ideas:in\formation

emerging wonders in personal technology
Aaron Swindell III
Aaron Swindell III

I'm grateful for the technology that has allowed me to work smarter, not harder! And the people who make it!

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2012 (5)
2011 (43)
2010 (81)
 

When digital publishers betray their subscribers!

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The iPad continues to be a runaway success, but magazine subscriptions, especially digital ones, are a major #FAIL!

PROJECT magazine was spearheaded by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Digital Publishing and another startup called SEVEN.  They built an app.  I downloaded it.  They offered iPad-only digital magazines aimed at men, tech-minded men, for $2.99 per issue.  I bought them.  I wanted to support their effort at being something unique.  I enjoyed browsing though the issues and gleaned them for ideas on how to build interactive publications for this new medium.

Finally, at the end of the year, they offered annual subscriptions.  I bought one...and have only received 2 issues of the publication since.

The magazine's Twitter & Facebook streams have dried up.  Emails to the publisher are delivered to the void, I guess.  YET MY MONEY WENT SOMEWHERE?

I've learned my lesson.  I have had problems maintaining my purchase history with FOOD&WINE.  I was disappointed with the lack of interactive features from WEB DESIGNER magazine.  At least, WIRED and SOUND+VISION have been consistent in offering digital publications, however, I don't think I'm their target demographic.  Any publication that just gives me rehashed PDFs of their print publication are promptly removed from my device.

It's been a little over 3 years since the introduction of the iPad.  Digital publishing is still in its infancy, I believe.  There's a universe still waiting to be charted.  However, I'm not going to spend a penny more on digital publications until I see a proven track record of consistency from the publisher and loyalty to the customer.  

For shame, PROJECT, for shame!

UPDATE 5/23/2012:  PROJECT has released an update to their app today!  The advice read "minor bug fixes."  I trust it'll be more than that!
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GROOVE 2

If you are looking for a better music player than "Music" on your iDevice, you owe it to yourself to try GROOVE 2!

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With its clean engaging interface, GROOVE 2 by ZikeraGroove delivers an app that's sure to please even the fussiest listener. Last.fm scrobbling and Twitter & Facebook intergration keep you social. But it is GROOVE 2's ability to help you mix playlists from your music library that rivals Apple's own Genius feature. In my opinion, GROOVE 2 does a better job of serving up a tasty blend of ear candy based on the artist, song, or genre I have chosen. A universal app for both iPhone & iPad, at $3.99, let GROOVE 2 give you the aural massage you deserve.

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"iPad 3" is coming... ?

However Apple chooses to name it, it's rumor mill time to for the next iteration of the iPad.  As I looked through some of the posts on this blog, I'm amazed at how successful the iPad has been.  App developers are making bank.  Apple could fund the World Bank.  And I am considering giving them yet more money for the next generation of this device.  So, as a consumer, what would I want to see in an iPad 3?

  • A screaming processor with matching memory
  • A hi-resolution display that would make reading more enjoyable
  • A even longer battery life
  • Minimum 128 GB SSD drive (for all the video I want to carry)
  • Siri integration
  • A higher resolution camera for when I will use it (not a great priority)
  • SURPRISE ME! (you're always good at that, Apple) 

Finally, I don't want to pay one penny more than that I paid for the first-generation iPad I purchased two years ago.  In fact, I'd like a bit of a price break, say $100 to $150 bucks for the top end of what you plan to offer. The way I see it, that would be the ultimate reward to those of us who has so firmly supported you.

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Don't "paper" me, bro!

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As an iPad owner, I enjoy getting to know innovative magazines and newspapers that are taking advantage of interactive media.  Apps like "PROJECT," "Sound+Vision," and "Bloomberg Businessweek" have found a home on my device.  

There are a few other publications to which I'd like to subscribe, but they require I take a paper subscription to get the digital one for "free."  They do not offer a digital only subscription.  "FOOD+WINE" and "Entertainment Weekly" fall into this category.  The former has done an admirable job in alienating me from ever subscribing (although I once gave them a favorable review); the latter just pisses me off that they want me to collect 26 issues in print that I would prefer to download and view.

Can someone please explain to me how this is a successful business model?
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Attack of the Killer News "Magazines"

Newsaggregators

A year ago, amid the hubbub of other content publishers deciding if they would embrace the iPad, a smart little startup presented "Flipboard."  Flipboard takes all of your favorite content and presents it in a fun "magazine" format that you just flip through.  The cover is always a series of images of your selected content, your Twitter feed, or your Facebook stream displayed in trance-enducing Ken Burns fashion.  Flipboard captured the imagination of the content publishers. Many have sought to ride its coattails, aggregating their content to the popular platform.  

In that year's time, two other contenders have sought to steal a bit of Flipboard's thunder.  In my opinion, one is flailing, and one is too new to judge.  "Zite" came along offering "Personalized News."  It strives to be part magazine, part newspaper, all chosen by you.  However, in many ways it presents a lot of the same information that you can pull into Flipboard, but not as elegantly.  Zite is good at what it does, but the act of simply pulling in the original article gets old fast.  I could just as well surf to the website of the content provider as use Zite.  While its "Reader" mode does strip away all of annoying web advertising, it's an extra tap that I would just as soon not have to make.  Granted, Flipboard sometimes suffers from this, but it has worked hard to optimize a lot of content to its format while respecting the content provider's branding.

Suddenly, just as I was getting used to using Flipboard for friends, and Zite for more serious content pursuits, comes Google Currents.  This reader is a breath of fresh air if you enjoy the cleanliness of Google +.  Google's designers give you an uncluttered palette into which you add your preferred content.  Currently the pickings are slim, but it's Google!  I wholly expect then to have everyone clamoring to be a part of Currents soon enough.  Zite could take a lesson from Currents and clean up their interface a bit. 

At first the fight was on the iPad, but now all three "news" magazines have scaled down for the iPhone as well, each presenting compelling UI's that will definitely keep me busy while waiting for the doctor.  Flipboard's interface is clean, clear, crisp and FUN.  Zite gives us the topic carousel in a faux Windows Metro interface.  They put big thumbs up / down icons at the bottom of each article so that you can rate it to "see more of that type of content."  Its iPhone interface is still a work-in-progress, but I give them props for speeding up content loading.  Finally, Currents for iPhone is simply a joy to behold.  Content gracefully slides from topic to topic.  You can easily choose between your "library" or "trending topics." You can share what you read to all prevailing social networks, but Google+ is recommended before any others. 

Flipboard remains my favorite because it has grown smartly to embrace audio and video content as well as text.  Zite needs a face lift and has to learn about what I like faster.  I expect Currents to expand its influence as well in the months to come, but it won't pose any threat to Flipboard anytime soon.
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Cute Interfaces

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You remember that blind date you were told about? "You'll love him / her! He / She has a great personality, but..." Well, that's how I feel about "Wall of Sound" & "AirCassette." Both apps seduced me with their beautiful interfaces. They both teased me about how to touch my music. Yet both apps left me longing for a deeper connection & denied me access to my playlists.

In the case of "Wall of Sound," it would be thrilling to see it flow from cover to cover as a new song starts. For "AirCassette," what is a mixtape but a playlist? Sure, you can have the retro feel of rifling through your library and arranging the songs, but what if you'd already done that in iTunes & synced it to your device? Instant mixtapes to go!

While "Wall of Sound" is free, "AirCassette" will pop you for a couple of bucks. Both support AirPlay, and do the usual social networking, but the latter doesn't do Twitter despite its integration in iOS5. I'm sure these apps will get better over time, so I look forward to future updates!

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Anatomy of an Apple Rumor (LOL)

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Click here for more of PC Mag's iPhone 5 coverage.

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TEXTBOOKS: The new frontier!

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Read a blog post today where the writer bemoaned that e-book needs to go the next step beyond imitating the physical book.  D'UH!  The era of the tablet computer is still in it's infancy even though Apple has given birth to 2.0.

However the publishing industry is still perfecting the wheel... the stone wheel it uses to produce what's currently available.  There was a glimmer of hope when "push pop press" published "Our World" by Al Gore.  However that firm was purchased by Facebook who plans to use the technology in a different manner.

One commenter to the blog mentioned a company called 'inkling."  It has made an iPad app through which you can purchase highly interactive textbooks.  Check them out!  

INKLING WEBSITE (Check out the video on this page!)

iTunes Link

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Posterous theme by Cory Watilo.
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