(Ok, that’s possibly the worst headline ever I know… and Phil Collins has naff all to do with Adobe, but heh!)
So with Time Inc’s announcement that SI Tablet be be built using Air, we take a (very brief) look at what it actually is…
Air or Adobe Integrated Runtime is a cross-platform program meant for building rich internet applications using Adobe Flash, Flex, HTML or Ajax, resulting in an App that can be run off your desktop as opposed to online.
Over 100 million installations of Air have taken place since launch in February 2008 with over 500 applications now available on the Adobe Air marketplace.
Air allows existing Flash, actionscript, HTML or JavaScript to be used to build a more traditional like desktop program. Basically you can get access to internet and rich media content through a non-browser desktop app. A good recent example of this would be the interactive trailer for upcoming movie Avatar, found here.
Because Air is a desktop app, it uses local systems and storage and is thus more flexible and efficient than a more limited, browser integrated application.
Because it is a desktop application it can also be operated offline meaning some aspects of an Air application can be used off line.
NYTimes Reader 2.0 allows yo to download a newspaper and then read it offline with updates happening only when an internet connection is re-established.
Adobe Air applications can be built using Dreamweaver CS4, Adobe Flash Builder or Flash CS4. It’s also worth noting that the Beta for Air 2.0 is now out and offers support for multi gesture interfaces, meaning even more options are available than what has been shown by Time Inc. Oh, and lets not forget; it’s free to build Air apps. So what ya waiting for!
We all knew something was brewing, but quite frankly I didn’t think it would be as cool as this. Time Inc along with New York based The Wonder Factory have been working together developing “the Manhattan Project”. Little was known except it was being developed specifically for touchscreen tablet computers such as HP’s or the upcoming Apple Tablet/Slate/MacThingy.
Erick Schonfeld on Tech Crunch has got a first glimpse into their first digital solution magazine; Sports Illustrated. Full article can be found here it’s really worth a read.
It’s a real touch screen experience, and seems to bring the physicality of magazines back to life but in a digital form. It’s something that has always been lacking in current eMags. Tapping with two fingers reveals page thumbnails, swiping gestures will turn a page and there’s a navigation wheel that lets you share content with social network sites in a really neat way.
The concept was designed by David Link, co-founder and Creative Director of The Wonder Factory and built using Adobe Air. The Wonder Factory have today posted this video of the SI Tablet in glorious action:
So, a few points to ponder whilst you knock back that cafe latte and optional muffin. Adobe Air. Pretty obvious choice since there’s a fair chance the Mac Tablet won’t support Flash, it may also mean magazines can be downloaded, with only optional content being supported online and thus supporting off line reading.
I know first hand how supportive Adobe have been in regards to eMags. I’m an Adobe Advocate myself having bigged ‘em up on video in support of InDesign. I also know how much effort they are putting into the future of publishing. They understand the need for these types of magazines even if most publishers do not.
From what I know and have used, Air is a stable and fluid programme and is perfect for these types of interactive experiences. What I would be very interested in seeing is the process behind the finished issue; their workflow, design methods and how exactly it’s all put together. I wonder how much it differs from my current practices on iGizmo and iMotor? If this is to work as well as they hope, it needs to set a standard in both quality of titles and working practice.
What kind of infrastructure would be needed to pull something like this off? Once you get past the developing costs and general learning curve, how does it all fit in? Ideally, I believe it would need a complete restructure of editorial. Web working alongside print and Tablet magazine divisions. Having XFL and RSS feeds coming out the shazzoo in order to keep content time sensitive and dynamically changeable.
It should bring about a whole new change in publishing, if companies are brave enough. And it looks like Time Inc may just be.
Another big problem could be wi-fi, not so much for the US but the rest of the us. For these magazines to be suuuuuper popular we need more wi-fi.
A large number of people have wi-fi at home or at work. Starbucks have wi-fi of course, unfortunately you have to listen to the songs of Burt Bacharach being murdered by the Illinois String Quartet. A few other random hotels and bars have wi-fi but that’s about it really. Where are these free city-wide wi-fi networks people used to promise us back in the day?
If you’re going to offer support for video content, information feeds or up to date galleries you need widely available internet and with a good bandwidth capacity.
The other factor to their success is also the sale of Tablets. I personally believe there will be a trend in Tablet computers for at least a few years, maybe even longer as technology advances and computers get to the stage where by we can roll them up like paper. However it’s going to be a while before Tablets are wide spread. First we need Apple to release one, and for it to be well received. Then, as usual we need everyone else to copy them and produce versions a third of the price. Then they’ll be wide spread enough for mass markets to really appreciate what these magazines are capable of and the immersive experience you can have with a magazine.
Hopefully by this time someone would have eventually launched a “digital news stand”. And no, I don’t not include any current website to be even close to a digital news stand. Think iTunes for publishing, not Board Room book shelf.
The demo above looks fantastic. Absolutely hands down the coolest thing I have seen anyone attempt with an eMag. Good design, forward thinking and innovation have created an excellent looking product.
The big question is, can it make money. Because after all that’s what it’s all about for some people. We know eMags are viable financially, look at Dennis Publishing and Redwood Publishing to name but two. Both companies have had great success with eMags and Dennis’ iGizmo, iMotor and Monkey consumer titles have proved hugely popular with readers and advertisers alike. However, no one charges for eMags yet.
According to Mr Murdoch people will pay for content if it’s from good writers. I don’t think that is enough. I think people will pay if it’s good content done in a good way. A new way. Why go to one website and pay when you can go to one of a thousand others for free?
But I would pay if it was a unique package, something like what Time Inc have shown above. That looks worth paying for doesn’t it?! It’s waaay cooler than a website and it offers the same information, just better and more marketable and more personal.
Time Inc are such a massive company, and with backing from the likes of HP, Adobe and hopefully Apple, maybe they can lead the way into an exciting new era. Because at the moment they just ran past the rest of us, manically giggling.
In the meantime, go buy yourself a Sony Vaio L Series, check out the current issue of iGizmo and touch away to the cows come home. It works pretty well.
With the announcement that London will see the release of a new, weekly free paper in February of next year, it has now been made clear that up to 30% of this paper’s content will come from readers.
Adding to this, I have just discovered the very good TheBlogPaper. This corker of a website is there to focus reader content into a printed paper, available free every month in London.
So is reader content and web integration the way forward for newspapers? Will either of these two titles succeed in the long term? Time will tell. I know for a fact that one of England’s largest magazine publishers looked into a digital magazine mostly created with user content, but then binned the idea before it even started…
The London Weekly seems to be focussing on the same content as the London Lite and the London Paper, and by that I mean shite. A brief look at news and politics whilst the main focus will be on Paris Hilton’s underwear and Jordan’s amazing lack of talent.
My first thought is, do people still want this level of crap? If so what will the reader input consist of? Will it be webpage style comments at the end of articles? Or maybe vox pops style box outs. Maybe readers will be contributing entire articles or photo lead spreads? Or will it just be “Hannah, age 24, Receptionist. Today I’m wearing a Top Shop coat that cost me £35…blah blah blah”.
Where will their TV channel and website come into play? And most importantly will they continue to dumb down British papers with z-grade celebrity gossip or will they try and make a new and exciting medium and a subsequent possible new direction for print publishers?
The Blog Paper on the other hand seems to have hit the ground running. It’s a simple and great idea, and like all great ideas; even if it isn’t financially successful the people involved can be proud that they tried something unique. Something that will be copied by others.
So how does it work? Simple; registered users (free) to their website submit articles and / or photos that are then rated by other website members. The highest rated articles get put into a monthly print paper that is distributed for free around London. Simple as that.
There is no Editor (I like that idea!) and only the highest rated articles go to print ensuring a high standard of editorial. Best of all there isn’t a picture of Katie Price’s boobs anywhere in sight.
The only possible downside to this would be that it’s not a current affairs paper, in fact it’s much more of a lifestyle magazine. But I only see that as a good thing, we don’t need more shite papers. What we need is more reader orientated and opinionated publications like TheBlogPaper.
The next print is due on December the 18th so keep your eyes peeled and give these peeps all the support you can, they deserve some recognition!
The excellent Slovenian based Marketing Magazin has just posted an absolutely amazing, earth shattering, awesome, inspiring and fantastic interview with myself, Wayne Holder of Redwood and Rok Pulevic Makovec from eDition.
Of course I cant read a word of it since I can only speak English, Australian and American (ooh and Canadian). However I do remember what I said and yes, it was good. So go learn Slovenian, then go there and buy a copy of that fabulous magazine.
Dennis Publishing owned Magazine Group has recently jumped into bed with American based digital publisher Zinio.
A co-branded website can be found under the catchy url of www.magazinegroupdigital.zinio.com (just rolls off the tongue doesn’t it?).
Basically the partnership means English users can now get access to Zinio digital editions through the popular subscriptions site Magazine Group. Zinio currently offers more than 50,000 titles including a shed load of back issues.
I really can’t see the point of this. Never have. I do think getting access to back issue of old print mags is a nice feature for the small minority that want it. But charging £30 for a digital subscription for a magazine that wasn’t even made for that medium is stupid. And only a dumbass would fall for it.
If you’re going to offer digital editions then you either need to a) create original content or b) lower the price. Seriously £30 for a print product that isn’t printed? Balls, I’d rather buy the print edition, at least that way I have something to swat flys with.
I also find it interesting that as a company owned by Dennis Publishing it doesn’t mention anywhere on it’s site any of Dennis’ eMags. No mention of iGizmo, iMotor, Monkey or it’s contract titles. These bespoke, made for web magazines are completely overlooked in favor of promoting titles from other companies on a platform that just simply doesn’t reflect it’s new medium.
Is it too much hassle to promote bespoke titles? Is it just easier to convert print PDFs and upload them to make a fast buck? Are eMags still on the agenda as an important “next step”? Who knows… I’m sure if any of my bosses are reading this I’ll get an email with an answer…
UK rag The Sun has shocked the world today by actually doing something original and well though out.
In a radical move away from it’s daily regime of utter shitness The Sun has produced an excellent little viral advert poking fun at the Apple iPhone and “interactive” content.
Kinda goofy but does actually make some great points. No idea if this will air on television, we can only hope so. Just a shame it’s for one of the worlds most shitest papers.
Not content with The Shortlist free weekly mens mag, or the terrible “Stylist” for women, or even the two freebies that just closed down or it’s replacement the now free Evening Standard. The fine city of London is preparing for a new weekly paper.
The London Weekly will hit the recycling bins on December 20th.
Due out on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings outside your local Tube station, the new paper aims to bridge the gap between retards looking for Kate Moss gossip and idiots that can only read current affairs in chunks of 20 words or less.
According to paidcontent.co.uk Global Publishing Group have pumped in a sizable £5.5 million pounds into the launch which will also see the creation of a website, radio station and TV station.
Their holding page states “250,000 copies distributed in London each and every week. The only free newspaper in London covering light entertainment, gossip, politics, health, music and fashion”. Obviously when they say “only” they mean “not counting the Evening Standard”.
Seems like an odd time to lauch a paper, 5 days before Christmas… why not wait to new year? At £5000 for a single page ad and just over £9000 for a DPS, it will be interesting to see how long it goes for.
I personally am much more interested in the TV channel. A free London based channel with content both viewer specific and viewer created could be the change I’ve been wondering about for the last few years.
Further more it will be interesting to see if this has any effect on Dennis Publishing’s immensely successful publication The Week. A paid for title that has recently pissed over all those that dare stand before it. The Week is a nice informative guide to the worlds biggest stories and England’s most important topics. Could The London Weekly put a dent in it’s readership or advertising?
iMotor has undergone a small refresh, making it now officially the most pink car magazine on the virtual shelves. Includes a nice 360, shed loads of video and an interview with Jenson Button. Although a tad over crowded on most pages and their being the usual too much content being crowded into 30 pages, it works well and a nice title. Considering it is not a contract title and done on a monthly basis it’s a cracking magazine, one of the best online.
iGizmo has expanded substantially this issue, due to the rise in sweeeet Christmas gadgets, so it’s a bumper issue. Functionality seems have been smoothed out in most instances and there are some nice features in there. Again, arguably too much content for this platform but for a free monthly consumer title it’s a pretty damn good.
Last week saw an announcement that posh publishers Condé Nast and Adobe are teaming up to build an online eReader platform specifically for magazines, most notably a digital launch of Wired next year.
Wired UK already had a digital presence on the Ceros platform for at least the first few issues. Now however it doesn’t seem to be continuing or at least I can’t find it. Maybe this is in preparation for next years launch?
I find this whole idea very intriguing. Condé Nast have been quite slow on jumping aboard the digital magazine bandwagon. We had Wired UK and now have a digital GQ which has received a lot of praise despite it being very average. And eReaders? Does anyone really think by the middle of next year eReaders will be capable of displaying rich media interactive magazines? They can’t even do colour yet.
And what of Adobe’s investment? Are they finally fed up of waiting for Apple to release Flash on the iPhone? Do they know more than rumors of Apple’s impending Silverlight competitor, and have decided to beat them to the punch?
Conde Nast have declined to speculate on their cash investment, but could it be linked to Hurst Publishing’s $200 million investment in eInk? And the subsequent development of their own magazine reader…
There are a lot of questions, to which I have bugger all answers. Obviously Condé believe portable technology is nearly good enough to make their dreams a reality. I don’t. Unless of course their dreams are quite dull.
I think eReaders are still 2 years away from being viable portable magazine readers. I think Hurst are the ones to watch and I think a real change could be instigated by the rumored Apple Tablet and whether that supports Flash or their own, new alternative.
One thing I do agree with however and thoroughly support is Condé Nast Chief Executive Chuck Townsend’s comment “We can’t sit back and wait for somebody else to do this.” A step in the right direction can only ever be welcomed and any investment by publishing companies is absolutely necessary. I just wish someone could shed some light on this…
Posted by magdesigner 
Posted by magdesigner 
Posted by magdesigner 
