Australian Newsagency Blog

Check out the graphicdesigner blog for journalist layoffs by newspaper publishers in the US this year.  It’s gruesome and indicates the impact of disruption on old media.

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The LA Times is now available for the Amazon Kindle Reader according to the LA Times blog.  This is another step in the evolution of news distribution.

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Canberra-based lip magazine re-launches with its 15th issue as a print-on-demand product. The press release has a strong pitch as to why print on demand is a compelling proposition for magazines:
While a few magazines may be going green — using recycled paper, soy based inks and implementing greener business practices — traditional magazine publishing […]

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Two interesting news items about e-paper / e-ink this week:

Ryosuke Kuwata, E Ink Corp’s vice president in charge of the Asia Pacific region claims that electronic newspapers could be as close as next year according to Tech On.
Dutch company Polymer Vision has demonstrated the first prototype of a rollable full colour display.

Newsagents need […]

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iMotor is the latest digital magazine title from Dennis publishing. The company announced the July launch Tuesday. iMotor will be free and published fortnightly. It will be a sure hit, these folks at Dennis are smart when it comes to digital magazines - iGizmo and Monkey have .

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Check out the good news story at Cnet about two charitable organisations supporting journalism projects. These projects reflect an acceptance that it is journalism which needs to be protected more so than the print medium.

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Texterity has announced the launch of a new magazine service making free digital editions of magazines available for subscribers of the companion print product.  This is an interesting move on several fronts: it sets FREE as the price point for digital editions of magazines, it subtly invites print consumers to migrate online and helps find […]

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Death knell sounds for CDs published by The Globe and Mail in Canada is a story worth reading.  The opening two paragraphs offer chilling reading for any music retailer.
The compact disc has less than three years left in its reign atop the music industry in Canada, with new data on music sales indicating the download […]

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MagCloud is a new easy way to publish your own magazine. You create the content, upload a PDF and they take care of physical fulfillment including printing using the Indigo technology from HP. This is a similar approach to the self publishing sites which handle books which are printed on demand. All […]

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The publisher of Inc. magazine tested a new pricing model with 5,000 potential subscribers by inviting them to decide the price they would pay for a subscription. Athena Schindelheim reports in Inc. that the test was a dud. It is an interesting test for a magazine publisher though.

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Steve Outing writing at reinventingclassifieds.com speculates that the Apple iPhone could be a good platform through which to deliver access to smart classifieds.  His Garage Sale example demonstrates how the iPhone and other similarly enabled devices can kill many categories of print classifieds once handset use is widespread:
Design a garage sale iPhone app that will […]

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The Age yesterday had this flyer inserted with the newspaper. This is a clever promotion around access to The Age through Telstra BigPond on a mobile phone.
I am thinking of framing the flyer and putting it on the wall to remind me and others about the future of news distribution. Newsagents need this […]

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Fairfax launched WAToday online newspaper for the WA market yesterday. WAToday joins Perth Now, an online paper launched by News Ltd last year and Perth Norg, a citizen journalism site service Western Australia.
Not so long ago a publisher wanting to enter the market would have needed printing presses and an expensive distribution infrastructure.  Today, the […]

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The Associated Press’ Benjamin Mosse shows off Local News Network. Allows you to retrieve local news based on your location. Can also pull up sports, entertainment and business news. You can also check out pictures and videos from AP. You can also send in news tips and accounts of breaking news straight from your iPhone. […]

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Computerworld has published an excellent article by David DeJean on e-paper. The future of e-paper is “excellent” because it is an excellent entry point for people new to e-paper, providing some good background material. Newsagents ought to read about developments around this technology in which several publishers have invested. The final paragraph […]

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The Washington Post Company has announced it will launch a new unit focused solely on online magazines. Fairfax and News here in Australia have made similar moves in the newspaper space in Brisbane and Perth respectively - creating online only products for new markets. These are smart moves as they reflect an understanding […]

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In the next 10 years, the whole world of media, communications and advertising are going to be turned upside down — my opinion. Here are the premises I have. Number one, there will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network. There will be no newspapers, […]

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Dennis Publishing’s iGizmo ezine is a hit according to the numbers from the company, launching with 100,000 subscribers. iGizmo is for boys who love gadgets and consumer technology. It’s from the people who publish Monkey - a hugely successful ezine.
Think about it newsagents, two magazine brands and not a drop of ink or […]

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“I just love communicating with people, whether print, TV, print, mobile and others. Print will be there for at least 20 years, and outlive me.” The quote is from Rupert Murdoch speaking at the D Conference in New York a few days ago.  He also called Google “the greatest company in America”.  PaidContent has more.

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Kevin Maney, writing at Portfolio, picks up on Chris Anderson’s thesis that $0.00 is the future of business.  Maney sends s shiver down the spine of music retailers and says songs should be free.  While music is some years ahead of stories and articles in experiencing disruption to the traditional distribution model, the challenges will […]

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mX, the daily newspaper from News Ltd is set to launch a mobile version of the newspaper according to B&T.  This will use editorial content from the print edition packaged for consumption through mobile devices.

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The Age on May 23 ran a cartoon by Wiley which showed a chap reading the poster in front of a newsstand
Today in The Times. Print media isn’t dead. Go to our website for the whole story.
I thought it was funny and didn’t think much more about it. Gaye Lebardon writing at […]

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Microsoft has launched a cashback offer for consumers purchasing items found through its Live Search platform.  While this is a US only roll out, I’d expect it to hit other markets eventually.  This offer demonstrates another step in the maturity of online shopping.

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YouTube has launched Citizen News, a citizen journalism channel.  The YouTube mission for the channel “is to make the site a go-to destination for news on the web”.
Citizen News is further evidence of the media distribution channel being turned on its ear.  The distance from content maker to consumer is shorter than event thanks to […]

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The Independent is reporting that the world’s first e-newspaper is to commence a trial in France next week. Based on the Read&Go device from Orange, this is an innovative move. Check the YouTube demonstration of Read&Go from Orange at You Tube:

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