kibboko.com

Personalisation of newspaper websites is a tricky business. One of the best is kibboko.com where the old thumbs up and thumbs down navigates you quickly through the legion of stories available.

Magazines galore

Most of the major magazine companies are collaborating to create an onine newsstand, according to a published report. Now if we all just had time to peruse that newsstand. That's what was so great about the brands that had been created already --we knew what brands we wanted before we knew exactly what we wanted from them.
It's great that they will all be on a digital platform so that an individuated search function can find stories of sympatico across the brands. Will they charge by the story? Not sure. Here's what the New York Observer story said:
"The formation of a new company to run the online newsstand -- sometimes characterized as an 'iTunes for magazines' -- may be announced in early December. Time, Conde Nast, Hearst, and Meredith all intend to be equity partners in the new company, although the deals have not yet been signed.
"In the face of slumping print circulation for many magazines, the publishing houses are eager to exert some control over digital readership, said people at the companies, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the plans.
"In other media sectors, rivals have already formed joint ventures for the Web. Several television networks are stakeholders in Hulu, an online television and film Web site. Some music labels are partners in Vevo, a music video site powered by YouTube that will make its debut next month.
"The new magazine company would, in theory, make it easy to buy print and electronic copies of magazines like The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, and Better Homes and Gardens from a single Web site. While mostly leaving the hardware to others, the alliance of competing publishers would develop software standards for magazine viewing on iPhones, BlackBerrys, e-book readers and other platforms, people familiar with the plans said.
"The New York Observer reported Tuesday that the Time Inc. executive John Squires would become the new outfit's interim chief executive while the partners look for a permanent head. In June, the Time Inc. chairmwoman Ann Moore gave Mr. Squires the responsibility of creating a digital road map for the company.
" 'It's increasingly clear that finding the right digital business model is crucial for the future of our business,' Ms. Moore said in a memorandum at the time. She added, 'We need to develop a strategy for the portable digital world and to refine our views on paid content.' "

Murdoch and BING versus GOOGLE

Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal, the London Times and is chairman of the multimedia News Corp., has fired a salvo across the bow of Google by insinuating he may make an exclusive deal with Microsoft's Bing for his content.
I've often thought that breaking news creators -- newspapers, radio, teleision and sundry websites -- should create a "live story" site and search tool, because of the innate differences between research and timely content.

Yes, boy meets grill

Jeff Kline is the president of a software company, Accrisoft, who understands where media is headed before it gets there. His most recent blog underscores the reality of individuated news. Under the title "Boy Meets Grill" he explains how social media helped him chose a key retail purchase, not traditional media or advertising: Read it all.

Can Individuated News count for circ?

You betcha.
Scott Hanson, SVP electronic & centralized audit services for the Audit Bureau of Circulations, has endorsed Individuated News home printed reports as unique editions of newspapers, which means that the reports count the same as paid and delivered editions of he daily newspaper.
Here is a transcript of the letter dated Oct. 30, 2009, referring to the tests of individuated editions of the Denver Post: "Right now, you do not need to do anything differently, we would qualify the Individuated News as a Unique Edition of the Denver Post."
So newspapers can grow their topline circulation with Indivduated News. That's great news.

No more walled gardens

On Nov. 8, 2009, The New York Times reported that the mass killer Hasan was a nut case and, on the same day, the London Times reported that Hasan was associated with 9/11. So who do you believe? Which news do you choose? Prince or pauper, princess or pauper, none of us live in a walled garden of media any more. You are free to pick your landscape. If you want various flowers in your garden, all the better.

News readership up and down

So today Scarborough reports healthy newspaper readership. That is 74 percent of the American population read a newspaper in print or online every week: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004043293.
Whereas last week ABC reported a 10 percent drop in newspaper readership in 2009.
(Of course, ABC counts newspapers sold; Scarborough counts newspapers read.)
Meanwhile researcher NPD says spending on media is up 7% year over year to an average $115 per household. That includes 29 percent of households that have newspapers and 41 percent that have magazines: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i6b92ac9c285d01765e337338f9028ec4
What news do you choose?

Niiu at India conference

The individuated newspaper (that I blogged about yesterday) that debuts next week in Vienna, Austria, will be reported out at the WAN-IFRA conference in India in December. According to a press release from the global association: "Wanja Oberhof, co-founder of niiu, which combines paper format with internet convenience, has joined the programme of the World Editors Forum, and will speak in a session devoted to some of the most promising business models being developed today." You can sign up to attend.

Traction atlas

Now we're getting some traction. News and Technology has broken the story of the second individuated newspaper in Northern Europe. Last year Syntops produced a newspaper in Bavaria comprised of various pages from various newspapers at the choice of readers. This year Niiu is following the same multi-cultural path by aiming a variable data printed newspaper in Vienna, Austria, at college students who the article says prefer reading on paper anything that is more than three pages of text online. http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/digital_editions/Page7_1bb65303-251c-4f81-bcad-d52fae75b1cf_2243ca48-648a-4bd0-a647-ee2fdc193c09.aspx Or visit http://www.niiu.de/

Not so funny thing?

Nicholas Carr writing in the New York Times magazine today ("The Price of Free") writes: "That's one funny thing about the Internet it's an extraordinarily rich communications systems, but as an information and entertainment medium it encourages private consumption. The pictures and sounds served up through our PCs, iPods and smart phones absorb us deeply but in isolation. Even when we're together today, we're often apart, peering into our own screens."

This is a problem, especially with individuated news, if people construe IN to be a form of consumption rather than expression. In other words if your choice of news is all about your private experiencing, we're doomed. If it's about expressing yourself to other people, we have succeeded. It's all a question as to what end you have in mind for individuated news.

Team divorce

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been one key pitcher away from the world series the last two years.
And now the team's owners Frank and Jamie McCourt are engaged in a costly and public divorce.
So where does the fate of the Dodger team lie? In the field of baseball trades or in the court of divorce.
What News do you choose? www.latimes.com or www.dodgerdivorce.com?
Essentially if the post-nup is not valid then California law divides the team between the two of them, which would probably force a sale without the needed pitcher, no matter where the trade talks are headed.
If the post-nup holds -- without too much legal expense -- then probably Frank would own the team and be able to spend the millions for the trade for a needed pitcher, if the trade talks had proceeded well.
Which news do you choose to follow?

Heyday for newspapers

Peter Kaplan formerly editor of The New York Observer and a journalistic descendant of Clay Felker the guru of new journalism at New York Magazine (patron of writers like Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer) has predicted that the upcoming e-tablets will bring a new heyday for newspapers. Watch on The Charlie Rose show.

A twist of fate

The London Daily Telegraph online editor has a fascinating column that says: "And the longer times goes on, the more convinced I am that the internet needs newspapers."
The column ends with: "So, in a curious way, things have come full circle. Fifteen years ago, the Telegraph newspapers needed an internet site to help transform the brand image of the paper, to make it seem more modern and relevant. Now, I think, when our internet presence has made us a global brand, we need the newspaper even more to remind those readers why they value what they are reading."
Check out the full column: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6546773/Why-newspapers-are-vital-to-the-future-of-the-internet.html

New presentation presents

Sometimes its hard to keep track of the newest available E-readers and their relative size and shape. Here is a good presentation of these new presentation devices with the idea of a Christmas present in mind at the Missouri School of Journalism home page.http://devemail.missouri.edu/pl_templates/html.scene1.asp?action=&dsid=17172178&pid=7970&key=431531463307370&slide_id=7942&slide_1=7942&scene_1=scene1

The error of the wall

Der Spiegel is commemorating the fall of the wall with an article entitled "The Error That Led to Unity."
The story explains that bureaucratic confusion over new travel regulations led crowds of East Berliners to gather Nov. 9, 1989, to entice the border guards to open the gates, sparking the night of celebration and reunion. In America, we believe that is trivializing an historic change. Which news do you believe? Which news do you choose? Prince or pauper, princess or pauper, no one lives in a walled garden of media any more. We are free to create our own landscape. In fact, construct we must. Even 20 years later.

Solomon's decision

In the wake of a shakeup at The Washington Times its peripatetic editor John Solomon has opted to move on. That's the profession's hopefully shortlived loss. John was instrumental in creating last year's super successful, third, global Individuated News Conference in Washington and his energy permeated the whole event. Can't wait to see where he resurfaces.

Dynamic Format

Of all the PDF generating sites that I can find, none of them have solved as seamlessly the combining of ads with the sweet presentation of pagination of RSS driven or simply website driven content. Yet here comes a company that simply separates the functions and gives new emphasis to the advertising component: http://www.formatDynamics.com. The content is obviously whatever you have chosen to print from the web. The advertising is targeted to who you are and where you live and what the website believes you may be interested in.