Shift relaunched (along with its print sibling) last week, and I've just now checked it out, unfortunately.

It's unfortunate because I knew back in the spring it was relaunching, but site launches are not exactly something I include in my Palm. I had however, signed up to receive email updates about the site, but have yet to receive any email from the site.

Given all the confusion during launches, this isn't too surprising, but the magazine has missed a a tremendous marketing opportunity. As a result, its forums — which one would expect to be buzzing — are extremely quite, with only two comments about the new site.

The site itself harkens back to a colour scheme used in the tech ezine I worked at four years ago, and has design elements reminiscent of a flatter, text-heavy Kaliber 10000. As well, some JavaScript's used to open new windows or scroll text blocks seem to be acting up (at least on IE6).

Despite these problems, I dearly hope Shift can pick up the momentum it had before the magazine's owner dropped the ball. It's been a better magazine than Wired for a number of years now, and its previous Web site was one of the best of its kind.