Yahoo, the internet portal business, today underlined its determination to become both a major media producer and online retailer through the launch of a new technology website.

Yahoo! Tech will square up against e-tailers such as Amazon.com by offering users the opportunity to buy electronics goods that they can also review online.

The site, which will also produce its own editorial content and reviews, will also compete with specialist technology websites such as Cnet.com, the current market leader, and aggregate services such as Google News, which gather news stories from across the net.

Signalling how Yahoo wants to bring "techie news" to the masses, Michael Davies, the producer of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Wife Swap in the United States has been hired to produce a regular online video bulletin which will be shown on the site.

The appetite for technology news from internet users has been made clear by the massive popularity of technology websites such as boingboing.net, the world’s most popular blog.

However, Yahoo executives suggested that such players still only appeal to a restrictively small market, adding that their offering would "free people from the tyranny of geekspeak".

By carrying gadget reviews aimed at the broader public, the company hopes to attract advertising dollars from IT and consumer electronics companies away from more niche-focused rivals.

Yahoo already commissions exclusive content for services such as Kevin Sites in the Hotzone, which features solo journalist – or "so-jo" – Kevin Sites reporting from the world’s battle grounds.

Sites will now be joined on the Yahoo schedule by four "high-tech advisers" who Yahoo says will contribute its technology site each day. Each adviser will cater to audiences based on a US stereotype: "The Mom"; "The Working Guy"; "Techie Diva" and "The Boomer."

The company will also expand its video offerings in the tech section through the Davies-produced weekly segment "Hook Me Up", which will be hosted by Becky Worley, a journalist who formerly worked for CNN and ABC, the American television networks.

Such moves into broadcasting by internet companies played a large part behind the BBC's decision to launch a new internet-based strategy last week.

However, as the web’s big players jostle for position, Yahoo is struggling to convince investors that its vision of the future of the net will prove the most lucrative.

Its first-quarter revenue rose 34 per cent to $1.57 billion while Google’s revenue for the same period surged 79 per cent to $2.25 billion.

The slower growth has hurt Yahoo’s stock, which has slipped by 16 per cent so far this year.

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