The Wall Street Journal was able to get a sneak peek at Chowhound's new interface, which will be relaunched in the next month or so by CNET, which acquired the message board back in March. Unfortunately, for us, there isn't a screenshot for us to check out yet, but the WSJ fills in a lot of blanks that Jim Leff, Chowhound.com's founder, left out when we first heard about the deal.
Chowhound will not only get a software upgrade, but it will become part of a CNET food website called Chow.com. Though the old Chowhound site will still be accessible, the new one is aiming to attract more people from across the country, not just in big cities. One of the biggest changes is that, instead of being able to post anonymously, anyone who wishes to post will have to register.
CNET says that it doesn't want to alienate any of the old users, which is an understandable position because the huge foodie community is the main reason it purchased the site in the first place. Whether it will happen or not, even though Jim Leff is still working on the site behind the scenes, remains to be seen.
6-18-2006 @1:25AM Indie Food Channel said... We also have heard that the new Chowhound site via CNET is now linked to Jane Goldman's former print magazine, Chow. if you go to Chowmag.com and Chow.com, you'll see the same slogan, etc. Jane told us recently that she's been focusing on her new website, so this isn't a big surprise if you connect the dots. It could be very cool, we'll have to see. By the way, the Indie Food Channel (us, at www.indiefoodchannel.com) have a pretty cool announcement on June 21st.
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