in such a crowded market. TechCrunch and CNET – to use two examples – have built major readerships because they consistently break news, and because their analysis is usually spot on.

Abrams is going to need something more than panda photos and posts like "The Flaming Lips' Futuristic Bathroom is Cooler than Your Entire House" to build his own brand. But hey, maybe we're way off. What do you think of Geekosystem? Leave a comment, and keep up with the latest by following us on Twitter.