About Pickr

At the time (and largely still to this day), Australia’s search engines would invariably provide results from overseas and international reviewers, which didn’t generally relay the same experience as what local would see.

With different mobile networks and often different specifications, a phone review from one part of the world may not have matched up to one found in Australia, and so Pickr was initially built to serve Australian reviews and give customers searching for a new phone a way to change the way they choose: by comparing phone reviews and specifications in the one environment.

Created in 2016, Pickr initially began as a phone comparison system. Built on the idea that local reviews weren’t easy to find, the original Pickr system served as a way for users to check phone specifications and reviews across Australia, providing not just a way to make their own comparisons, but to see what Australian reviewers had to say. Local reviews matter when it comes to specific product categories, particularly when there are local technology considerations, such as phone networks and environmental situations, making finding them important.

Over time, that has largely changed. Depending on how Google’s system is working at the time, Australian product searchers may find technology reviews relevant to their interest, though it can vary wildly, thanks in part to a large amount of updates Google is making to its system, which may or may not work as well as the company intends.

The goal was to help you change the way you choose phones, but it grew beyond one category.

Moving beyond just comparison

Around August 2016, Pickr pushed into writing its own news and reviews. Its founder, Leigh Stark (written as Leigh :) Stark), has been a technology journalist since 2007, and started releasing news and reviews across the site, eventually seeing other writers pop up on the site over time.

Pickr now serves more than just the phone comparison, and caters its content from news, reviews, analysis, buyer’s guides, and more on its regularly updated website, which typically sees at least one story a day, and often more.

Pickr aims to help people research with content and information written by humans and only humans. It’s not that we don’t believe in AI — we write a lot about it! — but we believe content for people is typically best when it is written by people, which makes it more helpful and easier to relate to. What’s more, everyone writing at Pickr is experienced with technology and has typically been writing in the technology journalism scene for a number of years, as well.

Appearing on TV and radio

In 2019, Pickr began appearing outside of just the website, lending expert commentary on TV and radio with occasional appearances.

However, in 2024, things were stepped up significantly, as Pickr’s Leigh Stark made his way to regular appearances in the radio world, with weekly technology commentary on several radio stations.

As such, Pickr can now be heard across Australia, with information aimed at providing technology assistant and news throughout the country.

Pickr’s “Betterment” program

As part of an effort to improve how technology reviews, news, and tech journalism is seen, Pickr runs regular research and design to better the website so it’s not “just another” technology website.

Regular additions and changes are made to Pickr as part of its “Betterment” program, where we take a look at how the website could be made easier to read for audiences, and to see where journalism is going next.

Some of the efforts from Betterment to date include:

• The removal of advertising on Pickr
• Typographical changes to improve readability, and
• Testing out AI-based audio readings in the author’s actual voice

Pickr’s Betterment program makes changes several times throughout the year, and will make a small announcement every time we’re adding or testing something different, so you can be sure to try it out to see if it improves the website and its experience for you.

About Pickr’s creator

Leigh :) Stark has been working as a technology journalist since 2007, appearing at publications and media outlets such as the Australian Financial Review, Popular Science, APC, PC & Tech Authority, Technology & Business, CyberShack, GadgetGuy, and more.

His work has been seen across nearly every medium, including print, TV, online, radio, and the web, and his addiction to technology is noted regularly through just how much time he spends talking about it.

As a technologist, you can typically ask Leigh for advice, and he’s all to happy to provide it.

Contactable on X/Twitter through @Leighlo, through Mastodon at @Leighlo, via LinkedIn, or over email, he’s more than happy to answer any questions about gadgets and technology, and even provides tech support for one or two celebrities. You can even find him on TV from time to time, as well as on other podcasts.

Leigh :) Stark lives in Sydney with his lovely science writer wife Nic, and his beautiful daughters Emma and Elly, who often appear in test images for phones and cameras, as well as their dog Daisy, which also make appearances in the images.