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2/28/2008 - 1/8/2009
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7 Cases to Show You How Digital Publishing Does Not Compete With Print By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 1/6/2009 12:00:21 PM
Sorry for stating in the title what's obvious to you educated readers. But after reading a highly qualified rant by Kassia Krozser's over at Booksquare, it's clear that publishers think differently. Luckily Kassia spells it out to them: Ebooks are a new, different market. You, dear publishers, have been given that rarest of gifts: a new revenue stream (think: home video for the motion picture business). These books are not competition. While there are more than a few readers who would love the luxury of choice of format/style/device when it comes to purchasing and reading books (you’re reading one), the ebook customer is different than the print book customer. Even if your ebook sales are growing by leaps and bounds each quarter, they’re nowhere near the volume that print achieves. Now while this post mostly deals with the sale and pricing of commercial ebooks, it does very much touch the issue of how publishers tackle new media. Hopefully the myth of (free or lowcost) digital distribution cannibalizing on print sales is no longer alive, intelligibly, in the publishing industry. But putting that knowledge into action is the problem we're facing now: Show me the publisher that actually has to guts to take the consequence of that knowledge? OK, I'll show you. The more cases we can bring to light, the more we can show publishers that digital (doesn't have to) hurt. I should add that in practice the web with it's wonderful and often buggy or inadequate technologies, almost never delivers readymade solutions. Rather, the publisher needs to shop around, research and put together his own patchwork of services, applications, widgets, websites and social networks. And I think it's figuring out
the right mix for the individual publisher that makes the jump to digital harder than it ought to be. A few cases of digital publishing I really like 1. Bantam Dell(A Random House Division) These guys know they have great writers. Taking on the same approach as film companies; the most powerful marketing tool here being the movie trailer; Bantam Dell is showcasing excerpts of upcoming book. Sounds trivial? They are also building complete brand experiences around their books, and a few days ago they even launched an entire platform for crime fiction. Their previous book launched this way made the NYT bestseller list directly as number three. So, obviously they're doing something right. 2. JPG Mag Although it may or may not be headed for the deadpool, it's a fantastic way of using the web (in essence a social community for photosharing) to leverage discussion and data accumulation (photo submissions). The finest of all that goes into print, which many are inclined to buy, to see if their shots made the final cut. I had a few comments on that in relation to a recent Scoble post. 3. Amsterdam Weekly Facing an impending shortage of funding, English language newspaper Amsterdam Weekly decided to fight. They first split up the magazine into bits and pieces and sold it to their readers. They then published the next edition, without the unsold bits! It may have been a gimmick to generate buzz, but nonetheless they are still here, 10 months later, and very much in both digital and print. 4. Boxoffice Published since the 1920, Boxoffice is probably the oldest movie magazine out there. Today it's a free magazine, but what about that massive back catalog? Instead of
collecting dust somewhere, it should be collecting new readers online. And that's what they did: They OCR'd the non-digital issues and uploaded the whole thing ( 2716 issues so far) to Issuu. Not just excerpts, but the whole thing. For instance, when the new version of The Day the Earth Stood Still came out, I used this archive to find the original review from 1951! Now all their magazines are 'marketing' Boxoffice's website and is very much findable on Google etc. When readers go to the website, they will actually be asked to subscribe to read the latest issue online, and those signups is very valuable for building the membership base (something which was much harder to do, without the promise of free content). I addition, all those digital clicks are monitored and will make a better case, next time they have to pitch to advertises. A few more 5. Freedarko created mindblowing widgets, with preview chapters of their NBA book that were quickly embedded on top-notch blogs resulting in hundreds of thousands views. 6. Standerd magazine took all their back issues online, created a highly customized environment that fit their brand, and used the real estate to show some love to their sponsors and fish for more subscribers. 7. Bike to Work is a selfpublished book, that relies solely on social media, blogging, podcasting and digital publishing to market itself. The book isn't out yet, but the buzz is picking up. Certainly any publisher, corporate or freelancer, could learn how to start conversations by observing a certain Carlton Reid, one of the two co-authors. Now, while all the cases to some extent are using Issuu and Issuu Platform(full disclosure: I'm very much part of Issuu), I mention these cases mainly because I have first
hand knowledge of them. But Issuu is just one of the tools publishers should use, and there are a number of similar services out there (Calameo, Yudu, Zmags etc.). But what's important to stress, is that publishers need to embrace more than one of the popular digital services to successfully market their content (be it new, upcoming or old). Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, to just name a few of the obviuos. The good news is that most of them are free, fun and pretty harmless (but potentially very effective) once you get the hang of it. So, jump in, that's really the only way to learn what it's all about. What's the worst that could happen? Too many inbound links you didn't get before? I often feel like publishers think in opposite terms: Do we go with A) digital or B) print, where one seem to rule out the other. In reality, the shift to digital is not about choosing A or B, but finding out: What's the core value of your publishing business and how do you use print AND digital (and whatever else you can think of) to get that value to the market and convert it to dollars. Digital is not the opposite of print, it's a supplement, and understanding what it can do is what still is needed on the part of the publishers. On a final note, I should add that all the examples are with either free, adbased or promotional content. Why? Because on the web, free is by far the most successful approach: Show people something they want to see, then find a way to make money from that attention. Not the other way around, which, I'm afraid, most publishers are accustomed to (service announcement: If you want to go the old route online, charging before enticing, you could use a service like Zinio, although I think you would get more out of mixing the strategies mentioned above).
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Google... But Were Afraid to Ask By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 12/12/2008 4:39:52 PM
Following my lengthy pos t yesterday, about Google Book Search, I thought I'd take a look at the mother company itself. I'd like to share a fresh presentation made by FaberNovel that shows how Google will be unaffected by the financial crisis, and, more interestingly, why they're focusing so aggressively on
the mobile space (hint: it has to do with open vs. closed). The complete index is as follows: • Why won’t Google be affected by the crisis ? • Why is Google trying to change the mobile world ? • Why isn’t YouTube a content portal ? • Why does Microsoft fear Google ? • How Google wants to compete with Facebook ?
• Why is Google buying satellites ? • How does Google buy traffic ? • Why did Google acquire DoubleClick ? • Why doesn’t Google monetize all its services ? • How does Google capitalize on Open Source developers work • How did Google capture the offline advertising market ? • Why is Google stealing our voices ?
• Is PageRank a really competitive advantage ? • How does Google turn advertising into information and performance ? Please enjoy! Open big version. Published under Creative Commons. Embedded in a simple iframe using a customized Issuu skin found here.
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The Rolls-Royce of Document Formats: PDF By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 9/2/2008 6:10:54 PM
I did an interview for PDF Zone about PDF and Issuu. It had a lot of interesting questions about the current and future use of PDF in the wake of the Internet, that didn't make it in the final interview. PDF is a defacto standard format, that you either love or hate; but you simply cannot underestimate the impact it's had on publishing and knowledge sharing in the digital age! PDF is the Rolls-Royce of document formats: It's one of the strongest and most qualitative formats of the 'desktop era'; it has aged gracefully and is still going strong as we enter the online era, not least because of services like Issuu that complements PDF with the usability and social features that the rich Internet enables. So, I thought I'd post my answers here, in a briefly edited version, keeping the Q&A structure. It's pretty lengthy, but use the questions as headlines to fastforward. Here goes: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the PDF format. And how can Issuu complement? PDF an 'old' format from the desktop era, and while it's great for containing information, it's not always perfect for sharing and consuming that information. First of all, downloading 100 pages to find out that you were only interested in 1 page (or maybe none) is never ideal, no matter how fast your internet connection is and how much storage space you have available. Secondly, by distributing your content as PDF-download, copyright holders must realize that they allow people to make copies, and by that they lose control over content. These are two structural problems Issuu solves: If you search for
something on Issuu (or via Google) you are taken directly to the relevant page without the need to download the entire publication. In fact, download is not even an option, which is why copyright holders remain in control of the content, and still get the viral and distribution benefits you would otherwise, with Issuu's many sharing and embedding options. Another major advantage, Issuu has over a standard PDF, is our social and viral features where content is distributed intuitively and without unnecessary friction - and also very much outside Issuu via our sharing/embedding features. Finally it's also important to understand that we have an effective Google indexing and paired with our high Google rank, your content will be much more visible altogether, compared to just putting a PDF on a website with a lower Google rank. We at Issuu are very much fans of PDF, and it's fair to say, we wouldn't be the same business without it. Recently we launched our AJAX based viewer, called Paper ( example), that looks just like a classic PDF viewer: It shows the content and not much else! Another cool thing about this, is that it doesn't need Flash at all, which must be a first in the world of online publications. It also means publications can be read on iPhones and mobiles. What is the future of PDF? Is it here forever, or, like all software, is it just holding down the fort until something a lot better comes along? Like any de-facto standard it will remain relevant for a long, long time. It's hard to image a new universal digital document format, that will carry text and images across computers, platforms and readers as well and efficient as PDF. There might be competing formats with better data or image compression etc., but I really don't
think it's the ability to contain information that is being challenged in the future of PDF; rather it's the ability to safely distribute that information online, and let people interact and re-distribute it throughout the internet, including social networks, without losing control over copyrighted material. And let's not forget, that for quality content, which is Issuu's focus, you need specialized applications to create that content, but PDF is what makes it possible for anyone to read it. In a sense Issuu only boosts that process online, and as such we are dependent on PDF. We will however add support for more formats soon, but PDF will probably be the main source of the highest quality content for a long time to come. Where I see the nemesis the PDF format arriving from, is with services such as Aviary, where the actual content production tools themselves are shifting towards online. This will happen more and more, and it means that you essentially skip the need for PDF. But like any shifts in media behavior, formats and standards live on side-by-side and an 'Export to PDF' feature will probably always be high in demand by anyone wanting to store a copy of their work on a local hard drive. And on a final note, anyone having visited a print shop or worked in publishing will know how immensely important PDF is, when it comes to ensuring the right look in print. That's an important part of the origin of PDF and that probably won't change any time soon. Is the commercial ebook market alive, dead, in stasis, or will it forever be a small niche? Just like the MP3 needed it's iPod, the ebook needs a good portable reader. Publications are best read in a comfy armchair or on the beach, and even the most minuscule laptop just doesn't provide the same feel and
portability as a great book. Small batteries with longer life span, flexible screens with high contrast and low power consumption combined with wifi will pave the way for the ultimate portable ebook reader. But it shouldn't just read ebooks, because who wants just that? That's why MP3 players and phones have merged successfully; we want multiple functionality in the same device. Certainly Issuu and other services have proven that digital books and magazines are hot stuff that people want, if only they get it how they want it. The right ebook gadget will boost the ebook market. The Kindle looks promising, but maybe something like TechCrunch's take on a tablet PC will be even more suitable, as it's not just for reading books, but consuming all kinds of online content. And if the price is low enough, I'd even consider taking it to the beach too. Another thing is ebook pricing. People won't pay full price for digital copies, and ad-financing will most likely be an important factor. Which is another important reason for having Wifi in the device, so advertisers can serve relevant and timely ads that are the least intrusive to consumers. Finally, I sometimes just don't think the ebook developers realize how versatile the use of an ordinary book is. I write comments on pages, fold pages, insert bookmarks, highlight and so on. All that needs to be worked into the ebook interface, and be just as easy as doing it in a book. When that interface is ready, you could imagine building all sorts of knowledge aggregating and sharing tools on top of it - but you need to get the basics right first.
Why The Publishing Industry Needs a DRMfree iTunes for Publications By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 12/9/2008 5:17:15 PM
Anyone interested in music and literature - and the impact of technology on both - keep making the digital music analogy: It took a decade for the music industry to learn how to make money in the digital era, and for the most part they were whining about about it and fighting digital formats and distribution, instead of turning the new technology into an advantage. Now the publishing industry needs to get their act together, learn from the music industry and their mistakes and apply all of that to their own world. But what exactly were the mistakes being made, and how do they apply to digital publishing? I've been digging into the current discussions within the publishing industry itself. I came across this post on Medialoper by Kirk Biglione mentioning a DRM
presentation he held at O'Reilly's TOC. Even though it's a few months old now, it sums up the myths and facts about DRM, while fleshing out the music industry analogy a bit more. I find it worth posting here, as the DRM discussion is very much alive in the publishing industry today, even though music sales clearly have demonstrated that it's bad for business. It's not that I don't see why: Publishers are par excellence creators of original content and they will take any measure necessary to protect their livelihood. However, the digital era is ultimately not about copying but about permission ( as I've mentioned before), and that's how you should build your business today. I think the presentation below sums that up nicely: Give the consumers what they want, and find a way to make money on that.
Here's what I took away from the presentation below • Consumers are not pirates. Give them what they want, and where/how they want it, and they will pay for it. If you fail to do this, consumers will go elsewhere ( Mygazines would be a dirty examples of that 'elsewhere' in the world of publishing) • DRM is a plague to consumers and any positive effects on sales and copyright are a complete illusions • iTunes showed us the way as they focused on the consumers • iTunes represents a new form of restriction, 'golden handcuffs' • The presentation indirectly dubs the Kindle the publishing industry's savior. I do not agree completely: While the perfect publicationreplacement device is definitely essential to the success of digital print (like the iPod was to iTunes), one single device will not cut it alone. I anticipate a more universal approach,
where publications becomes more web-friendly, and the web become more mobile-friendly. Already there's a neat app, TextonPhone, that I enjoy very much on my Google-Phone, and I see no reason this won't explode in 2009 with more than just free/public domain text-based publications. While I'm pretty sure that the publishing industry cannot completely copy the model of music, mainly because reading is different that listening, an iTunes for publications is not that hard to imagine: Search and find articles, excerpts or entire works, and pay per view/hour/unlimited access - or get free access sponsored by ads/video/etc. Now, please enjoy Kirk's presentation below. DRM, Digital Content, and the Consumer Experience: Lessons Learned From The Music Industry
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How Google Book Search Turns Publications Into "Marketing" And Why We Should (Moderately) Love Them for It By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 12/12/2008 10:56:22 AM
Google Book Search, the not-socatchy name for probably the biggest undertaking in history towards the complete digitalization of print-based knowledge, just announced that they'll now be hosting magazine content in addition to books. An example. Popular Mechanics is a magazine that's been published for a century. Think of all that knowledge, locked in that impractical printed format. You'll need a physical copy, which is hard to come by, and you'll actually have to browse it with your hands and eyes to obtain knowledge from it. It's a dirty and timeconsuming process, that only bibliophiles can appreciate. Right? Not anymore. Following the announcement you can now go to the archive of Popular Mechanics on Google Book Search. Every issue from 1905 till 2005 is now available in visual and digitized format. What this means is that someone with a helluva lot time on their hands (Google) have scanned the old printed copies and extracted text from that (a process called OCR). Effectively it makes the words searchable and indexable by Google. This is where it gets mindbogglingly interesting. All those pages and their knowledge are now readily available at the tip of your fingers, effectively from any device with web access. It's an amazing source of historical knowledge, and, just as important, it's displayed visually exactly as it was back then, which tells us just as much about an era as the text-based knowledge alone. What does Google get out it? Google wants to organize all the information in the world, they say. Essentially it means putting it online on their servers, display it the way they want to and finance everything with their ads so common people like you and me can access it freely. The inclusion of books, and now magazines, is just another step in this direction and as a forward moving and enlightened society we should be happy. For the most part. For instance, yesterday I scanned the ISBN barcode on the back of an old Oscar Wilde anthology with my Android phone G1, and it instantly takes me to Google Book search,
where I can search the full text of the thousand page book directly through my smart phone. I guess I don't have to tell you about the benefits for students and scholars alike. The uses of digital public domain information is only on the verge of being discovered, as we move on collectively, refining the way human and knowledge interacts. ( Image link) What we could be worried about, is gathering all that knowledge in the hands of one institution that in no way is unaffected by financial and selfish considerations. Whoever controls the flow of information, holds the power. While Google notoriously claims to do no evil, I think the realistic conclusion is that they probably are the lesser of evils currently available. In a world of online media and constantly broadcasting citizens, doing evil wouldn't go unnoticed, and Google knows that. Companies loves online advertising for the user metrics and convenience, and Google Adwords have made a
science of providing just that. As adoption grows rapidly, Google needs even more real estate to keep pricing low. Anyone having created an Adwords campaign recently, quickly spots ridiculously high prices for the popular keywords (try 'magazine' on for size). A few years back, it wasn't like that, and I'm pretty sure Book Search is part of the same strategy that leads Google to buy up social networks too. Should we mind that Google makes money? There's definitely strong forces against Google, even bordering on paranoia. Recently I discovered the EU-funded Europeana, a European counterpart to Book Search, trying to organize important knowledge in European culture ( background). As they launched last month, their servers crashed, allegedly getting 10 millions hits in an hour. Would that have happened with Google infrastructure? What do the publishers get out of it? Google promises protection, sales and visibility to publishers who share
their content on Book Search. Publications are used as 'marketing' material, driving online sales or interested readers to the publishing company's webpage. Going back to the example of Popular Mechanics, here's what you see in the sidebar: Since the 1970 issue isn't on sale anymore, Hearst is getting some linklove when people click the red logo (takes them here). I don't know if they get a cut of the ad revenue generated by the sponsored links above, but I think it would only be fair, as the full issue is made available. I find all this extremely interesting. From a gloomy perspective, you could say that by making full publications available to drive traffic to your services, you turn good and clean information into marketing material. I'd say that advertising is already a fact of life and only by improving the quality, significance and relevance of the marketed message can you transform advertising into useful information. And that is what I see Google doing with the context-sensitive Adwords, and now books and magazines on Book Search. Book Search has been years in the making already. Just imagine the hours of sheer copyright negotiations that has been spent with the 20,000 publishers now on board. It hasn't been easy, and the project was on trial, which was just settled. I for one would like to see the publishing industry play a much more proactive role in all of this. Everyone knows they own the content, which it's all about, but seen from the outside it's as if the industry doesn't really get the big picture. Instead you see the industry go crazy when one company launches an iPhone app. What remains to be seen is if Google can pull this off fast enough before someone else does (like it happened with Google Video that actually launched before YouTube) and if Google can make Book Search attractive enough for people outside the research/historical field (it could go down just as Google Catalogs that conceptually holds potential but seems reluctant to launch for real). These are indeed interesting times.
Gerd Leonhard gets online music licensing right By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 6/30/2008 9:49:33 PM
He's a fast talker, but author/futurist Gerd Leonhard gets it right: The future of music is not really about copyright but about permission (we are not copying - we are using). Now 'all' we need to do, is persuade the major labels. One positive example is Danish ISP TDC(Danish only, sorry)
who bought the licenses for a million songs and bundled them for download with their flatrate broadband service. I don't particular like TDC, but it's a step in the right direction, and according to Danish copyright agency, KODA(as stated in the editorial of the latest issue of their members' magazine) the international community has taken great interest in the flatrate model.
Here is Leonhard's own list of topics covered in the video below: * An actual distinction between ‘Copy’ vs ‘Performance’ of digital content no longer exists * Even if it did: the sole ‘Selling of Copies’ is no longer a growing business, or a sustainable model * The exclusive right to ‘make copies’ is becoming impossible to enforce
* Criminalization of Sharing and Policing of Web-Access is not the kind of ‘Justice’ our society can afford * New Permissions & ‘UsageRights’ for Digital Music can and will solve this problem Books by Leonhard Via his blog
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T-Mobile G1 i Danmark. Hvorfor vente på Google-phone, når du kan få den nu? By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 1/6/2009 11:20:24 AM
(This text is about getting and using the new G1 phone in Denmark. Thus, I've kept it in Danish). Kan du huske, da du først så techflippere flashe den tidlige version af iPhone? Selv husker jeg den øjeblikkelige tech-craving og efterfølgende -lede forårsaget af min ældgamle (men dog yderst sjældne) Samsung P300. Ak, min var mindre end deres! Nuvel. Den nye G1 er større end iPhone. Der står Google på den. Den har fuldt tastatur og touch-screen. Og så fås den endnu ikke officielt i Danmark! Læs med nedenfor, hvordan og hvorfor du skal få fingrene i den på disse breddegrader så sjældne gPhone. Mere insider-agtigt bliver det simpelthen ikke i Danmark. Til sammenligning har nu selv min rengøringsdame fået en iPhone og taler ligesom alle andre om at smide ting op i 'clouden' (eller 'skyen' som hun kalder det). Sødt. Det er ikke en gadget. Det er et superhot operativsystem G1 kører på det nye Androidstyresystem, som Google står bag. Det er Open Source, hvilket nok er hot i sig selv, men samtidig er G1 den eneste mobil, der p.t. kører Android. U-l-t-r-a-h-o-t. Efter et par timers brug fremstår iPhone som en ren gadget, sammenlignet med gPhones usabilitylyksageligheder. Et par highlights: Med G1 er man ikke trælbundet til iTunes. Man kan købe og afspille DRM-fri musik. Man kan downloade filer fra enhver webside og styre det hele med en fil-manager. Ja, tænk en gang: Man kan slette filer direkte fra mobilen (wow!), og man fører allehånde filer direkte over via USB uden ekstra software, ganske som med en USB-stick, hvorefter man naturligvis kan afspille dem på telefonen. For tekst-junkier er der endnu større glæde i vente: Man kan highlighte, kopiere og paste tekst, links og billeder. Perfekt, hvis du vil blogge, tweete og alt det der, der knapt findes nydanske ord for endnu. Alt sammen simple ting, vi næsten har glemt værdien af i vores kollektive iPhone-rus. Og samtidig er der masser af spændende apps,
YouTube, Facebook og alt det andet 'social non-working' som vi elsker. Nettet i dine hænder Hvis du, som jeg, er totalt Gmailslave (and lovin' it) er der naturligvis ikke andet valg. G1/Android er skræddersyet til alle Googles services, og det er en lise for sjælen at mærke, hvordan nettet og alle dine data fuldt ud bliver mobile med gPhone i hånden. Android er fra bunden designet både som en mobil og en yderst web-integreret desktop, og det gør ubetinget stor lykke, når du står med den i hænderne. For et par år siden testede og anmeldte jeg de nyeste mobiler i verden. Det var ikke kønt: Mobilproducenterne holdt utvivlsomt udviklingen kunstigt nede (så sælger man flere telefoner!) og samtidig var teknologien endnu ikke helt klar til virkelig at gøre internettet allestedsnærværende. Mest af alt handlede det om megapixelkameraer, skærmstørrelser og andre tekniske ligegyldigheder, der alligevel ikke kunne redde en travls kommunikatørs hverdag. iPhone, og nu gPhone, kommer fra helt andre boldgader og producenter, og det kan mærkes! gPhone bliver konstant forbedret af tusindvis af udviklere verden over, drevet af lige
dele entusiasme og Googles $10 mio. i præmier til de bedste applikationer. Et par praktiske råd T-Mobile G1 er som sagt ikke til salg i Danmark. Nogle mener, den kommer i 2009, andre mener, den slet ikke kommer (hvilket blot gør din G1 endnu mere totalt übercool). Uanset hvad, kommer der andre telefoner med Android i en meget nær fremtid. Og det er utvivlsomt her, Googles satsning på et styresystem frem for en gadget, vil komme til sin ret. Jeg købte min G1 ulåst fra USA via Ebay, af en vis Mr_Kemikal, der taler charmerende asiatisk engelsk og yder upåklagelig support. Sælgeren har typisk brugt en dummy Gmail account for at låse telefonen op - den kan du fjerne ved at nulstille til fabriks-instillinger. Herefter starter du blot på ny, hvor du lige skal indtaste din mobiludbyders APN (access point name). APN-menuen kommer frem ved at trykke Menu i opstartsproceduren. Jeg bruger Telmore, og her skulle jeg blot indtaste 'internet' og var kørende Jeg gav 540 $ hos min kemiske ven, der til sammenligning tager 740 $ for en ulåst (= oplåst) iPhone. Herefter gik der 770 kr. til told og 500 kr. for et 16 GB micro-SD kort). Alt i alt
under 5000 kr, hvilket endda er billigere end en iPhone, samlet set. Til sidst skal det siges, at jeg faktisk synes iPhone er fantastisk, bortset fra nogle af de små, men irriterende begrænsninger nævnt ovenfor. Jeg er selv stor Mac fan og har sågar iPod Touch, Macbook og MacMini i maskinparken, så mit ærinde er bestemt ikke at disse the big Apple. Vi oplever i disse dage en revolution i hvordan teknologi, mennesker og data interagerer, og hvordan internettet bliver allestedsnærværende, på grænsen til det usynlige. Uanset om der står I eller G på din smart phone, så er det simpelthen bare interessant at være med. Nyttige links http://myworld.ebay.com/mr_ kemikal(henvis til mig+denne post hvis du køber her, så får du super betjening). http://www.android.com/ http://www.t-mobileg1.com/ http://support.t-mobile.com/ knowbase/root/public/tm30234. pdf(manualen - tjek den en gang man kan lave sindssygt meget, især med shortcuts).
Only $10.5 Billion to Save the Book Industry: Lay Off 137,500 American Writers
Recommend someone for Issuu and win an iPhone 3G
By Martin Ferro-Thomsen
By Martin Ferro-Thomsen
Submitted at 12/13/2008 7:20:40 PM
According to Paul Greenberg in New York TImes, it could cost as little as $10.5 billion to solve the writing crisis. " According to the industry tracker Bowker, about 275,000 new titles and editions are published in the United States each year. Let's say we want to
eliminate half of them. Assuming it takes about two years to write your average book, we would offer book writers two years of salary at the writers' average annual income of $38,000 a year. Add it all up and you get a paltry $10.5 billion to dramatically reduce the book overcapacity." He makes an interesting argument that the crisis in publishing partly is owed to
"overcapacity": Too many writers to go around crowds up the workspace. I wonder where they all would go, if they would be bailed out. I guess we would get an awful lot of terrific bloggers. Paul Greenberg is a writer, currently writing a book about fish.
Submitted at 7/18/2008 2:23:41 PM
We're looking for an HTML/CSS wizard to help us out at Issuu. Recommend someone, and you'll both get a new iPhone 3G. The job is here in Copenhagen, well paid and immensely interesting. And you get to brag about it if you whup the CEO in Quake 3 Arena (which, according to him, is unlikely to happen on this side of Judgement Day). Read all about it here
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How TechCrunch, SXSW Interactive and Einstuerzende Neubauten changed my life in two days By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 3/9/2008 6:47:46 PM
I wrote this post almost a month ago, but because of a few formalities, I haven’t been able to post it until now. Enjoy. I’m not one for thinking things are good for no reason, although I on occasion do feel like painter Francis Bacon, who claimed to be ‘optimistic about nothing’. I believe most of what we see and experience are coincidental; as am I, and so are you. Having felt everything was mostly uphill the past month or so, it could seem as if I crossed the ridge last week. Read about two very busy and exiting days of my life: TechCrunch As some of you may know, I’ve been working with the web startup Issuu, that takes online publishing to the next level. I joined the project back in 2006, when Issuu had a different name, and enough ideas to last a century. Since then we narrowed it all down in what history undoubtedly will recognize as the most elaborated business plan ever made (investors were mostly speechless). We eventually secured the funding, worked our asses off for a year and silently launched the project December 2007. This Wednesday, we were discovered by TechCrunch, the world’s most read blog on Internet startups. The plan was to get a few details fixed and contact them next week (they like to be first), but late Wednesday evening, the office was
empty, except for me and our CEO Michael, who I suddenly heard rushing towards my office. I didn’t think I would ever see him run, so I expected nothing less than an impending gas explosion. But it was the 'crunchers' with an unusual positive review, although a short one. The next looong couple of days, we managed to spin the story and rush a release, while frantically following the spin-off coverage, insane traffic increase and glowing inboxes. 95% was extremely positive and we *didn’t* crash. I always loved this product because it solves problems that are so deeply rooted in our online culture, but nonetheless it was extremely liberating to finally get proof that people from Irak to Alaska felt the same way. SXSW Interactive A few months ago we at Issuu decided to apply for the startup competition of this season’s biggest event, SXSW in Austin, Texas. Back then no one had really given us the thumbs up, so it was just something we did because, ‘hey, why not?’, and the entry fee was really cheap. But, Friday morning, we got news we had made the cut and was among the finalists. SXSW is interesting because it’s not just a tech event, but also includes film and music. And it’s huge. “Hundreds and hundreds” of companies apply to join the so-called Web Awards, and it’s really an honor just having made it this far and being listed in the 'Experimental' category (read cutting-edge).
Einstürzende Neubauten What is it in human nature that makes us so dependent on the judgment of others? One thing I’ve learned from this week, is that if you really believe in something (and it’s more that just a casual flirt), you have to *stick* to it, even if people shake their head. So, Friday last week, I got a mail that I actually thought was spam. It wasn’t. Since 2000 I’ve been part of a musical duo, Stol, that’s existed in near total obscurity, apart from a soso review and a gig on some underground festival, none of us had ever heard about. Nonetheless, we kept at it because we liked what we were doing. We were recently joined by two more musicians, and can rightfully call ourselves a band. And the mail? It was from a Portuguese booker, who found us on MySpace (of all places) and wanted us to be the supporting act for Einstürzende Neubauten in Porto’s famous Casa Da Musica. Obviously I thought it was a joke, but now the contract is signed ( and what I was waiting for to post this). If you’ve never heard about Neubauten, their tech equivalent would be someone like Steve Wozniac; a true innovator and visionary within his field. Needless to say; we're ecstatic. More about the gig at my band's blog. Finally, just to take the punch out of the heading: None of the above actually really changed my life, but I hope it made you read this far.
Mygazines is Back From the Dead, Now Trying to Make a Buck By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 1/7/2009 11:50:47 PM
I'm pretty sure I was one of the first to note that Mygazines, the dirty and thus popular magazine sharing site, was dead. Now, I came across this 22 days old random tweet, and curiously followed the old URL to see what was up. Yes, indeed, Mygazines is back. [ Update: Digging around a bit more, I found this post by Dylan Stableford on Folio that reveals who the mysterious Pierre is, mentioned in the tweet above.] As I noted in my previous post, their technology was great, but their approach less than great. Or it may have been just that, as traffic soared. There has been more than one P2P sharing site and similar services, that took a shortcut to fame, and then went legit, so maybe it wasn't all that bad altogether. But I hardly think this is the case here. In their last statement as they entered the deadpool, Mygazines blamed the financial situation, and to my knowledge that hasn't changed much, except for the worse. Now they seem to focus solely on an enterprise
model, without community and all that jazz (I haven't signed up for it yet, and to be honest I probably won't). My guess is, and this is purely speculation, is that someone with a big wallet saw potential in their technology, known brand, and large user database (when they were live). One would think that their somewhat obscure past would be less than ideal in establishing credibility in the world of enterprise. I mean, you have to pay to publish now, using the same document viewer that was once free. But at least it seems they have worked a little more with transparency, e.g. adding a phone number to the sales department and changing the legendary 'John Smith' domain owner record. The domain is now registered to Flyp Technologies Inc. 10 Bellair St. #1604 Toronto, Ontario m5r3t8 Canada Technical Contact: Schwartz, Yoav Mr. Schwartz's email address is under the domain 'flyptech.com', which redirects back to Mygazines. A few name searches didn't find much conclusive information, but of course anyone
from the Flyp team are welcome to drop me an email to enlighten us all. Once again it will be very interesting to see how this goes down. With their new enterprise approach they are entering an extremely crowded space. One would argue that after the deadpool they nothing to lose. But to convince me, and probably anyone else who've read the news, to pay up more than just a few dollars, they would certainly need to show their faces much more clearly than they are just now. And although I'm no expert on best pricing in this space, I'm pretty sure it doesn't help that they are charging a whopping$300 per document, especially since there a quite a few free services out there that are still very much alive. As an exit of this post, and a beginning of what might be another chapter for Mygazines, I can't help myself but quote first entry in their new FAQ: How long can I keep my Mygazines digital publications up for? Forever and ever and ever. But of course, in the lightning fast webspace, even forever might be over before you know it.
My interview on Advertising Anarchy By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 3/14/2008 12:14:49 PM
I had the chance to talk about online advertising etc. on Advertising Anarchy's blog a few days ago. The blog takes a critical look on advertising in relation to the massive SXSW festival and is run by Door 3, including a few of the guys from the brilliant Austin subculture magazine, Misprint. A few highlights from the interview below. About advertising: Advertising is a fact of life and I’m pretty sure most people see it that way. From the little I know about newspaper history, journalism more or less grew out of an advertising leaflet. Now we’re witnessing almost the reverse phenomenon, where consumers don’t want to pay for their information and you need a business model that relies heavily on advertising to sustain itself. The good news, however, is that ads this time around are much more targeted online than with print. And in my opinion a highly targeted ad is not a nuisance, it’s simply just a great service, as long as it’s served in non-intrusive way. And a long hairy argument for simulating outdated real world formats in contemporary information design. You could argue that it’s almost reactionary going back to the bookformat now that we have hyperlinks and the never-ending web page. But obviously that’s the way print has always been created and that’s a determining factor. Although I’m a huge fan of the web’s flexibility and ability to always guide me towards more relevant information, I think the bottomless page in essence is rather dissatisfying to the average person, and I believe that constantly changing context and subject with links is still very disorienting to many. I see the Issuu magazine format almost as a metaphor, not unlike the way iTunes continues to talk about ‘albums’ although it hardly makes any sense online. But you know the magazine, you know what to do with it and you know it will only hold a limited number of pages. I don’t think you should underestimate the strength of the familiar when you think of the constant change that is the web reality of today. Read the whole interview here.
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Branding the non-brand: The Blackspot Unswoosher By Martin Ferro-Thomsen
After seeing this video about Ubiquity for Firefox, that let's you create mashups on the fly via the browser, I basically started drooling. It's a significant step towards empowering non-geeks (or rather: geeks with poor coding skills) to create those simple, but significant (!) integrations between services that makes your day so much easier - and your work so much more informative and connected. I hope it also presents a bright glimpse of a future in the workplace where someone like me actually can do something about usability/integration problems, instead of just whining about them and waiting for Google and the lot to finally come around. Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo. Once you've seen the light, err, video, you should head on over to Mozilla Labs and get started with Ubiquity. I know I am! Now, I am not taking any ethical issues with Adbusters. Not at all. Their product is great and produced in the greenest way possible (my boots are called 'The World's most ethical shoes' and I'm pretty convinced they are in fact just that'). What I'm saying is that to beat someone at their own (media) game, you have to join that game. To join to conversation you have to start talking (and shout if you have to). And this is where I often see activist and artists fail. Having worked in the art field, it seems to me that most artists dream of a breakthrough and penetrating the public discourse somehow; but often they are either oblivious of how to do so, or simply against awarenessraising activities that goes beyond the usual press release, because they feel their work should speak for itself.
But good and noncommercial causes do not sell themselves as easily as they used to. The fight for attention is on and competition is fierce. You may not have the budget of the multinationals, but anyone can become a guerrilla marketer, start a website and start practicing what you preach. That's why I find it really refreshing to come across an organization like Adbusters that does a hell of a job marketing their products. Quote: "Encouragingly, over 25,000 people are now wearing Blackspot shoes. Earth-friendly, anti-sweatshop, and cruelty-free." In fact, Adbusters are becoming so strong an non-brand that I would actually pay to wear their non -logo. Now, that's powerful non-branding for you.
Finally an online PDF viewer that runs WITHOUT Flash By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 8/5/2008 10:35:15 AM
I'm pleased to share a great piece of news from the Issuu laboratories. It's something that should thrill Flashhaters and PDF lovers alike: The world's first online publication viewer that runs completely without Flash. Well, at least I think it's the world's first, as I've just tried running Zinio, Zmags, Scribd and the rest of them, without Flash - and no cigar. For all of you non-geeks out there, this may sound a bit on the dull side. But for anyone trying to get a message across to parts of the world where Flash is a not an option, or maybe you just don't want to be dependent on Flash, the new Ajaxbased Issuu viewer should be great news. If you have Flash installed, the viewer will show the SWF version
By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 9/3/2008 4:11:47 PM
Submitted at 6/15/2008 3:14:17 PM
I just bought a pair of Blackspot boots. You may not have heard of this brand. It's not a brand; it's an antibrand launched by Adbusters, a network of artists, activists and the usual bunch who aim to "topple existing power structures". Blackspot took it's name from the action of erasing the brand of a product by painting a black spot over it. My boots are called the 'Unswoosher', which must be interpreted as the nemesis of the 'Swoosh', Nike's famous logo. On the nose they even have a 'sweet spot' "for kicking corporate ass". Needless to say, I like Adbuster's work and obviously their product too. There's certainly no doubt they're part of the consumer-movement against corporations, as described so captivating in Klein's hip No Logo, a book I view just as much a handbook in marketing as a call to arms against the extreme forms of the same. A similar dialectical nature is present when Adbuster's launch a product. How do they market it? Well, using the exact same tools and channels as those of "existing power structures". In today's bombarding media- environment, where attention is the real value being harvested, everything is so loud that even great causes needs marketing too. And Adbusters does a terrific job at marketing their their product. My shoes came in an eco-cool box with the Blackspot non-logo on it (simply a black spot that looks as if it was created with a pencil). In the box was some really professional material with catchy slogans, pictures and information about the company. I even got a unique 'shareholder' ID to so I can 'join the revolution', as it were; a web community not unlike the customer communities you see established brands trying hard to create.
I pretty much started drooling over Ubiquity for Firefox: Mashups on the fly!
(vector graphics) of the publication, and then substitute that with a bitmap version if you have no Flash installed at all. As you can see from the picture above (if you can release yourself
from the very intentionally chosen cover babe from Fast Times Magazine), it looks pretty similar to most desktop based online viewers: No fancy effects or moving objects; just plain old text and images. It has all the basic features you'd expect, such as zoom and searching the text. It's perfect for presenting papers, research, manuals and so on. And, as a really neat bonus, it also runs on iPhone and iTouch. All you need to do to get the nonFlash viewer, is upload to Issuu, open your publication and change View mode to 'Paper'. Here's another example, with the hilarious How to Start Smoking. Update: Digital Inspiration has now blogged about this too. Via
Wordle thinks I'm drifting. I am. By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 7/1/2008 4:26:24 PM
Playing with Wordle, above subjecting FerroGate's RSS to it. It builds a tag cloud with options for customizing the look. What it tells me is that I really should focus more an a niche when blogging. It's rule numero uno if your want to build a faithful audience/community around your blog. But on FerroGate there is apparently no dominating thread of thought? I chose from the beginning that this blog is for con amore spontaneous writing, not a career move. But the thread is there and it's apparent to me at least - simply charting the cultural repercussions of new media and technology. No matter where - and to what subject - it may take me.
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The streets as a canvas - for animation! By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 6/2/2008 4:12:43 PM
Blu is the author of this amazing street art/slash/stop-motion animation. It's fairly easy to imagine the process of creating it. But on second thought; try imagining the number of frames, the questions from bystanders (I mean: it's grafitti at broad daylight, right?) and the sheer creative thought that went in to this short (but actually long) animation. According to Blu's Vimeo page, it was shot in Buenos Aires and Baden, painted on public walls (if that's legal there, they are not saying). It's probably the best mix of offline/online media I've seen in a long time. Via
A Few Thoughts About Why the Kindle Won't Save the Publishing Industry By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 12/10/2008 1:42:44 PM
( Image courtesy of) In my last post, I noted that the Kindle might not save a publishing industry trying to turn digital "threats" into advantages. Today I discovered a post by writer Charles Stross, who talks about a similar reader, the Sony PRS-505: I've been thinking for a while that e -paper machines like the PRS-505 are a dead end. At the high end, e-paper readers that support a stylus or keyboard and allow annotations have got a promising role in those professions that rely on carrying copious documentation around (lawyers, engineers, and doctors being the prime candidates). And at the low end you can use your phone as an ebook reader, if you've got something like an iPhone or a Windows Mobile machine (with a decent-sized screen). But the in-themiddle readers that cost £150-300, like the Sony Reader or the Amazon Kindle, are trapped in the middle. 70% of the population don't ever buy books, and about 30% of the books sold are bought by maybe 1% of us.
The real bibliophiles are probably going to stick to their first edition hardbacks, and the sort of folks who buy a big fat novel for the beach or the Christmas break twice a year aren't going to buy a machine that costs twenty times as much as that book (before you add any content). I think this sums it up nicely. The biggest problem with the Kindle or a comparable Sony reader is that it's just that: A reader. No matter how sleek they'll make it, it'll need more to justify its presence in any handbag. The truth is that all types of media content are going digital and just as the MP3 player quickly merged with the mobile phone, only niche markets or enthusiasts will want an expensive device that does just one thing. The Peek emailing device is another perfect example of that. It was on Wired's 2008 top ten list, just as my T -Mobile G1 was, which does the exact same thing as the Peek, plus essentially most other things you can do on a laptop computer. That the two are on the same list, only proves my point above that highly specialized gadgets only appeal to tech/fringe lovers (such as Wired's readers). As all things go digital there's only
one natural place to be. And that's online, with free, cheap or adsponsored access/permission to comsume that content. The web is building its main destinations for each content type already, and the example of video shows that there's plenty of room for more than one platform within each field (YouTube, Joost, Hulu just to name a few in the video space). Natural and inevitable consolidation (such as Google buying YouTube although they already had Google Video) and the increasing richness of browsers - also on mobile devices makes me want to put my money on more versatile devices, such as TechCrunch's proposed tablet computer, which would be ideal for enjoying any kind of digital content online: ( Image courtesy of) To recap: As a consumer, I'm not really interested in the concept of the 'e-book' (the name alone illustrates that it's outdated): I want my books and magazines to be part of the combined stream of digital content I enjoy, and I want publications to be accessible and interactive through whatever devices I use already.
Give that beast a head for chrissakes! Cyber Bambi on ice By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 3/18/2008 4:26:46 PM
Boston Dynamics' 'BigDog' robot represents the culmination of 'quadruped' robot engineering so far. BigDog has trotted at 3.3 mph, climbed a 35 degree slope and carried a 120 lb load. It remains standing even on ice and regardless of evil
scientists kicking it in the side. More about the beast here. One word of advice, though: It's
simply too creepy without the head like a cyberghost version of Bambi. Give the thing a head and you'll see your military funding double. I propose that of a baby seal or a teddy bear. Check out the mindblowing action video below:
You must see this: Story of Stuff By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 3/10/2008 1:40:53 PM
This is definitely a must-see. Winner of SXSW Web Award's 'Educational' category, Story of Stuff, shows you in 20 minutes exactly how Western society (read: USA) is trying to consume its way out of post-war depression, failing miserably, and destroying the planet at a suicidal pace.
A comment on Scoble's "JPG Mag’s dead. Why your advertising-funded business could be next…" By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 1/5/2009 3:39:00 PM
Robert Scoble has a great post about the demise of the wonderful JPG Mag(which may not happen after all). He talks about the (advertising) value of photography and gives great advise to any ad-funded business out there. You should go read it now! It spawned a few thoughts of my own, reposted below. It seems to me that discussions of new vs. old (such as print vs. digital, and crowdsourced vs. edited) often becomes so polarized, and for the sake of the argument this form of discourse is effective (and usually results in a lot of comments!). However, I like both print and digital and think JPG Mag is a great mix of the two. Here's what I commented on the post: From a purely tech standpoint (such as yours) I agree with all that is said about advertising and the dynamics of ‘translating’ any content type into whatever advertisers think is worth paying to advertise in. However, from a publishing standpoint, consider this: Anyone who has ever been rejected by a publishing company, once thought of the internet as the big savior. But putting online your writings (or COMMENT page 9
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Radical drinks pricing policy: Yuppies pay extra By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 3/26/2008 6:11:15 PM
I wrote about Karierrebar earlier, a rather unique place where art space and bar room melts together. Now they've launched a new pricing polity, courtesy of artist Kenneth Balfelt. According to this, the bartender will decide what you pay for your drinks. The price is set according to social status, sexual orientation, and skin color. You know, the stuff wars are fought over. It doesn't say if this is a temporary experiment or a permanent installation, but my guess is that... • it will make the bar an even more interesting place, • it will annoy left/right-wing minorities and mainstream alike, • it will generate a lot of buzz and visitors, and • it will probably not go on forever. This should be interesting and fun to follow (and between us: I would hate to be the bartender making those sometimes tough choices). My advice to anyone looking for a cheap(er) night on the town: Be homeless, be gay, and don't wear a tie. To my best assessment, this is a fine conceptual piece of art with a strong political dimension (the latter having become almost a trademark for Balfelt). For professional reasons, naturellement, I will go there just to experience it (not wearing a tie). I really do hope this isn't an early April's fool... The full price list is below: all beers yuppies pay kr. 5 extra all organic sodas hippies and activists, pay 4 kr. extra, which goes to vu (danish liberal youth–the youth organization
Mygazines is dead - or how not to launch an online publishing service By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 10/15/2008 2:24:14 PM
of right wing party, venstre) with the message, “those most willing to protect the environment, pay the most!” 1/2 l guld tuborg kr. 25 for student with student id card kady juice | gingembre kr. 25 for artists with ukk/bkf membership card (cady juice is based on a recipe developed by kady from agadez in niger. she receives kr. 1,70 pr sold bottle, which equals the retail price in kady’s restaurant “chez kady”.) moët & chandon champagne sold at cost price to sellers of the homeless newspaper “husforbi” (to be enjoyed on the premises, and only to husforbi newspaper sellers with official id card) cafe cortado kr. 5 for homeless people cocktails
naughty maria 60 kr. if you show your tits, girl kamikaze 60 kr. for asians who speak danish nigga in vanilla 60 kr. for blacks in the company of whites beer + soft drinks bottled beer and soft drinks (25-33 cl.) 21 kr on the 21st of each month until 21.00h apfelschorle half price for homo couples who french kiss for 30 seconds sving beer one gratis sving beer for people with “best outfit” afri cola kr 20 for immigrants Karrierrebar.com
It's been exiting watching a new online publishing site, Mygazines.com, come out of nowhere and grow like a weed. I must admit they had things going for them (like a catchy name and reasonable performance overall). It definitely wasn't a site built overnight. But it was hard to miss the fact that the Mygazines people were dirty. From the beginning they'd uploaded hundreds (thousands?) of scanned commercial publications, made it possible for users to upload anonymously, and had done everything to avoid legal suits (including a very shady domain registration, hosting on Pirate Bay servers, and no physical address listed anywhere). Their launch soon spawned an impressive media hype, fueled by copyright owner's frustration and the (printed) media industry's obvious resentment. Add the promise of free commercial content to the equation and you have the makings of a dynamite story waiting to blow up. It did. Apart from the launch itself, MYGAZINES page 9
Old media, new strategy: Sell out to readers By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 4/3/2008 1:20:11 PM
Ok, so maybe the title doesn't seem so radical. Newspapers have always been sold to readers, right? Take a look at what the free newspaper Amsterdam Weekly is doing. Facing financial challenges, like most print media businesses do these days, they decided a radical approach: Sell out - to the readers. So, each page of the forthcoming edition is divided into 204 squares, each with a price tag of 5 €. The first edition is out now, embedded here: As you can tell from the blank parts, it wasn't a total sellout; but still rather impressive for a first. Next week's edition is on sale now(due April 10th), with a current sale of 9 %. Help them out; you'll not only get your name in the paper, but also lot's of extra goodies. I asked Steven McCarron from the newspaper what they had learned so far from the experiment: We're now into week two and with technical issues out the way - we only had a couple of weeks to go from no campaign to a live sales system and telling the world - we can finally put more efforts into promotion. So we
now have articles in local and national press, some TV bits and growing internet coverage. We just have to keep the momentum going because our campaign isn't just about getting the money - although it's certainly needed - but getting the word out there to attract interest and hopefully new investment. Another issue is that we're very much a printed paper with only a tiny
web footprint, so it's difficult to flip that around at short notice given the little resources we have. This is why free sites and applications like Issuu can really transform how we communicate online. I also asked if TheMillionDollarHomepage was an inspiration: Yes, The Million Dollar Homepage certainly was a jumping point in the beginning. And there was also
inspiration from a building in Amsterdam a couple of years ago, which had sold its exterior wall space for advertising in blocks/bricks. So far, I'm not aware of any other publication that's deliberately went to the trouble of completing a full issue, then gone back and eaten it to make a point. But we have to make a strong statement or we're suitably doomed. We have to convey how serious our situation is and show our readers that without their help there will be drastic consequences. If they don't invest, they may lose out on some content in the short term, with the possibility of losing it all in the future. I simply love this approach: Do something new and creative in the shadow of impeding doom. Show the world you will fight to get your message across, rather than folding over financial difficulties. It is also one of the most significant cases of reader ownership. In fact, it's so radical that it makes the new BBC landing page seem almost like a symbolic gesture. It's a great story, and that's what the newspaper business always should be about.
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Newspaper 2.0, finally? By Martin Ferro-Thomsen Submitted at 2/28/2008 3:32:44 PM
After a very quick look at BBC's new homepage, I'd say they just made a bold move in the right direction, compared to NYT, who everyone else seems to think are the cutting edge of newspaper 2.0. NYT does have a members-only MyTimes page, tugged away safely here, but BBC goes all-in transforming their entire landing page and main domain to an iGoogle-like page, where you don't even have to log in to get started. The new BBC page is also much like iGoogle: Customize a number of constantly updated boxes and move them around the page. Since the days where print ruled supreme, the websites of newspapers have evolved slowly but significantly. From mere contact-sheet websites, to copy-paste versions of the printed edition. Later came dedicated online editions, not least increasingly
motivated by declining print sales. But up until now, the online newspaper haven't been able to answer the most essential question: How can I add true value to the online user experience, instead of simply offering a poor version of the offline reading experience (hint: user vs. reader). The printed page have proven to be one of the most durable technologies, and as we have seen with most other technologies, the culture integrates new media on a cumulative basis; I listen to both FM radio and Internet radio. However, by truly leaving the one-for-all model and escaping the 'straight-jacket' of the printed page (an equivalent to the music industry's album), we might see the beginning of tailor-made mainstream media in the newspaper industry too. Two important questions arise: 1. Will this make us more stupid as a race (e.g. I only read what I want to)? Probably not, as the wealth of
information combined with a higher degree of relevancy will create more interested (and thus interesting) readers. And anyone who ever worked in an editorial office knows it was always all about pleasing the readers anyway. 2. How do I make my personalized newspaper compatible with the morning coffee table? I'm sure someone eventually will take flexible monitors and readers like the Kindle to the next level, perhaps within five years or so. BBC and their competitors still have a long way to go, especially when it comes to figuring out what the individual reader really wants, but this is definitely a significant gesture towards newspaper 2.0. It should be interesting watching NYT's next move, knowing there are already many more players in this space struggling with similar solutions.
and obviously that's not the full story. Starting out with pissing off key stakeholders, namely the content and copyright owners, is not really a good way to build a business (even though Mygazines claimed they did the exact opposite, saying it didn't make it so). As much as it frustrated publishers, it thrilled consumers craving free quality magazines. That's an important lesson as publishers move ahead into the digital age: How should new business models look in the publishing industry of tomorrow (well, today actually, as the digital
age very much is here already). Mygazines took a dimly lit path and ended up in facing the same challenges that popular P2P services do (such as this one). And that move proved fatal. Here's a screenshot of their current landing page, preserved for the future. R.I.P. Just in case you're looking for a legal online publishing service with original content, I suggest you take a peek at this one(note: I'm part of the founding team).
MYGAZINES continued from page 8 notable chapters included the hunt for the owners and a massive collaborative suit by some of the world's biggest publishers. Presumably the story ends today: Mygazines is dead. According to a message on their website, financial trouble gave them the final blow: Due to monetary reasons and the state of the global economy, we unfortunately must close mygazines.com. We simply ran out of funds to support the daily operations. Scapegoating the global financial situation is of course a poor excuse
photos etc.) just doesn’t make you recognized as a writer or photographer. And that’s essentially what publishing companies can offer today: Putting their name and brand on a few select packages of high quality content that’s worth paying for. Selfpublishing something is one thing - publishing with Routledge is something completely different, even though the text and author is the same. It may be that all the photos in JPGMag are on Flickr. But how do I find them? (and please don’t tell me that the socalled ‘interesting’ photos on Flickr are half as good as what is shown in JPGmag). This all relates to the role and value of editing - the expert’s choice and his take on a contingent world suffering from information overload. It may be that crowdsourcing everything will be the big answer to almost anything, but let’s face it - the Internet generally deals a lot better with quantity than quality. If I were a photographer, I would be SO proud seeing my shots in print in JPG mag, selected from thousands of candidates. Just as I would be proud of seeing my photo digged onto the frontpage of digg.com - but don’t tell me those two sensations are the same. And that’s why the concept of JPG Mag (run by professional photographers) has value. And that’s why (I guess) you published a deadtree book once, Scoble :) Print is great. Digital is great. I think of JPG Mag as a splendid mix of the two. And it seems like I may not be alone: http://jpgmag.com/blog/ P.S.: After I read the post, I researched into the the 2007 breakup of the original founders of JPG Mag and 8020 Publishing. It's a great read, and a cardinal example of how things can get blown out of proportion in our hyperlinked digital age (looking back on it now, at least). Exhibits 1, 2, 3, and 4. Thinking now, in retrospect, I an wondering if this could have been avoided; if it should have been and what positive thing came out of it for the parties involved, if any. Is this crisis communication 2.0: Let it all hang out?