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The impact some technology developments will have are apparent at launch. Some, like Twitter, seem not so obvious. (Honestly, did you think so many people would use the service when you first heard of it?)
Google announced the release of Google Buzz. "Today, we're launching Google Buzz, a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting and share updates, photos, videos and more," Google stated on its Gmail blog.
Google Buzz combines some Google Wave like features with its popular e-mail service. It's mobile version, though, is already a hit, if my experience is any indication.
Using my iPhone, I went to the Google Buzz web page and signed into my account. Instantly I was reading other people's messages about the massive snowstorm we are experiencing today. I posted a question about the road conditions and within minutes someone nearby replied with a report.
Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, mentioned during the press conference today, that he used Google Buzz while writing an op-ed for the New York Times. Brin wrote his piece and then shared it through Google Buzz to get opinions about his piece. Unlike Google Wave, you can not collaborate in real time, but in other respects Google Buzz is a mini version of Wave. Additionally, the mobile version allows you to pinpoint your location via maps, or select a nearby location. This interesting use of Google Maps is yet one more sign that location based communication and advertising will make an impact this year.
Short update after the jump.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Google Buzz Mobile : Wave-like social networking, combined with location features creates interesting tool
Penton files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
"Penton is not going out of business." Cheery.
Penton Media announced today that they had reached an agreement with its lenders to restructure its debt. According to the company, the deal with eliminate $270 million of company debt, give the company additional capitol, and extent the maturity date of Penton's senior secured credit facility through 2014.
The entire Penton press release is after the jump.
Are some B2B mags hanging on in hopes of recovery? or so they can be sold off? An argument in favor of launches
Every January is fascinating in the trade magazine industry. Just as many newspaper people almost feel sorry for non-newspaper people (they just don't understand the rush of newspaper publishing, they think) I sometimes feel the same way about trade publishing . . . in January and February.
This is the time of the year where everyone sizes each other up based on the first couple issues of the year. Because so much business is sold and confirmed with that first deadline, many publishers pretty much know what kind of year it will be by now. From what I have seen so far, 2010 won't be worse than last year, in general, and for some it may actually be significantly better.
☜ Radio & Records, closed by Nielsen in '09
But January 2010 has produced a large number of thin and anemic issues so far -- enough that one has to wonder "can this publisher continue this magazine for another year?"
So why aren't more magazines being folded? According to MediaFinder, there were actually less magazines folded last year than in 2008 or 2007 -- an astonishing fact considering the ad pages lost last year. Not surprisingly, there were also few launches.
Monday, February 8, 2010
"The Mark" gets funded; will it be Canada's version of "Demand Media"? Gives writers "voice", but no pay
The Mark, a Toronto based online news site, announced today they had received first round funding from a group of investors led by Innovation Grade Capitol. David Ceolin, the lead investor, is quoted as stating that "The Mark is building a portfolio of content-based services that have scalable, sustainable revenue potential and don't rely on advertising or subscription."
So what is this mystery business model that has attracted investment?
The Mark may be compared (in a way) to the U.S.'s Demand Media, a firm getting much attention for their low pay to freelancers. The Mark seems to go one step further -- they don't pay at all. "What we do shouldn't be confused with exercises in citizen journalism, for the lack of a better descriptor," Ali Rahnema told The Canadian Journalism Project's Tim Currie late last year . "We're doing, to use other jargon, opinion aggregation."
According to their press release "The Mark publishes multimedia news commentary written by and featuring a hand-picked community of more than 600 great Canadian thinkers and doers working around the world in politics, business, science, technology, sports and the arts. Media observers have described The Mark as a smarter, Canadian version of the Huffington Post."
Writers for The Mark are "invited" to contribute material, have has the material appear online unedited. "We provide the platform for them to do that. So far, it's proven to be far more valuable to them than the $50, $100 they would get from publishing it in another platform." While writers maintain ownership of their work, The Mark gets the right to distribute it. Essentially, The Mark avoids the upfront costs of both reporting and editing and concentrates on marketing and distribution.
(I contacted The Mark to discuss their business model but received no reply.)
Using simple web tools to launch your local news site: a look at the Ann Arbor Chronicle's use of WordPress
This has been cross posted from CitizenPublishing.net. This overview of using easy, out-of-the-box publishing solutions is not meant to insult the intelligence of the technologically savvy, but to assist journalists and local news publishers not familiar with how a simple blogging tool can be transformed into a robust publishing platform.
Stories of laid off journalists starting their own online news sites seem to be an every day occurrence. Combined with local residents tired of the lack of local news in their metro papers, this trend is accelerating. At the same time, new media firms such as AOL owned Patch and US Local News Network are rapidly creating local competitors to major metro newspapers -- or sometimes partnering with those papers in order to sell ads or increase content.
For individuals and small organizations who want to start up a news site, either to serve a very specific niche such as a high school sports booster club or to replace a closed print newspaper, there are options that will enable new publishers to get online quickly and relatively easily.
New small online publishers have at least three basic choices: create a new site using site building software or a platform such as OpenPublish (Drupal), use a third party vendor, or use an out-of-the-box publishing tool such as Google's Blogger, WordPress or TypePad. The go-it-alone approach might be attractive for developers and more experienced web publishers, but it is clearly the worst choice for writers who do not want the hassle of writing code or learning html. The vendor solution is the easiest -- news site vendors like TownNews have been serving local newspapers for years, but are also the costliest solution.
For journalists like Mary Morgan and Dave Askins, publishers of the Ann Arbor Chronicle, the answer to quickly launching and maintaining their news web site was to use a system like WordPress. WordPress is an open source publishing application that can be downloaded from WordPress.org for use on the publisher's own server, or can be hosted free through WordPress.com. Many hosting services now offer WordPress as a site design alternative, as well.
The key to using any software package that is generally known as a blogger tool is getting familiar with the copy input interface, and customizing the template. The vast majority of bloggers simply choose a template offered by WordPress or Blogger, or by independent sites, and begin -- no wonder so many sites look alike, especially blogs.
I spoke to Laura Fisher who worked with Morgan and Askins to launch the Ann Arbor Chronicle site. Fisher met Morgan and Askins through Workantile Exchange, a membership-funded coworking community in Ann Arbor. " I met Dave and then Mary -- and they were leaving the Ann Arbor News as it closed down last summer. But they launched this well before the (web version) of the News started up," Fisher told me. "Mary had been a writer and editor there, at the Ann Arbor News, and she retired from there and went off with Dave and started the (online) newspaper."
☜ Laura Fisher at the Workantile Exchange.
Morgan and Askin explain the motivation for the Ann Arbor Chronicle on their news site: "We launched The Ann Arbor Chronicle to fill a void – to create a daily news site that reflects and embraces the energy, oddities, and character of our community . . . The Chronicle is an online-only venture, but it’s not a blog. It’s personal – we hope not in a navel-gazing way, but in that we’re invested in the place where we live, and with the people who’ve lived here all along, who pass through here briefly, or those who choose to stay. Those are the readers we’re writing for."
Where the money is: VCs target app developers; In-Stat predicts 50 million tablets within four years
While Reed's In-Stat group predicts a rapidly growing market for tablet readers, VCs are beginning to put money behind the new devices by funding application developers.
In-Stat, a Reed Business Information group, predicts that the tablet reader market will grow to 50 million units by 2014. Their report, "The Rise Of The Internet Tablet: The Keys To Success" (paid report), states that "the opportunity in tablets is complementary to other mobile devices, particularly smartphones and netbooks."
Meanwhile, a new investment fund, AppFund, is putting real dollars behind application development for the iPad and other devices. Launched by Kevin Wendle, co-founder of CNet, and Daniel Klaus, co-founder of Music Nation, AppFund is promising to invest $5,000 to $500,000 in each developer (I assume the developer that promises to deliver the next flashlight app would get the smaller amount, while someone who can come up with an app that can transform your tablet into a time machine might get the larger amount).
According to their web site AppFund knows what it wants:
We are looking for Apps that will become utilities in everyday life and Apps that will help business grow. So priority will be given to ideas that:
• Target early adopters and urban dwellers
• Target users 16-39 with higher incomes
• Incorporate video, audio, interactivity, and other capabilities unique to the iPad
• Have a long shelf life
• Have the potential to become "hits"
