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News from the Magosphere Dec 9th 2010

December 9, 2010 in Clever ideas, Fashion, ipad, Magazine covers, News round-up, technology | 1 comment

Just completed a move, plus plenty going on here – so there’s a lot to catch up on. Deep breath now…

Which fonts do fashion magazine logos use?
Some actually useful information among the speculation

Longform publishes its Best of 2010 lists
Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Instapapers

Jeff Bridges redraws Esquire UK’s logo and masthead
Love the photo. Reminds me of this Vogue cover

Popular Mechanics, Esquire and Amazon: together at last
Or should that read “at least”?

Fray wants you to touch their junk
Good deal for back issues of this intelligent mag of The Moth/This American Life-esque tales edited by the co-founder of JPG

Foto8 has a great pre-Christmas offer on
Dear Santa, I’d like 25% off and an extra issue of probably the very best photojournalism mag out there, thanks

Japanese PDF photography magazine supplies soundtrack for iPad reading
They seem to go together nicely

Nolayout creates digital editions for independent publishers
Multimedia it ain’t, but straightforward JPEGs means no compatibility problems. Lovely simple clean interface too

Nieves brings zines to the iPhad
Not quite how Xerox intended, but you can’t fault the price or accessibility. While we’re on the subject…

Article has just started a blog about free magazines
Excellent stuff on there so far. Expect to see some of these appearing in envelopes of Stack America subscribers over the next year

New McSweeney’s arrives inside a head
It’s all about the presentation. *Love* the 40-inch scroll of fortunes

Fire & Knives is preparing a day of presentations
Sounds delicious

Who cares about age? V does
Fashion mag does an “age is beautiful” special, apparently Photoshops its cover star to remove wrinkles

Bonnier starts to release iPad-only mini publications
Jean’s new blog has the story – as it seems to have most stories lately. Follow his constantly excellent blogging taking place over at The Magaziner

Chrome’s Web Store contains some iPhone/iPad apps
The code’s rewritten, but the functionality is identical. If you’re looking for something mag-themed, you may want to start here. All of which suggests that the next Android/Chrome OS updates will be interesting. In summary: The Great Conjunction is getting closer

Marie Claire introduces video-heavy direction for its iPad app
Hot Studio is brought in to bring some pizzazz to the mag within Zinio’s distribution channel. And in case you were wondering why there haven’t been many iPad mag reviews on here yet, that’s because there are *things* happening behind the scenes. Big news afoot…

News from the Magosphere Nov 19th ’10

November 19, 2010 in Clever ideas, Fashion, Magazine covers, New launches, technology | 1 comment

Zinesters share their NYC
If anyone knows how to make the most of a tiny budget…

Harper’s Bazaar in “we scratch advertisers’ backs” non-shocker
Surely this is the most open secret since the grassy knoll?

South African teen magazine uses creative commons licenses
But how easy do they make it for the content to be remixed?

New magazine launches for pole dancers
Simply tuck $10 into the waistband of your nearest newsagent

Playboy goes all Willy Wonka
I said Wonka

Magazero offers free magazines anywhere around the world
As in beer

Pop‘s editor in chief resigns
Since its relaunch, it’s been a great magazine, and a glorious physical object. Hope her departure doesn’t change things. Her first cover star, lest we forget, was teenage blogger Tavi Gevinson, who is now working on a magazine with Sassy founder Jane Pratt

Magazines help children buy cigarettes
Face recognition software hits a glitch

A last look at Interni‘s Russian edition
Recently closed by its publisher, there’s some great architecture and design spreads in that link to enjoy

1960s French magazine covers have a lot of cheek
Speaking of which…

BUTT towels are now on sale
The funniest thing I saw at this year’s NY Art Book Fair

Stranded is digital!

October 8, 2010 in Buzzwords, Clever ideas, ipad, Stranded magazine, technology | No comments

Stranded is now digital! Available exclusively via the Zinio platform alongside side projects with similar budgets such as Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Esquire and The Economist, it’s a clean $5, all of which goes to the International Rescue Committee.

Zinio’s reader is available on iPhone, iPad, PC, Mac, Game & Watch, all LG front-load washing machines (not the 89T washer-dryer) and ZX Spectrum.

And you can buy the Zinio edition of Stranded here.

For the story behind Stranded, click here.

Ten things #8: Filling the pages

October 7, 2010 in Buzzwords, Death of print, Review, technology, Trend | 1 comment

(Image: an Indigo digital printing press by HP)

The last ten years or so has been a remarkable time for personal publishing. The rise of online is very well documented; however, we’ve also seen a huge reduction in the barriers to entry for self-publishing in print.

Desktop publishing software has become affordable (or even free), print-on-demand suppliers such as Lulu and MagCloud now remove much of the financial risk of short-run creations, and The Newspaper Club has made newsprint available to everyone. All you need is some design knowhow, and some words.

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Now you see it

September 11, 2010 in Clever ideas, Death of print, Magazine covers, technology | No comments

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOO_pflqAIc&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

The latest issue of McSweeney’s contains some new ink technology, used in a typically smart and understated way by Jordan Crane.

Mr Magazine has the full story. And, as I point out in the comments, it wouldn’t have the same magical sensation as this – but it’s exactly the kind of thing playful iPad publications should be doing too.

Speaking of the iPad, I have an announcement coming up in the next few weeks (and it’s nothing to do with a digital edition of Stranded, though that’s coming too). That is all.

Time for the comeback

August 27, 2010 in Clever ideas, technology, USA | No comments

Longshot! magazine – the new name of 48 Hours (reviewed here) – is doing another all-weekender, this time at the offices of GOOD magazine in LA.

They just started, so you have a little under 24 hours to get your submissions in for the theme “comeback“.

They want fiction, non-fiction, history, interviews, poetry, cartoons, photography… they have pages to fill, basically. It also sounds like they’re open for longer pieces this time, which answers one of the criticisms I had of the first one. So why not spend your Friday night/Saturday morning making something for them? Me, I’m looking forward to following their tweets, peeking at the process on the Tumblr log, and then waking up on Monday and seeing what they did.

Submit your work here. They did it! View the results and buy a print copy here. iPad owners can obtain a free digital copy via the MagCloud iPad app.

Ten Things #6: How long will magazines last?

August 9, 2010 in Archives, Death of print, technology | 6 comments

Picture by Mike Bailey-Gates

Ten Things is a collection of magazines, thoughts and ephemera that have been sitting on my desk for a few months while I caught up with deadlines

Here’s a question that has been on my mind for a while: How long will paper last?

I don’t mean, “Will we still print magazines in 20 years time?”, I mean will today’s magazines degrade into unreadability, and if so, how fast? When we look at old newspapers, magazines and books today, many of them are yellowed, faded, and so brittle that they crumble in our hands. Is this the fate of all paper? By the time I’m 50, will my magazine collection be little more than musty and expensive confetti?

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