Calling all geeks! Time launched a new website yesterday just for you (yes, another tech blog!). Techland, the spinoff from Time’s three-year-old Nerd World blog, is muscling itself into an already-crowded category. Its hand-selected editorial staff might be its saving grace, though. It’s led by Time tech editor Peter Ha, who up until September was an editor for TechCrunch’s gadget blog, CrunchGear. Other contributors include Matt Selman, who has written episodes of Seinfeld and The Simpsons, and professional writers/journalists Lev Grossman, Tracey John, and Steven James Snyder.
New launches blog, launch, tech, technology, Time
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 video segments on your screen) within a substantial amount of its editorial content. A fashion spread shows the model removing and adding clothes, and the weather turns from rainy to sunny. An actress tells a joke on your screen. Even the cover has Robert Downey Jr. sitting on a giant QR box with the cover line: “WTF?! A Living, Breathing, Moving, Talking Magazine?” The issue hits newsstands mid November. But you can sign up here to receive one on Nov. 9. Read the Wall Street Journal story here.
Industry buzz 3-D, Augemented Reality, Esquire, QR codes, technology
Open up the Sept. 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly and CBS TV stars will greet you through high-quality video and audio. It’s true! The actors will appear on a paper-thin video player, packaged within a print ad spread for CBS and Pepsi. This “VIP” (video-to-print) technology invites readers to interact and watch five different videos—straight from the page. The video player will appear in Entertainment Weekly’s Annual Fall TV Preview Issue, but will only be sent to subscribers in Los Angeles and New York. Read the press release or the AdAge article.
Industry buzz advertising, interactive, print, technology, video
Everyone’s buzzing about the Silicon Valley start-up that’s supposedly developing the next big thing for the newspaper and magazine industry—a 8.5-by-11-inch Kindle-type touchscreen e-reader that will allow you to view and read newspapers and magazines from anywhere (through a wireless network). Made entirely of plastic—and appropriately named Plastic Logic—the first models aren’t expected to reach consumers until 2010, and will display ‘zines and ‘papers in standard black and white. Expect to wait longer for your magazine spreads to hit the e-reader’s screen in full, glorious color. Publishing houses hoping to have their content on the Plastic Logic reader have to partner with the company so their articles will be available to consumers through the Plastic Logic Content Store (think iTunes, but for articles). Also, check out Time magazine’s recent article on the device, and yesterday’s article in The New York Observer.
Industry buzz content, e-reader, magazines, newspapers, publishing, technology, wireless
