AllThingsD » USA Today

But What Does That Make "The Phantom Menace?"

Voices — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:59:49 +0000

The reason I’ve invested so much time and money (creating Industrial Light & Magic, a premier special-effects house) is because art is technology.

– George Lucas, in conversation with Marco R. della Cava of USA Today

NewsCred Raises $4 Million for Its Web-Based Newswire

Peter Kafka — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:00:11 +0000

Problem: You own a Web site and would like to fill it up with some nice-looking newsy content, but you don’t want to pay people like me to make it. NewsCred wants to provide the answer: It syndicates news stories from outlets like the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times and Forbes, and places them on sites around the world.

The New York-based start-up has been at this in various incarnations since 2009, but CEO Shafqat Islam says he’s getting some traction, and is able to charge Web publishers $3,000 to $5,000 a month per “vertical” for access to his (borrowed) content. He says he’ll do $1 million in revenue this year; last month, Islam raised a $4 million Series A round led by First Mark, along with Lerer Ventures, AOL Ventures and Shari Redstone’s Advancit Capital.

Content syndicators aren’t a new idea, by any means, and NewsCred’s basic pitch sounds quite similar to Mochilla, which has raised a pile of money. Several folks are trying versions of this in video, including AOL’s 5min and U.K.-based Perform Group’s ePlayer. And Demand Media has tried putting its super-low-cost freelancers to work for publishers including USA Today.

NewsCred’s basic pitch seems to be that it has a better selection of blue-chip content makers, all of which are getting guaranteed payments for their stuff. Islam pitches his product as a disruptor out to take on the likes of the Associated Press, but he also syndicates content from Reuters and Bloomberg, also giant newswires. So presumably they don’t feel threatened quite yet.

Here’s an interview I conducted with Islam earlier this week, featuring a cameo from Pat the Contractor (NewsCred is in the process of moving into its own place, after graduating from start-up launcher General Assembly).

[ See post to watch video ]

(Side note: To get a sense of how difficult it is to hammer out some of these content deals, or just get a foot in the door, see this email exchange between Islam and an executive at Dow Jones, which, like this Web site, is owned by News Corp.)

From an Early Adopter of the Mini Submarine

Bo Kim — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 07:01:41 +0000

I used to be the first guy who had to have a cellphone. When cellphones first came out, I had the one that was the big base station, it weighed about 14 pounds. Since then, I’ve become less interested in being an early adopter of every gadget that’s out there. I won’t even use a BlackBerry.

— James Cameron, in USA Today

Exclusive: Longtime Yahoo Front Page Editor Liz Lufkin Out

Kara Swisher — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:37:53 +0000

According to sources close to the situation, longtime Yahoo front page chief Liz Lufkin has parted ways with the company.

The departure last week appears to be related to a reorg by newish editor-in-chief Jai Singh, who used to run the editorial efforts for the Huffington Post, at the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

Singh appears to be setting up his own team and, thus, Lufkin was out.

Lufkin has been at Yahoo for many years, most recently as VP of front page programming. In that job, according to one bio, she supervised “editors in Sunnyvale, Santa Monica, New York and Dallas and consult[ed] to various international Yahoo! sites. Liz’s group contributed to the successful development of Yahoo’s pioneering content optimization personalization system, improving the relevancy of Front Page for users and providing new insights on audience behavior.”

Previous to Yahoo, she had been deputy managing editor at Gannett’s USATODAY.com and USA Today. She had a similar job at the Hearst-owned San Francisco Chronicle.

Lufkin’s job at Yahoo is a critical one, given how powerful the front page of the site is, with 600 million unique visitors and billions of page views.

While the portal system has been under siege in recent years, it is still a massive driver of traffic to Yahoo’s own Web properties and elsewhere on the Internet.

Yahoo declined to comment (but I am right!).

UPDATE: Yahoo said that it had hired CNET editor-in-chief Scott Ard to take Lufkin’s place. Ard, who worked for the CBS-owned tech news property for 12 years, will report directly to Jai Singh, editor-in-chief of the Yahoo Media Network.

Zynga's FarmVille and CityVille Developer Spills the Beans on What Makes Games Great

Tricia Duryee — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:21:16 +0000

Zynga dominants the social gaming charts with three of the top four games on Facebook.

So, it must be doing something right, right?

Hundreds of game developers yesterday showed up to listen to Mark Skaggs, Zynga’s VP of product, who provided pieces of the formula for building FarmVille and CityVille, two of its most popular games.

Skaggs was very informal, down to his slouchy black blazer, and handed out plenty of free advice about the learning process of accumulating one million players on FarmVille and 14 million on CityVille in the first 30 days.

He also mentioned a few little known facts about the games:

The idea for developing FarmVille came from one of Zynga’s investors, Bing Gordon, a partner at Kleiner Perkins. One day, he put his feet up on the desk and asked, “Why don’t make you a farm game?”
Farmville peaked at 32.5 million daily users. If you lined them up holding hands across the U.S., they’d cross 6.36 times from New York to San Francisco.
Production was so quick on FarmVille, the developers stole the avatars from their other game YoVille.
Zynga was going to retire the old servers that were running Mafia Wars, but it opted for Amazon’s cloud services, which easily handed the traffic explosion.
FarmVille was going to launch with only a dozen props, but they missed deadlines and went to market with only nine.
While things have now changed, moms were the killer audience for FarmVille, leading the staff to call Facebook the “matriarch network.”
Seemed like forever, but there were only 18 months between FarmVille and CityVille’s launches.
CityVille missed its launch date. Despite stories in USA Today and other publications, Zynga had to hold it for quality reasons. But after launch, it went smoothly and attracted 14 million daily users in 30 days.

And, other advice:

Learn from success. Play games and look for common threads. If you see someone offering a gifting interstitial, you probably should mimic it. Be cautious about trying to “change the world of social games.” You might get lucky and be really successful, but the reality is you should look at what others are doing and follow their lead.
It’s no longer a mom network. CityVille was operational in four countries at launch, and has since added three more. “The Germans play a lot and pay a lot.”
Speed wins. People are coming to you as a Web experience; make it fast.
Make it fun. You can’t make up for a boring game with volume. At the end of the day, ask yourself, is it fun? If it’s not, who cares that you have a million seeds for a user to pick from.

Web Surfers Troubled by Tracking, Poll Says

Courtney Banks — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 00:19:47 +0000

A new poll suggests most U.S. Internet users are aware they are being tracked online by advertisers, and are troubled by the practice.

According to the poll, 61 percent of Internet users said they’ve noticed that some online ads appear to be targeted at them based on their Web-browsing habits. Curiously, though, 90 percent of respondents said they pay little or no attention to online ads.

Two-third of respondents said advertisers should not be allowed to target ads based on online tracking. And 61 percent said tracking is not justified even to keep websites free.

The poll, of 840 adult Internet users, was conducted Dec. 10-12 by USA Today and Gallup Inc.

The poll suggests users want more control over tracking and behaviorally targeted advertising. Respondents were asked if they’d prefer to allow all advertising networks to target ads, none to target ads or “only those advertising networks you choose.” Nearly half, 47 percent, preferred being able to select networks that could target ads; 37 percent did not want any targeted ads and 14 percent said they would allow all targeted ads.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

News Outlets Circle Tablet

Russell Adams and Jessica E. Vascellaro — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 07:00:42 +0000

Several major news organizations are lining up behind a new tablet device from Samsung Electronics Co. built on Google Inc. (GOOG) software, in order to broaden mobile readership beyond owners of Apple Inc. (AAPL) popular iPad.

New York Times Co. (NYT) and News Corp.’s (NWS) Wall Street Journal will offer software applications for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, which goes on sale later this year, according to people familiar with the matter. Gannett Co.’s USA Today also is developing a software application, the publisher said.

The device, announced in September, is one of the most highly anticipated tablet launches since the iPad in part because it is built on Google’s Android operating system, which is expected to psprower a wave of new tablets. Publishers are hoping that the applications they are building for the Galaxy can be easily adapted to other forthcoming Android devices, say people familiar with the matter.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

An iPhone 4 Review Roundup

John Paczkowski — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:09:48 +0000

“This is really hot,” Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs said of the iPhone 4 when he unveiled it at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month. And the pundits seem to agree. The first reviews of the device began rolling in Tuesday afternoon and they are largely glowing, despite some expected complaints about the device’s performance on AT&T’s (T) network. Below, excerpts from a few of them.

In both hardware and software, [the iPhone4] is a major leap over its already-excellent predecessor, the iPhone 3GS.

It has some downsides and limitations–most important, the overwhelmed AT&T network in the U.S., which, in my tests, the new phone handled sometimes better and, unfortunately, sometimes worse than its predecessor….But, overall, Apple has delivered a big, well-designed update that, in my view, keeps it in the lead in the smartphone wars….

The most important downside of the iPhone 4 is that, in the U.S., it’s shackled to AT&T, which not only still operates a network that has trouble connecting and maintaining calls in many cities, but now has abandoned unlimited, flat-rate data plans. Apple needs a second network.

Both Apple and AT&T told me they worked to make the iPhone 4 do a better job with AT&T’s network. For example, the phone itself is surrounded by a prominent stainless-steel trim piece that acts as a large antenna. And Apple said it also tuned the phone to try to grab whatever band on the network was less congested or less affected by interference–to stress the quality of a signal over its raw strength. AT&T said it, too, made some changes to its network with the new iPhone in mind.

But, in my tests, network reception was a mixed bag.

– Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal

[The iPhone 4] is not the first phone with both a front and back camera. It’s not even the first one to make video calls. But the iPhone 4 is the first phone to make good video calls, reliably, with no sign-up or setup, with a single tap. The picture and audio are rock solid, with very little delay, and it works the first time and every time….Now, the iPhone is no longer the undisputed king of app phones. In particular, the technically inclined may find greater flexibility and choice among its Android rivals, like the HTC Incredible and Evo. They’re more complicated, and their app store not as good, but they’re loaded with droolworthy features like turn-by-turn GPS instructions, speech recognition that saves you typing, removable batteries and a choice of cell networks. If what you care about, however, is size and shape, beauty and battery life, polish and pleasure, then the iPhone 4 is calling your name.

– David Pogue, New York Times

The new iPhone 4 I’ve been testing for about a week and a half–along with the major refresh of the mobile operating system software at the core of recent models–demonstrates once again why Apple’s handset is the one to beat, even as it faces fierce competition from phones based on Google’s Android platform, among others….Critics are left with reasons to whine. Apple’s public dissing of Adobe Flash means you’ll still come upon Web video sites that don’t make nice with the iPhone. I had a few dropped calls. The battery still isn’t user-replaceable, and there’s no slot for expanding memory.

– Ed Baig, USA Today

We’re not going to beat around the bush–in our approximation, the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone on the market right now. The combination of gorgeous new hardware, that amazing display, upgraded cameras, and major improvements to the operating system make this an extremely formidable package. Yes, there are still pain points that we want to see Apple fix, and yes, there are some amazing alternatives to the iPhone 4 out there. But when it comes to the total package–fit and finish in both software and hardware, performance, app selection, and all of the little details that make a device like this what it is–we think it’s the cream of the current crop. We won’t argue that a lot of this is a matter of taste–some people will just prefer the way Android or Symbian works to the iPhone, and others will be on the lookout for a hardware keyboard or a particular asset that the iPhone 4 lacks–but in terms of the total picture, it’s tough to deny that Apple has moved one step past the competition with this phone.

– Josh Topolsky, Engadget

The fourth incarnation of Apple’s iPhone is an incrementally improved, familiar device–not a new kind of device, as was the case with the recent introduction of iPad. Yes, the notable features with iPhone 4–both the device and the iOS4, which came out yesterday in advance of the iPhone itself–are mostly tweaks. But what tweaks they are: Apple’s focus on improvement is as much key to the quality of its products as innovation. But there’s one flaw it doesn’t improve: the poor quality of calls placed over AT&T, which remains the iPhone’s only U.S. carrier….AT&T still sucks, and the best engineering out of Cupertino won’t change that.

– Xeni Jardin, BoingBoing

Demand Media's Richard Rosenblatt and ProPublica's Paul Steiger Live at D8

Peter Kafka — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:10:32 +0000

What’s the future of the media business? Demand Media, the Google-savvy “content farm” that generates thousands of computer-assigned, low-cost Web items a day? Or ProPublica, a nonprofit that produces deep-dive investigative pieces and publishes them on its own site and in the pages of high-profile partners?

Good guess: Some of both. But let’s allow both parties to make their own case.

Brief background: Demand Media is Richard Rosenblatt’s follow-up to MySpace, which he sold to News Corp. (NWS); Paul Steiger founded ProPublica after a long career at The Wall Street Journal.

Below is the full video of the interview, followed by the liveblog:

[ See post to watch video ]

Liveblog

9:41 am: Kara asks Paul Steiger to explain what he’s up to.

Steiger: Stories are aimed at abuse of power and empowering people to make change. I started there because when I was leaving the Journal in 2007, the traditional news business was collapsing. We had $10 million in funding and that wasn’t something I could turn down in that environment. I didn’t have time to be worried–I had to leave the Journal because of mandatory retirement age, and my wife said I couldn’t wear sweatpants during the weekday.

9:44 am: Kara to Rosenblatt–Please explain the controversy regarding Demand.

[WARNING: Rosenblatt speaks very quickly. It's unlikely that I'll be able to get more than impressionistic stabs at what he's saying.]

“We only write content that people want….We’re not journalists, all right? The only people that call us journalists are journalists.” That said, what we do is “more like service journalism….There’s no piece of content made that we think is good” because we only make content that people tell us they think is good.

9:46 am: Rosenblatt–We do no marketing. All traffic comes from organic search.

I don’t know why people call this “dreck.” When you do something 6,000 times a day, it always looks like it’s of low-quality. We’re okay with that; we’re continually trying to prove to people that we’re doing good stuff.

We have a deal with USA Today and others that we’ll be announcing.

9:47 am: Kara to Steiger–What do you think of all this?

Steiger: I see this as a reordering of the environment that we’re all going to have to live in. You [Demand] make stuff people want; you control costs, and it’s working. Another model is the Politico model, with a combination of tightly controlled print plus a big Web site. We do the most expensive, the most important journalism for democracy.

Kara: Example?

Steiger: A story we did with the Los Angeles Times about nurses getting bogus licenses. A story about police in New Orleans killing people. There are five or six things like that in the past year where we can point to changes that have taken place because of our stories. These things can cost tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands to produce.

In the old days, that could be a loss leader for for-profit newspapers. Can’t do that anymore, so we need philanthropy. “Silicon Valley, come on in!”

9:50 am: Kara to Rosenblatt–Will you do “Top 10 nurses that beat people up”?

Rosenblatt: No

Kara: Wait a minute! People may want it!

Rosenblatt: I think journalism is important, and the problem is trying to pay for it. We can help publications like USA Today, where we generate content and revenue for them, and they can take that money to fund other reporting. We’re not going to save journalism, but we can help it.

Kara to Rosenblatt: You employ a lot of journalists.

Rosenblatt: Not journalists.

Kara: Former journalists?

Rosenblatt: They may have been former journalists, and they may do journalism somewhere else. We call them freelancers, content creators.

9:53 am: Kara asks Rosenblatt to explain editing/oversight.

Rosenblatt: Eleven people touch this stuff before it gets published, etc. Anyway, let’s say we do 7,000 pieces of content a day. That’s 77,000 individual touches per day, with 10,000 freelancers around the Web. That’s amazing. That’s what the Web is made for.

9:54 am: Kara–How do they get paid?

Rosenblatt: They can get paid by piece or by revenue-share. But most of them prefer to get paid by content, because it’s guaranteed.

9:55 am: Kara–at The Wall Street Journal, we had people who worked for months on a single story. Is that done?

Steiger: The Journal, the New York Times and Washington Post are still vertically integrated and have powerful enough brands and talent that I think they can make it into the next generation.

Kara: Two of those are in dicey shape.

Steiger: Remember that there are two things going on right now. There is a secular shift, with the business model being destroyed. But there’s also a recession. So as that eases, we’ll have a better sense of who can survive.

9:58 am: Steiger–I’d love to go back to 10 years ago, or longer, to the golden age of journalism. But not even Silicon Valley can produce a time machine.

Kara: So do you think even the big newspapers that survive will switch to audience-driven content creation? That’s not what journalism is about.

Steiger: No matter what you’re doing, you’re still making stuff with an idea of what the people who are reading you want. It’s a broader way of thinking about it than Demand, but there’s a common thread.

9:59 am: Kara to Rosenblatt–Where is your actual business? Is it domains?

Rosenblatt: We have two main businesses: Registrar/domains. It’s steady, recurring revenue, and it generates a lot of data. Almost 10 percent of the Web hits our servers via these domains. It’s an exciting source of data.

Then we have the media business. That’s 50 percent bigger, in revenue, than other business and growing fast.

Of that business, less than 10 percent is domain advertising business. Google (GOOG) and Yahoo (YHOO) stick ads on tenniselbow.com, etc. We think that’s a great business also.

Kara: Is your media business profitable?

Rosenblatt: Can’t talk about that.

Kara: Does that mean it’s not profitable?

Rosenblatt: Can’t talk about that.

Kara: But you’re going public, right?

Rosenblatt: Can’t talk about that.

10:03 am: Kara–you’re dependent on Google, right?

Rosenblatt: In the way that everyone is dependent on Google. Or that the iPhone is dependent on AT&T (T). But everyone searches on the Web. So some of our sites, like eHow, are getting traffic from Google. But others aren’t.

If Google changes their algorithm, we think about that. But we spend a lot of care on what we do, and we think there’s a move to quality long-tail content that Google values.

10:05 am: Kara to Rosenblatt–AOL is doing what you’re doing. Yahoo just bought Associated Content. It has more distribution than you do. What does that mean for you?

Rosenblatt: We love that AOL (AOL) and Yahoo are validating what we’re doing. “In a market this big, that’s in the first inning, there’s plenty of room for all of us.”

10:05 am: Kara to Steiger–How do you feel about the kind of journalism you do becoming nonprofit work? Does that depress you?

Steiger: “I’m the opposite of disheartened. I’m very excited.” Yes, the business is shrinking and people are losing jobs, and I don’t want to make light of that. But we’re attracting great people; we’ve won a Pulitzer Prize. The work will get done. The work is crucial to our society, and it needs philanthropic support. But so do orchestras and clinics and universities.

10:07 am: Kara–Is there a way to actually make money doing this?

Steiger: “Conceivably, but I can’t think of what it is.” If you’re focused entirely on this, “at this stage, you need philanthropic help.”

Kara to Rosenblatt: Can you think of how to do this?

Rosenblatt: You can hold a conference and charge people $5,000 a head. [Applause in conference room and in D8 cave.]

Q&A

For Rosenblatt: Why won’t you call your people “journalists”? Steve Jobs was full of venom for “bloggers,” too. Why not call people who write for money “journalists”?

Rosenblatt: If our writers want to call themselves journalists, great. But they’re not doing reporting from Afghanistan. We’re content creators, making things that people want.

Steiger: I just think that the labels get in the way.

Q: Who are those 11 people that touch Demand Media’s content? What do they do?

Rosenblatt: Some people are involved in “titling.” For SEO or social media purposes. Three people are involved in checking each title. Then people involved in each property select stories, depending on the voice. Then copy editors, copy chiefs, writers. We’re actually going to be adding more. We can make it so efficient, that we can add more roles, and everyone can keep making the same amount of money.

Q: What about rolling out content on the domains you run?

A: Not yet. Maybe in coming years. It’s not a focus right now. We do think the assets that you own and we own, we think those assets “have great optionality later” to put content on.

Q for Steiger: Do you share Steve Jobs’s distaste for bloggers?

Steiger: I sleep with a blogger! My wife blogs from 11 pm to 2 am. I’m an enthusiastic supporter of blogging. They bring a lot of audience to ProPublica’s Web site. I think what Steve was getting at is that there’s a danger of too many people commenting and not enough people finding out what’s going on. [I don't think that's entirely what Jobs was complaining about, btw.]

This content-creation session is now over.

A note about our coverage: This liveblog is not an official transcript of the conversation that occurred onstage. Rather, it is a compilation of quotes, paraphrased statements and ad-lib observations written and posted to the Web as quickly as possible. It is not intended as a transcript and should not be interpreted as one.

Rupert Murdoch Still Needs Allies for His Digital News Crusade

Peter Kafka — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:00:02 +0000

Within the next two weeks or so, we’re supposed to hear about Rupert Murdoch’s digital news subscription service–the one he has been trying to put together for many months.

One problem: That service is supposed to feature content from publications other than those owned by Murdoch. And sources familiar with News Corp.’s plans tell me Murdoch has yet to sign partners on to the venture.

News Corp. officials do say Murdoch is hopeful about bringing on Gannett (GCI), the publisher behind USA Today and 82 smaller papers. A person familiar with talks between the companies described them as “late stage.” A spokeswoman for News Corp. (NWS), which owns this Web site, declined to comment; Gannett officials didn’t respond to a request for comment.

And it’s possible that Murdoch’s lieutenants, led by digital boss Jon Miller, have other deals in the works that they’re close to closing.

That’s certainly what Murdoch hinted at in the prepared remarks he delivered at the start of his May 4 earnings call:

Today, we are in final discussions with a number of publishers, device makers and technology companies…and we will soon develop an innovative subscription model that will deliver digital content to consumers…wherever and whenever they want it.

Later, in response to a reporter’s question about the subscription plan, Murdoch went further, announcing that his company would be “giving a press conference in about three to four weeks which we hope will have some important announcements in.”

But that would be a more effective press conference if Murdoch could announce that he has convinced other big publishers to embrace his model. Right now, at least, he can’t say that.

This might seem like a classic example of Murdoch going off script during an earnings call, which happens with some frequency. But in this case, News Corp. officials have been working on a similar timetable behind the scenes. For instance, I’m told that they have been casting about for a public relations agency to help promote the plan and have been telling prospective candidates about their proposed schedule.

So it seems that Murdoch may have been intentionally placing his cart pre-horse in hopes that doing so would speed negotiations along. Can’t wait to see if he’s right.

For the iPad, Apps With Their Own Wow Factor

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:01:46 +0000

In the days since the launch of Apple’s iPad Saturday, there has been an explosion of apps to run on it—3,000 and counting. They are mostly free and incorporate new ways of navigating one of the largest screens on a mobile device that relies solely on touch technology.

On this large canvas, people work differently and apps can behave differently depending on which way the device is turned. Apps can (and must) incorporate creative ways of navigating—in addition to the usual multi-touch gestures like flicking, two-finger swiping and pinching. Thus, although it runs most of the 150,000 apps already available for the much smaller iPhone and iPod touch, the iPad is spawning a new type of tablet-specific app.

[ See post to watch video ]

This week, I’ve been testing some of these iPad apps that give users novel ways to interact with the device. These are designed to take advantage of a larger touch screen by using things like fly-out menus, multi-panel layouts, 3-D images intermixed with text and newspapers that can be read almost as easily as their paper counterparts.

Since most of us haven’t used apps like these or a device like this before, many apps install with brief tutorials on how to navigate them. It’s obvious that the makers of these iPad apps are still tinkering with what works best for a large touch surface. And ads appear in several digital newspaper and magazine apps. Unless otherwise noted, the apps listed below are free.

News

Multi-tasking isn’t yet possible on the iPad, but the NPR app allows people to do certain things simultaneously. While browsing news stories, a player in the bottom portion of the screen lets you listen to programs, interviews or songs. I played Jakob Dylan’s “Women and Country” song while reading an article about NCAA basketball. Content can be saved to a playlist for future listening.

The Marvel Comics app

The Wall Street Journal app’s home page displays a horizontal row of newspapers representing the past seven days’ editions and a “Now” edition, with late-breaking news, all of which can be read when the iPad isn’t online. These editions are designed to use the full screen to display easy-to-read newspaper layouts and videos that play right within the articles. A finger swiped from the top down skips to a different section of the paper, while pinching any screen with two fingers returns to the home page. And you can save articles and sections. The WSJ iPad app also can access saved data from a WSJ.com account.

The app is free to download but requires a subscription for full access, which costs $4 a week or is free for a limited time to existing online or print subscribers.

The New York Times (NYT) app is called Editors’ Choice and looks like a roomier version of the newspaper’s iPhone app. Five icons at the bottom of the screen instantly jump to different sections of the paper, or you can flick a finger across these screens to page to more articles. It doesn’t require a subscription.

The USA Today app brings the Gannett Co. (GCI) paper’s color-coded blue, green, red and purple sections to the iPad. Its popular charts of information (called “Snapshots”) pop out from the bottom left of the screen and include polls that can be voted on using the device. The USA Today app looks less like the print edition of the paper and more like a list of news points with color photos beside each. This list can be scrolled with a simple finger flick up or down.

Magazines

Digital magazines on the iPad seem to be experimenting with different payment methods. Rodale Inc.’s Men’s Health, for example, is a free app and includes previews of magazine issues, but then it charges $5 to download the actual issue. Bonnier Corp.’s Popular Science app costs $5 up-front and includes an issue that must be downloaded within the app.

Popular Science really uses the iPad’s larger surface in creative ways. Instead of just letting you page ahead with each finger flick as if reading a regular magazine, you can read articles by flicking a finger down or across a screen. In some articles I read, images appeared to be floating in the background behind text. Two fingers flicking up from the bottom of the screen show shortcuts for a table of contents and previous magazine issues.

Music

Pandora’s iPad app makes good use of the device’s screen real estate by showing artist information, now-playing details, album art and a list of personalized radio stations all on the same screen. I found myself more likely to read about artists on the iPad than on my smaller iPod touch. But like many Pandora users, I like playing music in the background as I work on other tasks, and this isn’t possible on the iPad because it doesn’t allow third-party apps like Pandora to multi-task.

Entertainment

Scrabble app

The Marvel Comics app displays stunning, large illustrations and moves you across the screen to see them as if the comic is one continuous strip and there’s no division between one screen and the next. A finger swipe moves you ahead in a guided view that jumps you from one character’s dialog cloud to the next in the correct order. This app is a free download and a handful of free comic books come with it, but each additional book costs around $2.

Scrabble for iPad costs $10 and includes options for playing with friends by passing the iPad back and forth, and an additional free app enables connecting an iPhone or iPod touch to the iPad to use these smaller screens as tile racks. You can play against your Facebook friends or the computer, and things like “Best Word” and an option to shuffle tiles make the game a little easier to play for some. Scrabble will even play your iTunes music in the background while you’re dragging tiles onto the board using your finger.

With Real Racing HD, you see a 3-D view of racetracks and steer a car by leaning the iPad in the direction you need to turn (a built-in accelerometer senses where you’re moving the iPad). I played this $10 game while sitting in the back seat of a moving car and got a bit dizzy since the race is so realistic.

Education

A great example of how the iPad can be used for education can be seen in an app titled “The Elements: A Visual Exploration,” developed by Touch Press. This costs $14 and displays the periodic table of elements stretched across the screen. Selecting one element brings it forward and spins a dazzling image of it so you can see all sides of it. A link to the Web pulls in real-time information about that element.

iPad apps like The Elements: A Visual Exploration, above, make good use of the larger touch screen.

Others

Apple’s (AAPL) iBooks and Amazon.com’s (AMZN) Kindle are two terrific e-reader apps that bring digital books to the iPad. There’s a strong argument for using the Kindle app, since books bought through it can be accessed on a variety of platforms in addition to the iPad, all in sync right where you left off reading, while iBooks are currently limited to the iPad. But the books in iBooks are displayed in an arresting way, with animation that resembles real pages turning.

Pages, Keynote and Numbers are Apple’s versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel and they cost $10 each. When installed, these programs can convert documents from Microsoft’s (MSFT) formats and let you work on them. They present rich, PC-like features controlled by touch. Pages, also lets you convert the documents back to the original Microsoft format.

TruPhone and Skype will make calls over the Internet using the iPad when you’re online, and in one test, this worked relatively well.

The Houzz Inc. app is a digital look book for interior-decorating ideas that’s updated with current images of decorated houses. It displays large images of decorated rooms across the iPad’s screen, allowing you to search and save certain looks for offline access or sharing with others.

Edited by Walter S. Mossberg.

Write to Katherine Boehret at mossbergsolution@wsj.com

More iPad Coverage »

Some Publishers Are Wary of Sales on iTunes

Shira Ovide and Russell Adams — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:00:37 +0000

Newspaper and magazine companies rushed to prep their titles for the debut of Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPad last weekend. But while publishers hail how the tablet computer lets them showcase their wares, some are working to develop ways to sell their publications separately from Apple’s iTunes.

Tablet editions of Time and Popular Science magazines–each priced at $4.99–were among the most popular paid downloads for the iPad over the weekend. The thousands of iPad applications available so far also include editions from GQ, Outside magazine, USA Today, the New York Times (NYT) and The Wall Street Journal.

The majority of magazines and newspapers for the iPad are downloaded through iTunes, the channel to purchase music, movies, books and other entertainment for the iPhone and iPad. The more than 125 million iTunes account holders can order iPad periodicals with just a few taps on a screen, instead of pulling out their credit cards and signing into multiple Web accounts.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

An iPad Review Roundup

John Paczkowski — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:31:54 +0000

A handful of iPad reviews published online moments ago and they’re largely positive–with some expected caveats about its lack of a camera and support for Flash and multitasking. Consensus seems to be that Apple (AAPL) has a great shot at creating a new category of device with the iPad.

Interestingly, a number of reviews make special mention of its speed (Walt Mossberg describes it as “wicked fast”), a battery life that exceeds Apple’s claims (David Pogue says the battery on his review device lasted 12 hours on a single charge–two hours more than Apple promised), and Apple’s hopes for 1,000 specially designed iPad apps to be available by launch this Saturday.

Below, excerpts from eight of those early reviews.

I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop. It could even help, eventually, to propel the finger-driven, multitouch user interface ahead of the mouse-driven interface that has prevailed for decades. But first, it will have to prove that it really can replace the laptop or netbook for enough common tasks, enough of the time, to make it a viable alternative.

– Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal

The first iPad is a winner. It stacks up as a formidable electronic-reader rival for Amazon’s Kindle. It gives portable game machines from Nintendo and Sony a run for their money. At the very least, the iPad will likely drum up mass-market interest in tablet computing in ways that longtime tablet visionary and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates could only dream of.

– Ed Baig, USA Today

No company can generate as much hype around a product launch as Apple. But that’s perfectly OK because no company is also nearly as successful at producing a new product that can justify almost any level of excitement that precedes it. They don’t do it with every product launch, but bloody hell: they’ve done it with the iPad….The most compelling sign that Apple got this right is the fact that despite the novelty of the iPad, the excitement slips away after about ten seconds and you’re completely focused on the task at hand…whether it’s reading a book, writing a report, or working on clearing your Inbox. Second most compelling: in situation after situation, I find that the iPad is the best computer in my household and office menagerie. It’s not a replacement for my notebook, mind you. It feels more as if the iPad is filling a gap that’s existed for quite some time.

– Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun Times

The techies are right about another thing: the iPad is not a laptop. It’s not nearly as good for creating stuff. On the other hand, it’s infinitely more convenient for consuming it–books, music, video, photos, Web, e-mail and so on. For most people, manipulating these digital materials directly by touching them is a completely new experience–and a deeply satisfying one. The bottom line is that the iPad has been designed and built by a bunch of perfectionists. If you like the concept, you’ll love the machine. The only question is: Do you like the concept?

– David Pogue, New York Times

Is the iPad a perfect product? No. And the omissions will give the anti-Apple crowd plenty of ammo. Why do I need this extra device that’s not a full-fledged laptop? Where’s the camera? What about Flash? Um, how about multitasking? These are all valid complaints, but one thing I can say about most Apple products, and certainly the iPad: There may be things it doesn’t do, but what it does do, it does remarkably well. Aside from the aforementioned limitations, there isn’t a lot else to gripe about. And to my great surprise, you can actually get real work done with the iPad.

– Tim Gideon, PCMag

Manic, nonstop use revealed a number of things: battery life is better than I anticipated. I got a full day of constant internet-connected use (it barely left my hands) on one charge. It fits well in my lap when eating, and it’s easy to wipe off stray noodles and arugula leaves and get right back to Twittering….I like it a lot. But it’s the things I never knew it made possible–to be revealed or not in the coming months–that will determine whether I love it.

– Xeni Jardin, Boing Boing

It turns out the iPad isn’t as much a laptop replacement as I thought (though it could easily be used as one). Instead, it’s an entirely new category of mobile device. For example, now when I want to surf the Web from the couch or back deck, the iPad is the device I choose. Starbucks? Same thing. Think of the iPad as a new arrow in your technology quiver, an arrow that will often be the best tool for a given task. I had high expectations for the iPad, and it has met or exceeded most of them.

– Bob LeVitus, Houston Chronicle

Apple’s engineers know something those other companies don’t: form has trumped function. You can load up a tablet with horsepower and extra features till it can do your taxes and lick the stamp, but if it’s not instantly obvious how to use those features without a manual–and if you don’t look good using them–nobody cares. The iPad isn’t wildly feature-rich. It doesn’t run Flash, and the only browser it runs is Safari. Like the iPhone, it can’t multitask, and it doesn’t appear to have a serious file-handling system. I’ve tried its much ballyhooed full-size virtual keyboard, and it feels like typing with frostbite. It doesn’t even have a damn camera. But you will care about it, because whoever designed its graceful lines and intuitive interface cared about you.

– Lev Grossman, Time

Wanted: Online Ad Sales Heads for Both Yahoo and Microsoft

Kara Swisher — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:04:39 +0000

Even though they are two of the Internet’s largest advertising businesses, both Yahoo and Microsoft are without top execs to lead those units.

Worse, both are just entering a complex online ad sales and search partnership together, which will require a lot of management firepower.

Last week, BoomTown reported the departure of Yahoo’s head for the key North American market, Joanne Bradford, for a new job at social media start-up Demand Media. She starts there Monday.

It was a move that sent reverberations throughout the online ad market.

Less known, though, is that Microsoft (MSFT) has also been looking for almost a year for someone to head up its online ad sales force globally.

Yahoo (YHOO) is just starting its search to replace Bradford–with her boss, U.S. head Hilary Schneider, taking over on an interim basis.

In fact, even Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is pitching in, giving Bradford’s staff a talking to earlier this week about the need to press on.

Both Yahoo execs said the company will be looking at both internal and external candidates.

Until then, said a Yahoo spokeswoman, in the boringest quote ever uttered: “Yahoo! has leadership bench strength and we continue to be committed in delivering wow experiences to both users and advertisers.”

Not to worry about obfuscation, as BoomTown has the scoop!

Internally, the key execs being eyeballed include 11-year Yahoo veteran Mitch Spolan, VP of North American sales, and Seth Dallaire, a former Microsoft exec whom Bradford brought to the company last fall as VP of mid-market sales, a newly-created role responsible for all mid-market sales efforts across search and display advertising.

Another former Microsoft exec, Erika Nardini, VP of brand packaging, is also mentioned a lot as a possibility and is well-liked by the sales force at Yahoo.

Still, many feel that with the exodus of such a high-profile exec as Bradford, Yahoo has to attract another big name to replace her.

But externally, the pickings are much slimmer, with only two key names popping up as top choices.

One is a former Yahoo, Jacki Kelley, a longtime online ad exec who is now North American president of Universal McCann, a unit of the Interpublic Group (IPG) agency. Besides Yahoo, Kelley has worked at Gannett’s (GCI) USA Today and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO).

The second is Kathy Kayse, a well-regarded former AOL (AOL) ad exec, who now is in charge of digital ad sales at Discovery Communications (DISCA). Kayse also had a long career at Time Warner (TWX).

(Both are pictured here, Kelley at left and Kayse on the right.)

Microsoft is a dicier proposition, with exactly zero internal candidates considered qualified to lead the online ad sales effort, a job that would report directly into Corporate VP for Consumer & Online Darren Huston.

Microsoft has been searching for a long time now, with feelers all over the industry. A variety of names pops up, from new MySpace ad head Nada Stirratt to Bradford–also a former Microsoftie–herself.

In fact, the paucity of experienced execs to handle these complex jobs–which include the need to understand premium, network and search ad sales, as well as highly technical systems–is clear.

“Neither of these jobs are easy and, in many ways, a giant nightmare,” joked one online ad sales exec.

Technologizer's "The Future of Windows": Scoobs, Foley, Baig, Windex Wisecracks From BoomTown and More!

Kara Swisher — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:15:51 +0000

Check out the interesting observations made by a range of media and tech folks in a post by Technologizer titled, “The Future of Windows: 28 Perspectives and Proposals” on the 25th anniversary of the 1.0 version of the groundbreaking operating system.

The simple question being asked: How can Microsoft keep Windows relevant?

My wisecracking first answer: “Well, a more liberal policy on Windex, I suppose. Wait, you mean the software?”

Actually, I did try to recover, noting that I was not wedded to Apple (AAPL) systems, which I have mostly been using for years now, if Microsoft (MSFT) nailed touchscreen technology and worked better at innovative integration of social networking, software, Web and devices.

No surprise, blogger Robert Scoble had a laundry list of requests, such as these:

“I want everything I touch to be socialized. Why doesn’t Outlook know anything about Facebook? Why don’t my photos automatically get pushed to Flickr? Why don’t I have a news app on my desktop that brings in Tweets from Twitter? Why aren’t notifications built into the system at a deep level?”

ZDNet’s most excellent Microsoft watcher Mary-Jo Foley was more dramatic:

“But what Microsoft really needs to do to insure Windows’ continued relevance is to be unafraid of introducing a whole new operating system at some point. At some point, in the not-too-distant future, Windows is going to need to be supplanted by ‘the next big thing.’”

USA Today’s Ed Baig would not go that far:

“Now, I’m by no means suggesting that Microsoft has to start from scratch when it comes to the traditional Windows OS for computers, much less prescribing specific changes…But what I am saying is that Microsoft shouldn’t be burdened by the shackles of legacy computing as it looks ahead.”

No matter what, of this I am still certain: More Windex!

Or as Toula Portokalos said in the movie comedy, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”: “My dad believed in two things: That Greeks should educate non-Greeks about being Greek and every ailment from psoriasis to poison ivy can be cured with Windex.”

Check out the other 24 ideas and add some of your own below.

Plastic Logic (Finally) Shows Off The Que, Its (Very Expensive) Kindle Competitor

Peter Kafka — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:27:21 +0000

After promising to deliver its take on Amazon’s Kindle for a couple of years, Plastic Logic is finally delivering: Here comes the Que proReader, which the company promises is “more than an eReader”–it’s a “paperless briefcase.”

So what does that mean?

At this point, Plastic Logic, which has raised more than $200 million from investors, is well behind Amazon (AMZN), Sony (SNE) and even Barnes & Noble (BKS). So the company is trying to distinguish the Que by positioning it as a “business” device. Which also means expensive: Plastic Logic is asking consumers to pay up to $800 for the initial versions.

The big idea: Not only can you read your books and newspapers on the device, which features a touchscreen and e-ink display, but you can work on Microsoft (MSFT) Word, Excel, etc., documents. Plastic Logic also promises “interoperability” with Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry, though it is a little vague about how this will work.

That is, the company is positioning the Que as something akin to a netbook that happens not to have a keyboard (this sounds familiar).

In CEO Richard Archuleta’s words: “The e-readers that you see today are great reading devices. They’re great for reading ebooks. They’re great for casual reading. But what about folks who need to read”–that is, grownups who need to get some work done?

The device is neither thinner nor lighter than competing e-readers, which for Plastic Logic was a conscious choice. It is, however, much more expensive: A four-gigabyte version will go for $649 and an 8GB version will cost $799.

Amazon’s Kindle goes for $259, as does Barnes & Noble’s Nook; Amazon’s larger DX device costs $489. Sony’s “Daily Edition” reader sells for $399.

As previously announced, the Que will connect to an electronic bookstore run by Barnes and Noble. The more expensive version will feature a wireless connection provided by AT&T (T). Plastic Logic says the devices will ship in mid-April.

Notably absent from a long list of publications that have agreed to provide versions for the reader: The New York Times (NYT). Also missing, at least right now: Condé Nast and Time Warner’s (TWX) Time Inc. News Corp.’s (NWS) Dow Jones unit is offering both Barron’s and The Wall Street Journal (Dow Jones owns this Web site).

More on Plastic Logic here. Press release here and below:

Introducing the QUE™ proReader
More than an eReader, QUE is uniquely designed as an essential tool to lighten the workload of mobile professionals.

Sleek industrial design, intuitive user interface, powerful applications and QUE Store define a premium business reading experience. | 7 January 2010
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW, LAS VEGAS, NV – JANUARY 7, 2010 – Plastic Logic today unveiled QUE™ (pronounced “Q”), the world’s first proReader. More than an eReader, QUE is designed specifically to provide a premium reading experience and access to content anywhere anytime, while simplifying the multi-faceted lifestyle of business professionals–and to literally lighten their workload.

With its sleek 8.5 x 11 inch form factor, crisp large touchscreen display, intuitive user interface and powerful tools, QUE stands out in the crowd. QUE is currently on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (Central Hall of Las Vegas Convention Center at Booth 11840 anchoring the e-Book Techzone).

“Today we are introducing two major advancements: the birth of a new market category, the proReader, and a milestone in the evolution of plastic electronics,” said Richard Archuleta, CEO of Plastic Logic. “The QUE proReader was built from the ground up for people who need to read. Starting today, mobile professionals can look forward to a paperless briefcase, a lighter load, and a better way to work.”

Like paper, only better?: The inspiration for QUE was an age-old but perfect business tool: a simple sheet of paper. QUE was designed to have the benefits of paper, but without the weight and clutter. Just like paper, QUE is easy to hold and feels good in your hands. But it’s easier to search and find exactly what you’re looking for.

The size of a pad of paper, about 1/3 inch thick, and weighing less than many periodicals (about a pound), QUE features a 10.7-inch shatterproof plastic display–the largest display in the market.

Exclusive plastic display technology: ?The patented plastic display technology in QUE has been 10 years in development, since Plastic Logic’s founding by researchers from the renowned University of Cambridge (UK) Cavendish Labs. The unique plastic displays are produced in Plastic Logic’s world-first commercial scale plastic electronics manufacturing facility in Dresden, Germany. Combined with E Ink Vizplex® technology, they produce an outstanding reading experience that looks and reads just like paper even in direct sunlight.

QUE Design: A celebration of black and white print. ?Designed through a unique collaboration between Plastic Logic and IDEO, the QUE design was inspired by black and white print—a communications standard that is both classic and timeless. In addition to being the easiest to read, black and white is often the most visually striking combination.

“We wanted to highlight the optical qualities of plastic,” said IDEO’s Caroline Fagiello, who serves as Plastic Logic’s acting creative director. “Think of pools of black ink captured in a glass ink well against a crisp sheet of white linen paper.”

Plastic Logic created QUE to feel as natural in your hand as a pad of paper, while conveying the level of premium quality craftsmanship of a fine pen. Its proprietary user interface is as intuitive and easy as paper and ink.

The simple, but powerful QUE user interface is uniquely designed for functionality in the day-to-day world of the business professional. Its signature home view provides your appointments for the day and all of the information you need, including a customized view of your content–your daily newspaper, magazines, and other essential materials–as well as immediate access to the QUE Store to get what you need whenever you need it.

All your content, all the time?Designed for more than good looks, QUE provides instant access to the content busy professionals need at their fingertips all day long–all their content anywhere any time: Read a newspaper over morning coffee. Review your appointments imported from Outlook. Have every document you need when you need it. And at the end of the day, relax with a good book.

In addition to highly valued business and professional newspapers, periodicals and eBooks, QUE supports reading and annotating document formats business users need (including PDF, Microsoft Office, ePub documents and more). With the QUE software, it’s easy to quickly convert and transfer content from your PC, Mac™ computer, or BlackBerry® smartphone to your QUE.

The standard 4GB QUE model can hold up to 35,000 documents or the equivalent of up to 35 filing cabinets worth of documents. If your paper-laden briefcase and file cabinets are bulging at the seams, the 8GB model holds up to 75,000 documents or the equivalent of the contents of up to 75 filing cabinets¹.

Powerful tools for interacting with your content?. Storage means nothing if you can’t easily access your documents. Thanks to its proprietary touchscreen interface, QUE makes it simple to find reports, spreadsheets and presentations with just a few taps of a finger. And QUE is always on when you need it: its battery can last days, instead of hours.

QUE has integrated reviewing tools and features that maximize efficiency. Add a note and use the virtual keyboard to include your comments, highlight text, scribble free form, and even add a stamp to emphasize a point. No stylus needed. And if that massive spreadsheet with the tiny font is too small, just zoom in for a close-up view. With QUE, it’s easy to instantly go back and forth between documents.

Wireless access to leading publications, professional content on the QUE Store?The QUE Store offers a rich collection of reading material especially geared to the business professional. QUE users will be able to connect to fresh content on-the-go, on the QUE Store: to search, purchase and download wirelessly via Wi-Fi and AT&T’s 3G network².

Powered by Barnes & Noble, the QUE Store offers instant access to the world’s largest eBookstore, in addition to many business and professional newspapers, books, and periodicals. Additionally, Plastic Logic is partnering with Olive Software and premier publishers to give QUE users a richer content and reading experience that is optimized for QUE.

Today, Plastic Logic is announcing new partnerships with some of the leading business publishers and publications, including the Down Jones company and the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and All Things Digital, as well as Forbes and Fast Company. Rounding out new partnerships are the Sporting News and major regional newspapers, including the Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald, and San Jose Mercury News.

These publications join previously announced strategic partnerships with Financial Times, USA Today, the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, MIT Technology Review, Popular Science, and IDG publication titles including CIO, Network World, and Computerworld. A full list of content partners can be found at PlasticLogic.com.

Publications on the QUE Store are available ranging from one-time use to ongoing subscriptions.

EXCLUSIVE: QUE truVue–Setting the standard for eNewspapers?The QUE proReader enables newspapers, magazines, and other types of content to have a richer reading experience that is symbolic of their print editions, complete with photos and formatting. The QUE truVue standard, enabled by the Adobe Reader Mobile SDK, provides the familiar look and feel of print publications, and makes eReading easier and more enjoyable.

“Since our inception 27 years ago, USA TODAY has offered a reading experience that millions of people rely on and enjoy, so it’s really exciting that there is an eReader platform that delivers our content the way it’s supposed to look and feel,” said Dave Hunke, president and publisher of USA TODAY.

“Forbes has always been at the forefront of embracing and adopting new media and new platforms; eReaders represent that next generation platform to deliver our content,” said Nina La France, Vice President Consumer Marketing for Forbes. “The QUE proReader caters to our audience: people who are busy, active, mobile, time-starved, and consume content at a great clip. The proReader gives them the full content experience and new capabilities to stay ahead.”

The QUE starts here?Beginning today, preorders for the QUE proReader may be placed at the QUE Store. Beginning in mid-April 2010, QUE will be available for shipping. Later in 2010, QUE will be available through the Barnes & Noble stores nationwide and online at Barnes & Noble.com QUE.com.

The price for QUE will range from $649.00 for the 4GB QUE model with WiFi that holds up to 35,000 documents, to $799.00 for the 8GB QUE model with WiFi and 3G that holds up to 75,000 documents.

To complement its iconic look and profile, Plastic Logic has also designed an entire line of QUE premium accessories, including three carrying cases to match any busy lifestyle. In addition to their classic elegance, the cases protect your QUE from dust, scratches and everyday wear and tear. QUE accessories are available on the QUE store at QUE.com.

Additional information, including high resolution images, are available at PlasticLogic.com.

As Traffic Booms, Is HuffPo Ready to Make Some Real Dough?

Kara Swisher — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:21:53 +0000

For the past few months, the Huffington Post has been on a bit of a tear–both in terms of traffic gains and in its hiring of some big talent for key positions.

Now, those execs are focusing on using that consumer momentum to achieve what has eluded the Huffington Post thus far: Making some serious bank from the privately held news and media site.

How to help marketers to better understand the site and, therefore, spur this significant monetization will be his main focus at the Huffington Post, said Greg Coleman to BoomTown in an interview over the weekend.

Coleman–a former Yahoo (YHOO) advertising exec, as well as one for Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL–was named president and chief revenue officer a month ago by Huffington Post’s new CEO, Eric Hippeau.

Hippeau, who was himself just appointed in June, is another well-known online media exec and has been a big investor and board member of the Huffington Post. (You can read a thorough interview by Staci Kramer with Hippeau on paidContent.)

“It’s important for advertisers to know how big we have gotten, while also highlighting this amazing audience of influencers we have gathered,” said Coleman, in his first media chitchat since taking on the job. “I think it is the beginning of a tipping point.”

Well, of course, Coleman would say that, as the guy looking to drum up interest among marketers in spending their money on the Huffington Post.

But stats seem to indicate that consumers are increasingly liking what the Huffington Post is creating, because it is starting to surpass some well-known media icons on the Web in traffic.

While more of this increase is going to be due to a socialization of the news–the Huffington Post has an aggressive deployment of Facebook Connect called HuffPost Social News–the growth is more about building a brand people trust and seek out.

According to recent reports from both comScore (SCOR) and Nielsen Online, for example, the site just became larger than several online brands of big media companies, such as the Washington Post (WPO), in terms of unique monthly visitors.

In its September report, Nielsen clocked the Huffington Post at 9.47 million uniques, up 26 percent, while the Post site was at 9.2 million–a drop of 30 percent.

According to the Nielsen, the Huffington Post is within spitting distance of USA Today’s Web site (9.9 million), a Gannett (GCI) property.

And, it is bigger than Hearst Newspapers Digital (7.9 million) and the BBC (7.2 million).

For September, comScore has the Huffington Post (at 6.83 million) besting the Post (6.77 million)–as well as WSJ.com (6.7 million), a unit of Dow Jones, which is owned by News Corp. (NWS).

(The Wall Street Journal site, to be fair, makes a chunk of its revenue from subscription fees, rather than relying solely on advertising from traffic like the Huffington Post. And full disclosure: Dow Jones owns this site.)

In any case, big traffic is key for most news sites, and internal numbers from Google (GOOG) Analytics that Huffington Post execs cite are higher, as is typical for most sites, pegging traffic at about 27 million monthly uniques with more than two million reader comments per month.

Huffington Post co-founder and blogging icon Arianna Huffington attributes the recent boost in traffic to the site’s proclivity to “start conversations” that interest readers, such as her recent suggestion that Vice President Joe Biden should resign.

“We are aiming to go beyond just facts, to create a narrative,” said Huffington, who thinks the speed of news helps attract visitors to the site. “We think bringing journalism to a new level is exactly what people are looking for.”

Perhaps. But, even if traffic increases continue to bear her theories out, she and others have said that the Huffington Post still has not been regularly profitable despite doubling annual revenue–mostly in advertising–to what some estimate to be about $8 million in 2009.

While the site is aiming to invest rather than focus too hard on showing profits, Coleman said he would like to make revenue seven times larger in the next years, building on the performance of the site to vaunt past old media giants online.

“This kind of thing is a milestone for the marketing community,” he said. “Our goal is to be the top Internet newspaper, and this points out that we are on our way.”

To do that, he will have to spend some of the $37 million in funding that the Huffington Post has raised from venture investors.

While the edit side is using the money to expand the number of news categories, Coleman said his focus will be on building a higher caliber team of sales and marketing execs with deeper relationships to big clients.

“Unlike selling an auto page on Yahoo (YHOO), our site has a more complex sales process that takes some time for people to understand,” said Coleman. “But once they get it, it should be an easier sale.”

Until then, check out the video of the entire interview I did at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference with Huffington and Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth in which they talk about the future of journalism and more:

[ See post to watch video ]

NPR's Honchos Talk Digital at "Think In" in San Francisco (Also, Scoble!)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:14:24 +0000

Last Friday, National Public Radio CEO Vivian Schiller and Digital Media SVP and GM Kinsey WiIson came to San Francisco for a “Digital Think In” to pick the brains of some Silicon Valley types about where the public radio icon should go, digitally speaking.

While NPR actually has been pretty fast-forward with podcasts and a robust Web site, it still has to think about what social networking means to it and whether a day is coming when broadcasting online will be bigger than offline.

Also, what’s up with Twitter?

These and other questions were discussed at frog design Friday with a passel of Web types like investor Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners, Toni Schneider of Automattic, craigslist founder Craig Newmark and LinkedIn founder and Chairman Reid Hoffman.

Also, ubiquitous blogger Robert Scoble, who wants NPR to open itself up like a can of beans.

The Think In participants were charged with making suggestions related to five main topics: Social media and connection to the audience, NPR’s national network of more than 800 stations, the potential of its open API, expansion of platforms and how to diversify its revenue model.

BoomTown always likes crowdsourcing innovation, even among the digital elite.

While at the event in the morning, I talked to Schiller, who came to NPR last year after a stint as general manager of the New York Times online unit, and also to Wilson, who previously worked as executive editor for USA Today and ran its digital efforts before that.

Along with my video interview with them, below, you can check out some more detailed information from the event here.

Here’s my video:

[ See post to watch video ]

News Aggregator Daylife Ties Up With Getty: $4 Million Investment

Peter Kafka — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:32:21 +0000

Daylife, a news aggregator that launched a few years ago with a good deal of hype but has since retreated to the back pages, has landed another investor: Getty Images has bet $4 million on the company, which has raised some $15 million to date.

Getty’s involvement with Daylife is actually several months old. The amount of the investment, but not the investor, was previously disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Daylife announced the deal today in conjunction with another Getty tie-up–a deal to create photo-curating tools for online publishers.

Daylife formally launched in January 2007 with a good deal of buzz, due primarily to its high-profile investors, which included the New York Times (NYT), Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Techcrunch’s Michael Arrington. The initial plan was to create both content-aggregation tools for publishers as well as a destination site, but the latter never took off and is now just a demo site for customers.

CEO Upendra Shardanand says the company has found traction as a white-label aggregation engine, though he won’t disclose revenue for the 26-person company. Clients include Gannett’s (GCI) USA Today, GE’s (GE) USA Networks and News Corp.’s (NWS) Sky News.

[Image credit: Tallest man in the world visits London, via Getty]

Mount Techmore: Pogue, Baig, Levy and Mossberg at Apple Event

Kara Swisher — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:11:43 +0000

BoomTown could not resist posting this photo for posterity’s sake, taken by All Things Digital Webmaster and master photog Adam Tow.

It pictures a quartet of the tech media’s heavy hitters, all attending at the Apple (APPL) event in San Francisco today–including, from right to left, Walt Mossberg of ATD and The Wall Street Journal, Wired’s Steven Levy, Ed Baig of USA Today and the New York Times’s David Pogue.

They look almost harmless. Almost!

(Click on the image to make it larger.)

BoomTown Talks About the iPhone Apps Economy on the News Hour (Plus Some Future Stuff Blather)

Kara Swisher — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:52:40 +0000

Last night, the News Hour With Jim Lehrer aired a piece on PBS on “how technology companies are innovating amid the recession by designing popular new smart phone applications.”

BoomTown was asked to reprise my recurring role as a naysayer to tech hyperbole that always comes with the latest trend.

This time it was about how perhaps not all of the 65,000 apps being created by legions of third-party developers for the Apple (AAPL) iPhone–as well as for other smart phone platforms such as Google (GOOG) Android and Palm (PALM) Pre–will result in gold, diamonds and unicorns raining down on innovative entrepreneurs.

Well, except for the iBeer folks!

Oddly enough, I somehow went all Jules Verne at the end and started talking about ubiquitous screens on coffee tables, referencing the movie, “Minority Report” (which I love, despite the ever-annoying Tom Cruise).

So, I am obviously just as bad.

Here’s the video from the News Hour and, if you prefer, here is a link to the transcript:

In addition, here is a lovely clip from “Minority Report,” just because I like to embed stuff and it features that cool interactive mall scene and the USA Today e-newspaper (plus Portuguese subtitles!):

Hello Kitty–A Snow Leopard Review Roundup

John Paczkowski — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:44:59 +0000

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, the latest iteration of Apple’s operating system, arrived at market today–about a month earlier than originally anticipated. And while it doesn’t really deliver the GUI enhancements we’ve come to expect from Apple (AAPL) and some incompatibilities are riling people up, Snow Leopard’s under-the-hood improvements and price point appear to have struck a chord with critics. Below, a selection of early reviews:

Overall, I believe Snow Leopard will help keep the Mac an appealing choice for computer buyers, and I can recommend it to existing Mac owners seeking more speed and disk space, or wanting to more easily use Exchange. But I don’t consider Snow Leopard a must-have upgrade for average consumers. It’s more of a nice-to-have upgrade. If you’re happy with Leopard, there’s no reason to rush out and get Snow Leopard.

– Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal

The changes here are modest, and the performance gains look promising but beyond the built in apps, just a promise. If you’re looking for more bells and whistles, you can hold off on this upgrade for at least awhile. But my thought is that Snow Leopard’s biggest feature is that it doesn’t have any new features, but that what is already there has been refined, one step closer to perfection. They just better roll out some new features next time, because the invisible refinement upgrade only works once every few decades.

– Brian Lam, Gizmodo

Here’s the thing about Snow Leopard, the single inescapable fact that hung over our heads as we ran our tests and took our screenshots and made our graphs: it’s $30. $30! If you’re a Leopard user you have virtually no reason to skip over 10.6, unless you’ve somehow built a mission-critical production workflow around an InputManager hack (in which case, well, have fun with 10.5 for the rest of your life). Sure, maybe wait a few weeks for things like Growl and MenuMeters to be updated, and if your livelihood depends on QuickTime you might want to hold off, but for everyone else the sheer amount of little tweaks and added functionality in 10.6 more than justifies skipping that last round of drinks at the bar–hell, we’re guessing Exchange support alone has made the sale for a lot of people.

– Joshua Topolsky, Engadget

Snow Leopard is Apple’s lowest-priced OS update in eight years. Granted, it’s a collection of feature tweaks and upgrades, as well as under-the-hood modifications that might not pay off for users immediately. But the price of upgrading is so low that I’ve really got to recommend it for all but the most casual, low-impact Mac users. If you’ve got a 32-bit Intel Mac (that is, one powered by a Core Solo or Core Duo processor), the benefit of this upgrade will be a little less. But for most Mac users, especially the kind of person who reads a Web site devoted to the subject, the assorted benefits of Snow Leopard outweigh the price tag. I’d pay $30 just for the improved volume ejection, the ability to create services with Automator, and the improvements to the Dock and Exposé–though I admit I’d pay slightly more to not have the misguided QuickTime Player X as a part of the package. If you’re a user who connects to an Exchange server every day, upgrading to Snow Leopard really is a no-brainer. For everyone else, maybe it’s not quite a no-brainer-but it’s awfully close. Snow Leopard is a great value, and any serious Mac user should upgrade now.

– Jason Snell, Macworld

Impressive and important, it’s an update that will revitalize your existing Mac even though you’ll be stumped for a quick five-minute demo that convinces the people around you that much of anything has changed at all.

– Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun Times

In my experience, Mac OS X was already a superior operating system to Windows. With Exchange and other technologies, Snow Leopard adds bite, especially for business. But as upgrades go, this one is relatively tame.

– Ed Baig, USA Today

If you’re already running Leopard, paying the $30 for Snow Leopard is a no-brainer. You’ll feel the leap forward in speed polish, and you’ll keep experiencing those ‘oh, that’s nice’ moments for weeks to come. If you’re running something earlier, the decision isn’t as clear cut; you’ll have to pay $170 and get Snow Leopard with Apple’s creative-software suites–whether you want them or not. Either way, the big story here isn’t really Snow Leopard. It’s the radical concept of a software update that’s smaller, faster and better–instead of bigger, slower and more bloated. May the rest of the industry take the hint.

– David Pogue, New York Times

For the Record: The Official Yahoo New Homepage Press Release

Kara Swisher — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:20:34 +0000

All the news is already out about the new Yahoo homepage, which was launched today and which you can try here.

It features customizable applications, from Yahoo and third-party developers like Facebook, as well as a cleaner look.

But, just in case you are not satisfied yet, here is the full press release on the new front page for Yahoo (YHOO):

New Yahoo! Homepage Lets People Make the Web Their Own

Consumers can now personalize their Yahoo! experience with the best of the Web; Customizable apps stay with you when you’re mobile

Sunnyvale, Calif.–July 21, 2009–Yahoo!® Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) is launching a new homepage that brings together the best of the Web with the best of Yahoo! in a single destination across both PC and mobile screens. With the new Yahoo! homepage, people can easily add apps–from Yahoo! or virtually any other site on the Web–and access them from their computer or mobile devices so that their favorite content, services and experiences are always at their fingertips. The new Yahoo! homepage is available today in the U.S. at http://yahoo.com/try new and will roll-out in France, India, the UK, and on mobile devices over the coming week.

Today’s launch represents the most significant change to the Yahoo! homepage since the company’s inception. By enabling this level of personalization, Yahoo! allows people to get more done, faster, all in a single place. This launch is a major milestone in the Yahoo! Open Strategy, which seeks to mesh the Yahoo! experience with the best online content and services.

“People are living more of their lives online–in the U.S., the average person visits a staggering 85 sites a month*. Whether for the PC or a mobile device, Yahoo! is bringing greater simplicity and relevance to the way people experience the Web,” said Ari Balogh, executive vice president of products & chief technology officer. “By focusing on what people have told us they want, our new homepage is designed to help them stay on top of what is going on in their world, and in the rest of the world.”

The new Yahoo! homepage brings together the best tools and content from across the Web, combined with leading content and services from Yahoo! properties, to give people one place to access the people and things that matter to them most.

New features of the Yahoo! homepage include:

• My Favorites–People can easily choose from a dashboard of more than 65 apps to add directly to their homepage, including different email providers (AOL®, Gmail®, Yahoo! Mail), best of breed content sites (Barron’s®, NPR®, omg!, USA Today), popular social networking sites (Facebook® and MySpace®), and dozens of others. These apps give people the ability to preview, interact with, or navigate to their favorite sites from one easy check-in point.

• App Maker–Using technology developed by Yahoo!, people can easily create their own app on the fly by adding virtually any URL of their choice.

• Trend Setter–A new snapshot of trends, including the most popular searches, insights from Yahoo! Buzz, and fun facts from around the Web.

• PC to Mobile Sync (coming soon)–People will be able to continue their Yahoo! experience on the go with a more seamless PC to mobile integration. New apps added to the Yahoo! homepage on the PC can be added to the mobile homepage.

• More Personal News–Hyper-local news and the ability to toggle the news module to the top of the page offer easier ways to access the news that matters most.

• Social Updates–People can now share their current “status” with friends directly from the homepage, get visibility into what their friends are doing across the Web, and integrate with leading social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace.

“At Facebook, we’re focused on giving people more powerful ways to connect–whether that is on Facebook or other popular Web destinations,” said Ethan Beard, director of Platform Marketing, Facebook. “With the ability to now check your Facebook activity or update your status directly on the Yahoo! homepage, we’re making it easier for people to share with their friends as they explore their favorite places on the Web.”

All users in the United States can opt-in to experience the new Yahoo! homepage at http://yahoo.com/trynew, with local versions rolling-out in France, India, the UK and on mobile devices over the coming week. Additional global rollouts are planned, beginning in the next month. More enhancements to the Yahoo! homepage, including additional apps, will be added in the coming months.

Apple: 1 Million 3GS Handsets Sold

John Paczkowski — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:44:46 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

HP Announces PC-Free Printer

John Paczkowski — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:00:04 +0000

Hewlett-Packard ushered in a new paradigm for printing today, one absent the PC. This morning the company announced a wireless touchscreen printer that will allow users to print documents from the Web without ever using a PC or browser.

The device, dubbed HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web–a grand mountain range of a name if there ever was one–features integrated touch access and a selection of print apps through which users can find news, maps, coupons, movie tickets and recipes from the likes of USA Today, Google (GOOG), Fandango and Coupons Inc. Price: $399.

“Twenty-five years ago we invented consumer printing and today we are taking advantage of the content explosion and reinventing the category by launching an entirely new printing platform–powered by touch and empowered by the Web,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, HP Imaging and Printing Group. “By giving people access to the content they want at the touch of a finger, the ability to customize their printing experience and create their own apps, and enabling easy ‘one touch’ wireless set up, we are driving a significant shift in how people will be printing in the future.”

Not quite sure how significant a shift this represents. Is printing from the typical PC really so tiring and troublesome that it needs to be eliminated? In any case, here’s the HP (HPQ) press release:

HP Introduces World’s First Web-connected Home Printer
New applications platform revolutionizes printing in web-connected world

SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2009 – HP today unveiled the world’s first web-connected home printer: The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web.

HP is bringing the power of the web directly to the printer and combining it with HP’s TouchSmart technology to give people quick, easy, touchscreen access to popular digital content.

Designed for the digital generation and connected households, the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web features an entirely new web-based printing platform with HP applications (apps). Similar to other Internet-connected devices, these apps, which are viewable on an extra-large, intuitive-to-use TouchSmart panel, allow people to connect instantly with fun, informative and personal content.

In addition to receiving apps preloaded on the printer, people can download new ones as they become available at the HP Apps Studio to suit their interests and needs. With the sweep of a finger, users will be able to browse and view popular web destinations and simply touch the app of their choice to launch a web page where they can customize and print content on demand in an easy-to-read format.

As pioneers of this new content-on-demand delivery platform, the world’s first HP app partners will be USA TODAY, Google, Fandango, Coupons.com, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, Web Sudoku and Weathernews Inc. Through these apps, people will have free access to customized daily news, maps, coupons, coloring pages, movie tickets, recipes, personal calendars and more – all at the touch of a finger.

The new printers also will connect directly to a user’s Snapfish account to view, print and upload photos. People additionally can access projects from the HP Creative Studio.

People will be able to create and share their own apps to customize their printers through the HP Apps Studio starting in late 2009. “Twenty-five years ago HP invented consumer printing and today we are taking advantage of the digital content explosion to reinvent the category with an entirely new printing platform – powered by touch and empowered by the web,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “By giving people access to the content they want at the touch of a finger, the ability to customize their printing experience and create their own apps, and enabling easy ’one touch’ wireless setup, we are driving a significant shift in how people will be printing in the future.”

Free HP apps available at launch
Industry leaders from the worlds of news, entertainment and information are the first to offer free apps debuting on the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web. Consumers will be able to print daily, weekly or monthly news from USA TODAY, updated in real time and customized according to their interests, such as sports, news and politics.

“Today marks another change in the way our readers can access news and information as we bring print-on-demand to consumers’ homes,” said Jeff Webber, publisher, USATODAY.com. “People can print the latest stories from USA TODAY at the touch of a finger to better fit their busy, on-the-go lives.”

From Google Maps, consumers will be able to enter their destination and print a map; from Google Calendar, they will be able to print their weekly schedule to place on their refrigerator or bulletin board.

With Coupons.com, users can save money by printing coupons for groceries, restaurants, entertainment and more. People also can browse and print recipes for quick, easy meal planning.

Consumers will be able to search movies in their local area from any one of Fandango’s 16,000 theater screens across the country. They can then buy tickets in advance and print their tickets at home or the office, helping ensure an easy and convenient movie-going experience.

To empower busy families, the printer provides one-touch access to fun coloring pages and templates from DreamWorks Animation and Nickelodeon. Through the DreamWorks Animation app users also will be able to view movie trailers to upcoming releases without having to log on to a computer. Nickelodeon printables will include color-ins, word finds, mazes and more from top properties, including “Dora the Explorer,” “The Wonder Pets!,” “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “iCarly.”

For commuters, Weathernews Inc. provides a weekly forecast to allow for informed travel planning. With Web Sudoku, people can quickly print brain teasers for light entertainment on the go.

World’s first web-connected printer
The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web has an extra-large 4.33-inch touchscreen – the largest LCD touchscreen of any all-in-one inkjet printer on the market.

The versatile printer prints, faxes, copies and scans – producing laser-quality text documents and lab-quality photos – making it ideal for multitasking households. With a full range of wired and wireless connectivity options, the printer provides the flexibility to print directly from Wi-Fi-enabled PCs, Bluetooth®-enabled devices, the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod touch using HP iPrint Photo.

ENERGY STAR® qualified, the all-in-one printer helps users save paper with automatic two-sided printing and reduces packaging waste by shipping in an innovative, reusable bag made from recycled plastics.

Pricing and availability
Expected to be available this fall, the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web will retail in the United States for a target street price of $399.

HP Total Care
HP products are backed by HP Total Care, the company’s award-winning service, solutions and support, both in and out of warranty. The HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web comes with an exclusive toll-free telephone support number for quick access to trained experts who will help people get the most from their printers.

HP support professionals also are available 24/7 by phone, email and real-time chat. HP’s online support options include consumer support forums, online classes offered at no charge, a dedicated support video channel, the PC Tune-up Center and the newly designed HP Customer Care site, recently named one of the “Ten Best Web Support Sites of 2009” by the Association of Support Professionals.

Customers also can access printer diagnostics and software driver updates with HP Printer Check. More information is available at www.hp.com/go/totalcare.