I actually saw this on the nightly news last night when visiting my parents: a video making the rounds on YouTube featuring a 1-year-old who plays with an iPad, then gets confused and disappointed when paper magazines don’t respond the same way to being tapped or slid on. “For my 1-year-old daughter, a magazine is an iPad that does not work,” says the video’s poster. “It will remain so for her whole life. Steve Jobs has coded a part of her OS.” On the other hand, he could be reading too much into it. One of the...

As Hurricane Irene approaches the upper east coast, property damage is of course a key concern—but Hurricane Irene is also, at least temporarily, knocking down some virtual walls—paywalls. Laura Hazard Owen reports on PaidContent that the New York Times and Newsday.com are both making hurricane coverage available to all readers for free. E-magazine service Zinio is also offering free issues of several electronic magazines to travelers stranded by the hurricane. Of course, the usefulness of these free services depends on people being able to keep their connectivity during the storm. USA Today has a guide suggesting ways for...

From the press release: Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, announced today it is enhancing its best-in-class NOOK Newsstand, giving NOOK Color customers even more interactive versions of the country's favorite magazines and newspapers.  With the addition of top titles including FORTUNE, PEOPLE, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, TIME, Parents and Fitness magazines, Barnes & Noble now offers more top 100 magazines than any other digital newsstand service.  These newly added titles include a selection of interactive special editions optimized for NOOK Color's stunning 7-inch color touchscreen with all the print magazine...

From Mobileburn: Starting with next months issue, Reader's Digest will be the latest print magazine to offer regular monthly editions for Apple's iPad tablet. Readers will be able to subscribe to the digital magazine for a full year, or purchase issues individually. Reader's Digest is offering six months of the iPad version for free to those who have subscribed to the print edition of the magazine. After that, users will need to fork over $1.99 per issue, or $14.99 for a yearly subscription to continue reading the magazine on their iPads. ...

The mediaIDEAS blog is publishing the results of the Spring, 2011 American Magazine Study done by Affinity.  Here are the top 10: Affinity Managing Director Tom Robinson considers “most innovative” to be an especially telling attribute in terms of looking at theprospects for digital magazines, because, “magazines are now competing with all of the content and advertising available in digital form, not just their traditional set of print competitors. Only those brands that leverage the latest technologies in creative ways and offer consumers interactive and meaningful experiences will stand out among digital users.” Most Innovative Digital Magazines 1. Dwell 2. Popular Science 3. Architectural Digest 4....

That the title if an article in the mediaIDEAS blog.  The author says that The New Yorker, unlike many digital magazines, is doing very well.  Why? However, The New Yorker is actually doing quite well. It currently has a readership of 100,000 on the iPad. And 20 percent of those are paying $60 per year for a subscription. Their secret? According to Deputy editor Pamela Maffei McCarthy, less is more. With The New Yorker still growing, however, it looks like it has stumbled on a formula for success. What’s the key? Keeping it simple, apparently. Deputy editor Pamela Maffei McCarthy said the magazine’s goal...

From the press release: SAMURAI.JP, a quarterly magazine aimed at transmitting Japanese culture to the rest of the world, launched an electronic version in English on August 5. By providing true and revealing descriptions of Japanese culture, it seeks to deepen the understanding of people around the world about Japan. SAMURAI.JP hopes that its presentation of Japanese culture will also motivate Japanese people to think about their identity and tradition. About SAMURAI.JP SAMURAI.JP  is not just another magazine about Japan. It aims to depict Japanese spirit to both Japanese people and foreigners, and that is what makes it different. Post-disaster Japan as seen today appears stalled with...

From Ebook Magazine: Library users in the UK will soon be able to enjoy digital versions of their favourite magazines thanks to a partnership between audiobook distributer Recorded Books and digital mag retailer Zinio. The two companies will make available a ‘Zinio for Libraries’ service which gives patrons access to magazines via their library card. The service will also be available in the United States, Canada and Australia. Zinio already sells digital and interactive magazines via its website for reading on PCs and laptops and via apps for the iPad and Android devices. The company also powers branded single-title iPad apps for magazine...

AMAZON IMPROVES KINDLE PERIODICAL SUBSCRIPTION RULES AND PROCESSESIn May 2009, I complained here (and in reviews) about Amazon's restrictive subscription rules for the sharing of periodical subscriptions and access to older-issues, which affected newspapers like the NYTimes Sunday editions also) when upgrading or replacing Kindles.  Older magazine subscription issues (vs single issues)that we've purchased can't be re-downloaded (the way a Kindle book can) to an upgraded or replaced Kindle if the issues are older than the last 7 issues or 14 dailies.  They can't be even  when a customer has opted to "Keep" older issues on one Kindle but  then needs to...

From an email I received: Yale Publishing Course Leadership Strategies in a Time of TransitionMagazine Publishing: Print and Digital Book Publishing: Print and Digital July 10 - 15, 2011                                             July 24 - 29, 2011 There are just a few weeks left to enroll in this unique program. Past participants have hailed as a transformative experience in their publishing careers. (click here for their comments) Apply now! Enrollment is limited Our carefully selected speakers will address the most pressing issues facing publishers today and offer cutting-edge insights on how to meet the challenges of...

z From the MediaIDEAS' Blog: Zinio has announced the release of its new magazine newsstand app for Android tablets running 3.0 Honeycomb or higher. With it, comes access to over 20,000 magazines covering a variety of topics. Zinio’s app will sync a user’s magazine collection over multiple devices, so that they can easily access it no matter what device they use. Titles available in the Zinio app include Road & Track, Rolling Stone, ELLE, and BlackBook. Zinio is sweetening the deal for early adopters by giving them 24 of the top magazines’ latest issues for free through June 15. Included with the app through...

That's what he says in a long interview in Ad Age.  Here's the relevant question: Ad Age: What's your take on selling magazines on the iPad and other tablets? Mr. Wenner: It's the same pretty much as I've said about the web. The tablet itself is a really fun device. Some people are going to enjoy it a lot and use it. Some people aren't. On this plane one person's traveling with a tablet, one's not. There's a certain trendiness to the...