Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Microsoft Introduces Montage, a Magazine-Like, Topic-Based Web App

At LeWeb yesterday, Microsoft demonstrated a pretty, new way to curate the web’s information: Montage.Montage looks and feels a lot like a glossy magazine web or tablet app. It works by allowing the user to pick a keyword or two; the application then pulls data and content from a variety of media-rich and real-time sources, including YouTube (YouTube), RSS feeds, Twitter and Bing News. The content is then arranged on the page in a grid format — you get to choose the exact layout — for your own consumption and for sharing with others.
http://mashable.com/2010/12/11/microsoft-montage/

Web Focus Helps Revitalize The Atlantic

WASHINGTON — How did a 153-year-old magazine — one that first published the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and gave voice to the abolitionist and transcendentalist movements — reinvent itself for the 21st century?
By pretending it was a Silicon Valley start-up that needed to kill itself to survive. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/business/media/13atlantic.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Apple Launches First IAd for IPad, for Disney's 'Tron Legacy'

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The first iAd for iPad will launch this afternoon for the upcoming Disney blockbuster "Tron Legacy." This is a preview of what Apple's mobile ad format will look like on the iPad, and the only iAd planned for Apple's tablet for this year, an Apple spokesman told Advertising Age.
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=147660

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Gourmet Live Opens Shop

Ever since Condé Nast revived the Gourmet brand in free iPad app Gourmet Live, the plan has always been to find incremental new revenue through a combination of free and paid content. Yesterday (Dec. 7), an app upgrade added a new Gourmet Live Store that sells special content collections as well as previous weekly issue updates.

A new tab in the Library section of Gourmet Live showcases a “continuing iteration with new collections, new ways of purchasing content and more,” the editors write.


http://www.minonline.com/news/Gourmet-Live-Opens-Shop_16019.html

Mark Zuckerberg to Donate Most of His Wealth to Charity

At only 26 years of age, Mark Zuckerberg is one of the world’s youngest billionaires, but he’s not keeping it all for himself. By signing on to Bill Gates and Warren Buffet’s initiative called the “Giving Pledge,” Mark agreed to give most of his wealth to charity.
This is not Zuckerberg’s first foray into philanthropy; he donated an undisclosed amount to the open social network project Diaspora as well as $100 million to Newark Public Schools. He spoke about the Newark donation on Oprah, explaining his dedication to help fix the public school system.
http://mashable.com/2010/12/09/mark-zuckerberg/

Bonnier Revs Up Roadtrip

Joining the likes of News Corp.’s forthcoming tablet newspaper The Daily and Richard Branson's iPad-only magazine, Project, Sweden’s Bonnier Corp. has created Roadtrip, a made-for-the-tablet publication.

The new form shows how publishers are experimenting on the iPad as they try to figure out how to make money off the tablet. Bonnier, whose Popular Science was one of the first publications sold on the iPad when it hit stores in April, is now looking at creating products like Roadtrip that aren’t enhanced versions of its magazines.
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazines-newspapers/e3i9a98d83b8ff950acfd4b9feecbe0d3d9

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

New Flipboard Offering Promises Giant Step For Online Advertising

Flipboard, the RSS reader for the iPad that aggregates content shared through social networks in a magazine-style interface, has taken a major step toward tailoring its product to publishers with the release of a website enhancing product, Flipboard PagesOpens in a new window.
http://www.pubexec.com/article/new-flipboard-product-offers-magazine-style-advertising-article-layout/1

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A New Look for newyorker.com

Today newyorker.com unveils some changes to its design. Our homepage now features a rotating set of lead stories, a prominent feed of recent blog posts, and more images, large and small, to help readers find favorite writers and stories as well as site features that they might not have noticed before.

New York Times looks to WeightWatchers for Internet tips

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B00B320101201

More Reuters Results for:

""
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Times Co is completing plans to charge readers for online news after spending a year studying websites such as Consumer Reports and WeightWatchers.
The New York Times, which in 2007 abandoned its first big effort to charge consumers to read its columnists online, is betting it can overcome readers' objections to paying for news they have grown accustomed to reading free of charge.
"This year has been a year of preparation," New York Times Chief Executive Janet Robinson told the Reuters Global Media Summit. "We have done very in-depth planning in regard to the technology."
The company has been working with consumer electronics and technology companies, including Microsoft Corp, Sony Corp, Samsung Electronics, Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc, for its digital editions, she said.

Magazine Readership Remains Strong According to Affinity’s American Magazine Study

November 30, 2010 (New York, NY) Affinity released today the Fall wave of its American Magazine Study, which reports magazine audience estimates for the country’s leading publications. According to AMS, more than 188 million American adults currently read printed magazines. Readership among women skews higher than men, with 84% of women and 80% of men reporting that they read at least one magazine title. The average consumer reads 6.1 different magazine titles.
Beginning with its Spring 2011 release, Affinity will expand the scope of the AMS Service to report magazine audience estimates that also include a host of digital platforms - mobile magazine apps, magazine Web sites, publishers’ social media sites and electronic subscriptions. This will mark the first time that advertisers, agencies and publishers will have access to syndicated audience data and reader profiles that reflect the total reach of a magazine’s brand in both printed and digital form.
According to Tony Incalcatera, Chief Operating Officer of Affinity, “Traditional methodologies can not keep pace with the expanding definition of the magazine brand. As publishers escalate their entry into the world of digital content delivery, Affinity’s American Magazine Study is evolving to measure all of the ways that publishers are leveraging digital technologies to extend the reach of their brands.”
The Fall release of the AMS study represents interviews with more than 34,000 American adults over the past year. AMS audience estimates are integrated with advertising effectiveness scores from Affinity’s VISTA Service to report the audience delivery of issue-specific magazine campaigns. In addition, AMS audience estimates are integrated with Experian Simmons’ National Consumer Study (NCS), combining in-depth consumer targeting capabilities with Affinity’s contemporary, Web-based approach to magazine audience measurement. (AMS Fall 2010 Magazine Audience Estimates Attached)
For Immediate Release
Tom Robinson • 212.922.9582
Tom@AffinityResearch.net
* * * About Affinity Affinity is a media research firm specializing in magazine audience measurement and accountability tracking. Affinity’s products include ProofReader (campaign pre-testing), The American Magazine Study (print and digital magazine audience measurement), the VISTA Service (in-market campaign tracking) and MagPlan (the industry’s first accountability-driven magazine optimizer). For more information, visit www.AffinityResearch.net.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Publishers' iPad Apps: Hot or Not?

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i472af4f084a4fdef4bac0580288814feThe iPad dreams of magazine publishers could be the latest death by irrational exuberance.

Despite the optimism that greeted the new device, there is a danger that publishers are squandering an opportunity with clunky apps, bad pricing strategies and unsustainable ad tactics.

The iPad itself is on its way to being a hit, although not as quickly as many predicted. Apple disappointed analysts who anticipated it would sell 4.7 million in the fourth quarter by offloading only 4.2 million. All told, 7.5 million units have been sold since April. Clearly, tablets are set to take a chunk of the netbook and desktop computer market. But for now, the market is tiny: about 4 percent of households own a tablet, according to Nielsen -- hardly a mass market.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Washington Ideas Forum has become a signature platform for The Atlantic and its partners

Reinforcing their thought leadership for our Washington community and the wider world.  Despite busy fall schedules and a looming election, the Forum has evolved into a must-schedule, must-discuss event for those interested in the day’s newsmakers.
The second annual Washington Ideas Forum captured wide-spread press attention, generating more than 420 million media impressions to date—a number that continues to grow daily.  By comparison, the 2009 Forum generated 254 million impressions.
More than 60 members of the working press attended the Forum over the course of two days.  Additionally,
 *   C-SPAN, CNN and Al-Jazeera sent camera crews
 *   AP and Getty Images sent photographers
 *   NBC, CNBC, Fox News, PBS Newshour, Bloomberg TV, Reuters TV and Voice of America pulled live or archived footage from the Forum
Reflecting the broad range of topics addressed, the Washington Ideas From drew attention from all quarters.  Media highlights include:
 *   C-SPAN broadcasts of full Haley Barbour, Richard Holbrooke, Spike Lee, Kenneth Feinberg, James Webb and Eric Schmidt’s sessions as well as the Campaign 2010 Panel
 *   Multiple news-driven posts from widely-read and respected reporters including the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, Slate’s David Weigel and Daily Caller’s Jon Ward
 *   PBS Newshour airing footage of Richard Holbrooke’s session
 *   Coverage of Michael Bloomberg’s session including MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the Anderson Cooper 360 blog, Fox News, the New York Observer and Politico
 *   Coverage of Timothy Geithner, Nassim Taleb and Kenneth Feinberg’s sessions by agenda-driving business outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, Marketwatch and The Business Insider
 *   Coverage of Eric Schmidt and Craig Newmark’s sessions by technology influentials including Fast Company, Ars Technica, ZDNet, The Hill’s Hillicon Valley, Geek Sugar, Switched and How Stuff Works
 *   Favorable overviews of the Forum from New York Times’ The Caucus, Columbia Journalism Review, Washingtonian and Mediabistro’s Fishbowl DC
 *   Items in gossip-oriented outlets including the Washington Post’s Celebritology, New York Magazine’s Daily Intel, Washington Examiner’s Yeas and Nays, Washington City Paper’s Loose Lips and NBC Washington’s Nite Side

Condé Nast Research Touts iPad Extensions

Six months after the Apple iPad went on sale, Condé Nast is releasing results of its first consumer research into the interactive touchscreen tablet, along with its implications for app developers and advertisers.

For example, the company found that many iPad users aren’t typical early adopters of tech devices, suggesting that ads have a better chance at being successful if they clearly direct users in how to engage with them.

“That was a fairly big surprise for us, and it has very big implications for how editors and designers design apps and how agencies design ads,” said Scott McDonald, svp, market research, Condé Nast.http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazines-newspapers/e3i08fb7e6188860b702d4cdd2049f925d3

November Issue is Biggest Revenue Generator in The Atlantic's 153-Year History

http://www.foliomag.com/2010/november-issue-biggest-revenue-generator-atlantics-153-year-historyAtlantic Media may be pursuing an aggressive "digital-first" strategy but the print product has hit a historic highmark. While many magazines reporting ad page gains in 2010 are only comparing that to the nightmare of 2009, The Atlantic says its November 2010 issue is the single highest-revenue issue in the magazine's 153-year history. The November issue-which features The Atlantic's "Brave Thinkers" profiles-saw a 60 percent jump in ad pages and a 95 percent gain in ad revenue over November 2009 (also a "Brave Thinkers" issue). The current issue features customized and unconventional ad units, such as a multiple cover execution sponsored by Dow and a Buick gatefold opening the Brave Thinkers editorial package

Mac Users Are Getting New Outlook From Rival

A new, faster, better version of Microsoft Office is coming out Oct. 26. But it isn't for Microsoft's own Windows operating system. It is for the Macintosh computers made by the software giant's archrival, Apple. And, among other things, it will bestow upon the Mac a benefit heretofore available only on Windows: Outlook. The popular email, calendar and contacts program is finally arriving on the Mac in a version that looks and works very much like the Windows version.http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748703673604575550201474088146-lMyQjAxMTAwMDEwNDExNDQyWj.html

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Google Advertises Its Display Advertising

Google is rolling out a new advertising campaign on Thursday for its display advertising platform. The campaign, called Watch This Space, will run in advertising trade magazines and in other print and online media. The “space” to watch makes reference to the blocks of display advertising users see on the Web pages they browse.
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/google-advertises-its-display-advertising/?emc=eta1

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

'Branded App' Offers Way To Sell Subscriptions on iPad

(Press Release) San Francisco, September 7, 2010 — Zinio, the global leader in digital-publishing technology and services, today announced an expansion of their product offering and services to include Branded Apps for the Apple ITunes App Store. This announcement further extends the reach of its "read anywhere" Zinio Unity platform and enables additional discoverability for publishers in their multi-device efforts to drive subscription growth and brand affinity.
http://www.pubexec.com/article/zinio-branded-apps-include-national-geographic-sporting-news-today/1

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Atlantic Strong traffic in August

4.3 mm UV’s on theatlantic.com in August
19+mm PV’s

The Atlantic Magazine Introduces iPad Edition


Washington, DC and New York, NY (September 3, 2010) – Broadening its suite of digital offerings, today The Atlantic introduces a magazine application for the iPad, which builds off the success of The Atlantic’s two free applications for the iPhone and iPad.  Highlights of the September issue include:
Jeffrey Goldberg on whether Israel is getting ready to bomb Iran, including an embedded video interview with Christopher Hitchens and Martin Amis
Sheelah Kolhatkar on the inside story behind tabloid TV news
Graeme Wood on prisons without walls
Megan McArdle on the great stock myth
James Fallows on returning to his old Tokyo neighborhood to find an inward-looking country that has lost its ambition, including a unique slideshow
“We’ve learned from our tremendous digital growth that readers love to engage with The Atlantic in all sorts of ways,” said James Bennet, The Atlantic’s editor. “We believe they’ll be delighted with this new platform for exploring ideas from The Atlantic, and for letting us and each other know what they think.”
Dow is the launch sponsor for the magazine application. Developed on technology built by partner RareWire and priced at $4.99, it will feature:
·        Embedded video clips
·        Easy-to-use sharing and social media features
·        Innovative slideshows
·        Multiple navigation opportunities such as tapping, swiping, clickable TOC and unique scroll bar
·        Ability to zoom-in on photos and text
“This Atlantic iPad magazine application represents our entry onto the ‘digital newsstand’ and is another important step forward in our long-term digital strategy,” added M. Scott Havens, vp, digital strategy and operations.  “Quite simply, our long-range goal is to offer readers their favorite Atlantic magazine and Web content on any platform or device they choose and to accomplish that we’ll continue to roll-out a variety of diverse and innovative products.”
About The Atlantic



Since its founding in 1857 as a magazine about “the American Idea” that would be of “no party or clique” The Atlantic has been at the forefront of brave thinking in journalism.  The Atlantic’s acclaimed editorial roster includes Andrew Sullivan, Ta-Nehisi Coates, James Fallows, Jeffrey Goldberg, Joshua Green, and Megan McArdle. One of the first magazines to launch on the web in the early 1990s, The Atlantic has continued to help shape the national debate across print, digital and event platforms.  Recent accolades include Advertising Age’s Editor of the Year, Adweek’s Hot List and the Webby Award for Best Magazine Website.  With the addition of its opinion-tracking site, TheAtlanticWire.com, The Atlantic is a multi-media forum on the most critical issues of our times, from politics, business, and the economy, to technology, arts, and culture.  The Atlantic is the flagship property of Washington, D.C.–based publisher Atlantic Media Company.

Fine Cooking To Launch Holiday Cooking iPad App

Fine Cooking magazine is launching an iPad app to help readers brainstorm and prepare their holiday meals. The app will go live on November 1 and will be available until January 31.
The Holiday Cooking app will include recipes and tips for holiday entertaining, supported by an array of images and slideshows.
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/magazines/fine_cooking_to_launch_holiday_cooking_ipad_app_172616.asp

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Playing it by ear: The Atlantic joins the magazine-Tumbling fray in embracing experimentation

Until recently, Tumblr was a fairly isolated phenomenon: a platform that (to overgeneralize only slightly) helped a slew of web-savvy young city-dwellers to stay connected with more characters than Twitter but less commitment than blogs. Now, though, the service — which passed its billion-post mark last Monday — is in the air in a more diffuse way, via the tons-of-Tumblrs popping up under the banners of national news outlets. There’s Newsweek’s praiseworthy specimen — the most buzzed-about of the bunch — but there’s also The New Yorker’s, The Economist’s, The American Prospect’s, Life magazine’s, the Huffington Post’s, the Paris Review’s, Utne Reader’s, ProPublica’s, and, a bit farther afield, Public Radio International’s, ABC News Radio’s…and on and on.
One of the most recent additions to the world of media-outlet-Tumbling comes courtesy of The Atlantic, which marked its entry into that world earlier this month. With this:
http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/08/playing-it-by-ear-the-atlantic-joins-the-magazine-tumbling-fray-in-embracing-experimentation/

Thinner Time magazine still manages to stand out

Rick Stengel may have his shoulder in a sling, but when it comes to the news magazine wars, he's the last man standing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/29/AR2010082902749.html?referrer=emailarticle

Schwartz: iPad Complements Rolling Stone as 'Great Discovery Platform'

In partnership with digital editions provider Zinio, Rolling Stone has launched an interactive version of its Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Songs of All TimeOpens in a new window special edition on the iPad. The digital version of this issue allows readers to sample and purchase music as they move through the app, adding a new dimension to the experience for music lovers as they read about the stories and personalities behind such rock, pop and R&B classics as "Stairway to Heaven" and "What'd I Say."
http://www.pubexec.com/article/schwartz-ipad-complements-rolling-stone/1

New Publisher for Smithsonian Publishing and Smithsonian Media

Smithsonian announces that Jennifer Hicks will become the next Publisher for Smithsonian Publishing and Smithsonian Media.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

How Entertainment Weekly Embraces the Digital Age

In partnership with  Entertainment Weekly, YouTube just announced the launch of a specialized site for getting a sneak peek at the new television season which includes "bite-sized previews of programs, reality TV, comedies, dramas and more."
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_entertainment_weekly_embraces_the_digital_age.php

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Nomad Editions Mobile Magazine to Launch in October

A team of publishing veterans, including a former Newsweek president, is launching a new "series of digital weeklies" created specifically for mobile devices. Nomad Editions will feature content on topics such as food, movies, surfing. Check out the promotional video showing some of Nomad Editions' features.
http://www.pubexec.com/item/new-nomad-editions-magazine-created-specifically-mobile-devices

Friday, August 20, 2010

The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet

Two decades after its birth, the World Wide Web is in decline, as simpler, sleeker services are less about the searching and more about the getting....
http://www.pubexec.com/aggregatedcontent/the-web-is-dead-long-live-internet

Facebook Checks In to the World of Locations

The 800-pound gorilla of social networks, Facebook, is jumping into the location game.
On Wednesday, it announced a new, optional service for its 500 million members called Places, which allows you to check in to various places you go, and share that information with your Facebook friends, complete with maps and comments and the Facebook thumbs-up "like" feature.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748703649004575437533304450888-lMyQjAxMTAwMDEwODExNDgyWj.html

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Intel to Buy McAfee

Intel agreed to pay $7.68 billion to acquire computer-security software maker McAfee, aiming to boost the chip giant's own online and wireless computing efforts.
http://online.wsj.com/home-page?mod=djemalertTECH

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Wear wristwatch? Use e-mail? Not for Class of '14

MILWAUKEE – For students entering college this fall, e-mail is too slow, phones have never had cords and the computers they played with as kids are now in museums.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100817/ap_on_re_us/us_mindset_list

Friday, August 13, 2010

Cable Firms Eye Tablet Space

More TV shows and movies may be coming to tablet computers like Apple Inc.'s iPad—for those who pay to watch.
At least seven of the ten largest subscription-TV providers in the U.S. are building new tablet-computer applications that offer select TV shows and movies to their existing subscribers, often for little or no additional fee.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Atlantic's September Issue Grabs Attention of On-Line Readers


The September issue of The Atlantic garnered over 40,000 Facebook likes for on-line content and over 1,660 comments on their main hardcopy story.  Their piece from dispatches, "Rent a White Guy" was just as well read on-line as was their main cover piece, with almost 10,000 Facebook likes.  Competitors of The Atlantic, despite incorporating celebrities into their cover pieces, were unable to generate much interest on-line.  Vanity Fair and Wired reported just 95 and 33 comments respectively.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Friendly Advice To My Friends Heading Magazine Companies

Three people I respect a great deal now lead the big magazine companies: David Carey (ex Condé) at Hearst, Bob Sauerberg at Condé, and now Jack Griffin at Time Inc. — and I’ll add Justin Smith at Atlantic:
 

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Rolling Stone and Zinio Launch First Integrated iPad and iTunes Issue

Zinio today introduced a new, interactive release of Rolling Stone: 500 Greatest Songs of All Time on its cross-device Zinio Unity platform....
View more at...
http://www.pubexec.com/article/rolling-stone-zinio-launch-first-integrated-ipad-itunes-issue/1

Monday, July 26, 2010

Closing the Tech Divide

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3ic193b6eacf48409b7457a8f35b5c1478