News from the Magosphere 23rd Jan ’09

Shortcovers to bring individual article purchase to the iPhone
Buried in this description of on-screen bookselling. I said that the whole ‘by article’ thing wouldn’t go away, though the iPhone screen isn’t the killer device that will make it a comfortable read

Vogue does torture-porn fashion shoot
Zzzzzzzzz

Polaroid’s old factory bought by Dutch fanboys
New film to be developed; seeks help from photographers, and will probably get it

Big names in British men’s magazines make their own arch fanzine
It’s fun. Some bits of it make me laugh, though others make me feel like I’m missing the in-joke. Which I almost certainly am

Top Gear presenter was fired for doing something funny with dropcaps
I completely missed this before. Full Flickr scans here

Italian doctorate on magazines includes interviews in English
Interviews with mag makers at the end. There’s plenty of pretty to illustrate the Italian text too

Variety likes The September Issue
Though montages grate a little, it seems, as does relentless self-publicity by all concerned

super/collider to screen high-definition moon footage
One of my favourite digital magazines, small as it is, presents its first live event in London

Crisis roundup

Google quits the print ads game
Was never really their forte, even in happier times

Home design magazines feeling the pinch
No surprises in this fairly typical doom-and-gloom story

Why magazines themselves aren’t doomed
Smart answer. Perhaps, perhaps the model is broken, but not the medium