Convergence

While Your Audience Checks In, Are You Checking Out?

are you checking out while your audience checks in?

I have a strange relationship with Foursquare; I use it compulsively, though the reasons why I do that are unclear. I check in at restaurants, movie theatres, shopping malls, and even at the veterinarian. I hadn’t realized how obsessed with the social check-in service I had become, until the day that I pulled out my [...]

5 Things I Learned at the FOLIO Show

Earlier this month a group of us traveled from TMG in D.C. to the Marriot Marquis in New York to “join the media revolution” at the FOLIO: Show. The event had tracks on monetization, content, management, and marketing—and great key notes from the likes of Mashable’s Pete Cashmore and Time Inc.’s Fran Hauser. Here are [...]

QR Codes: Misunderstood? Or Are We Missing the Point?

Until recently, I didn’t have a smartphone, so I never paid much attention to QR codes since I wasn’t able to scan them anyway. But now I’ve finally joined the ranks of 72.5 million (and growing) smartphone owners in the U.S. and I downloaded a free QR code scanner from the App store so I could try [...]

5 Future-proof Ideas For Your Website

Predicting the future of the web is nearly impossible. Ever-changing technology provides fodder for our imagination to run wild. And it typically does. Imagination outpaces invention. And invention outpaces convention. Which is why we should focus less on technology, and more on human nature when we’re future-proofing our websites. If we bet on technology, we [...]

Magazine ‘App’-titude

When CNN announced plans earlier last week to acquire Zite, an upstart creator of magazine apps for Apple’s iPad, it wasn’t exactly Earth-shattering news. The East Coast was still sweeping up after Irene. In the wake of a disaster that almost was, the acquisition caused nary a ripple in the blogosphere. Understandable. The announcement didn’t [...]

Lessons Learned from a Twitter Robot

A robot didn’t write this post. But if technology continues at the current pace, a future with bot-authored posts may not be too far off on the horizon. Depressing? Definitely. Crazy? Maybe not. Automation is alive and well in the world of social media and the debate rages on whether social media automation defeats the [...]

Content Design for the Digital Reader

terry pittman, content marketing executive

I was sitting on the bus on the way to work a few mornings ago when a thought suddenly struck me: “Where’s all the trash?” Washington, D.C., where I live, is a city known for its appetite for reading. On any given morning, the downtown line is a gray hue of policy wonks, academics, financiers [...]

This Blog Post is Brought to You by Paper…Mostly

This blog post was written mostly on a blank piece of paper. Yes, actual paper, with ruled lines and everything. I can’t remember the last time I sat down and scribbled away until I figured out what on earth I was writing about.

Award to the Wise: Readers Are the Real Judge

At the custom publisher where I spend my waking hours, the halls are adorned with praise for well-written articles and smartly designed feature spreads—a triumphant redesign of a moribund business school magazine, a celebrity cover for a prominent medical title with a circulation that seemingly knows no way but up. The list goes on.

The Charge of the iBrigade

I need juice. Constantly. Well, not me. Rather, my devices. All of those magical toys that keep me informed, keep me Tweeting, keep me listening to podcasts and watching YouTube and catapulting Angry Birds. They’re thirsty, demanding little electronic vampires. They need constant attention.

Gestures Above the Fold

Back when wombats roamed the earth web pages were lengthy. Content flowed freely from top to abyssal bottom, tremendous grey trunks of text broken but rarely by an image or block. This was when “hypertext” was still the paradigm, when every term and notion merited a bit of blue underline guiding the patient reader to [...]

Lessons In Social Capitalism

By now you may have heard about Kickstarter.com, the web site where entrepreneurs with compelling ideas but empty pockets can go to crowdsource the financing they need to make their crazy dreams a reality. The site calls itself “a new way to fund and follow creativity,” and it functions as a platform for “patrons,” or [...]

Magazine Apps: A History (So Far)

It’s been six months (OK, nearly seven) since the nerd world collectively paused and Mr. Jobs stood on his stage to debut that nifty little tablet thingy called the iPad (the what?! I remember thinking). Since then, sales estimates have ranged from 6 to 8 million, and we’re teetering on the brink of what is [...]

One Size Fits All Content Publishing?

In the content publishing industry, we’re always discussing technology and how it could be applied to solve the little challenges of life. This article just popped up on our radar—which talks about the rise of designer Scott Dadich as the “Savior” of Condé Nast and how he became the new executive director of digital magazine [...]

“Apple Of My Eye,” an iPhone 4 Film

Shot on an iPhone 4 and edited with the iMovie app on the iPhone in 48 hours by Michael Koerbel. Phenomenal and inspiring. “Apple of My Eye” – an iPhone 4 film from Michael Koerbel on Vimeo.

Convince Me

So the inevitable conversation has finally arrived in my household, initiated by an innocent question by email: I think we should get android phones. Our phones are useless for anything other than calls, and everyone who has smartphones LOVES them. It really makes me wonder what we’re missing. Ever the late adopter, I have to [...]

Adobe ♥’s Avatools

Have you seen the sneak peek video Adobe posted on YouTube for something called “Content-Aware Fill,” a feature to be included in Photoshop CS5? (The full Creative Suite 5, including updates for Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and much more was announced today and will ship in the coming month.) Check it out; the effect is pretty [...]

Excuse Me, Mr. Jobs, But Where’s The iMagRack?

With the imminent arrival of Apple’s iPad—initial orders deliver on April 3—the iHype has reached a fever pitch. Soon, anyone who feels the urge (and pays the price) can hold the magical, mystical tablet in his or her hot little hands and read a book, play a game or download tens of thousands of apps [...]

E-Readers, Digital Mags Galore

The custom media industry is buzzing about today’s announcement of a digital storefront for publishers (read the AdAge story here), but that’s not the only thing going on in the print-to-digital content world… Conde Nast and Adobe are building a digital version of Wired magazine, according to the Wall Street Journal. The e-reader app will [...]

To e-Read or Not to e-Read?

Last week Time Inc. released this video of how Sports Illustrated magazine could come to life in an e-reader. In response, the UK newspaper The Sun released this video, showing how it’s been the best handheld device for years.

More Augmented Reality

On the heels of Popular Science’s animated cover, InStyle’s 3-D Holiday Shopping Guide, and Entertainment Weekly’s in-book videos, Esquire is pulling out all the stops and making its entire December issue the Augmented Reality Issue. It’s the first time a magazine has used this technology (you hold up the magazine page to a webcam, triggering [...]

A Hulu for Glossies?

We can never resist a magazine or two when standing in the checkout line at Target. Now the retail chain is hoping to spawn similar magazine purchases online through a new digital magazine newsstand it has created in partnership with digital content provider Zinio. Target.com shoppers can order digital subscriptions, single copies, and archived copies [...]

Your Magazine, In Augmented Reality

Magazines are dreaming up creative ways to sell their top real estate—the cover. But trying to bring in cover revenue while still appeasing ASME is a sticky situation. You could be as blatant as Parent & Child, with its corner cover ads. You could be sneaky like Esquire, with windows or flaps that reveal ads. [...]