Development | mag's 'n ad's blog

by Valto

September 13th, 2008

Inspired by the LinkedIn question by Dash, I finally got this post done.

I want to share some of my own thoughts on the future of publishing. Being a little of a geek always using the latest tech toys (visit one of my other blogs; Mobile and Internet), I think I have some idea of what’s coming in future. Also It’s important to understand that even if the change is coming, it does effect so many people that it will be some what slow…

First of, I think it’s very import not to bundle everything into one. The Magazines and Newspapers are very different. Newspapers focus on News and Magazines mainly to very different and variety of topics.

I think that the main factor that is and has been important for Newspapers is moving to other channels and that is the News. If you want your news fresh (like many do) then newspaper (in paper format) is not your source anymore.

Therefore I think that Newspapers are in different category than Magazines in this matter, since Magazine content is not so “time sensitive”

Will both die? Yes and no, I imagine some dying and others surviving, majority will change format away from paper, but obviously not all at least not for a long time.

The main factor for me (nearly) never to read news on paper, has been my iPhone and the reason I still read magazines, is because I like to read longer articles on paper. I also like the ad’s & overall visuals better on Magazines.

When iPhones, ereaders and similar achieve right specifications to give the feel and experience of the magazine (with professional layout etc.), the traditional paper format will start to really go away.

As I’m an avid RSS reader about 500 posts/day via google reader from various blogs etc. I can say that the visual experience is quite boring compared to magazines. Even if there is really good looking blogs, they are still the same looking from day to day & week to week…

What I like about online based content, is that it’s fresh and it’s easy to get various versions from same news, fast and with different viewpoints, not just one…

So depending on the content I use the following:

News (RSS from main media sources & blogs)
Topic related & short content (RSS & Blogs)
Longer articles and when I have more time, I still enjoy Magazines, particularly while I’m eating by myself..
While on the move Podcasts & RSS

What do you think and how do you consume your reading content?

More »

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

.thisblog is now Cooliris enabled*

by Valto

August 25th, 2008

If you are not using Cooliris (formerly PicLens) yet, you REALLY should. Cooliris is a powerful plug-in for your web browser. If you are browsing images for any reason anytime, this simply is the best way to flow trough hundreds of images in no time.

Doing Google image search with Cooliris is probably 10 times faster. You really need to try it to understand it. I have written about cooliris (PicLens) before on my other blog, so you may want to read that as well.

I just installed Cooliris plug-in to this blog, even if I don’t (yet) have that many images. If you have your own website or blog and it’s run on wordpress you should install this plug-in, specially if you are photographer or graphics designer with lots of images.

For other than Wordpress there are other solutions to enable Cooliris as well. Read more at their website or do some googling with cooliris + (your CMS) or PicLens + (your CMS).

More »

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

.forumplan update*

by Valto

August 15th, 2008

As you can see on the main page on right, I have been asking from our Magazine Publishing Group members for their opinion for the forum type that I’m planning to setup.

The votes have been very close, I have also asked this question from another audience at LinkedIn Answers (not in vote results). Even that the votes are really close, there seems to be a slight lean towards a more social network type of forum or community.

While the more traditional forum would be more established as a software platform with various plug-in options etc. and therefore that could be good choice for now, I think that the social network type of platform will have greater appeal, particularly in future. Also it will most likely have an increasing momentum behind if from the developers and users in general.

In my email that I have sent to Magazine Publishing Group members few days back, I explained the options for the platforms, that were:

1. Social Network type of solution (like MySpace, facebook or LinkedIn type solution)

This will include forum, discussions, enhanced profile, blogs, subgroups etc. So it’s more comprehensive solution. But does it need to have these additional features?

For this I would use elgg software http://www.elgg.org/about.php

OR

2. More traditional type of discussion forum like http://www.phpbb.com/community/

This is widely used more traditional type of solution, that is “just a forum” So this does not have so much flexibility for other type of social networking among peers, but it’s good for basic forum.

For this I would use phpBB:
http://www.phpbb.com/about/?sid=bfffb7cdaf541f2fff42401781148c06

As you can see from the elgg website, the version 1.0 is set to be released on the 18th of this month and since that’s only few days from now, I have decided to wait for that release and not install any of the preversions.

Another thing is that I’m not exactly sure if my server host supports all the requirements for running elgg, so I will need to check that as well. If all goes well wit that, I also still want to do some testing first, so that will take few extra days until the site will be open.

I wanted to share this status update, so you all know I’m working actively on getting this setup.

If you have not voted yet, please do so on the front page. Also if you have any comments please let me know.

RSS

Archives

Tags

Categories

News And Updates