newspapers

Mobile devices have surpassed magazines and newspapers in grabbing our time each day, says a new study from market researcher eMarketer.

On average, U.S. consumers now spend around an hour every day with their mobile phones, a 30 percent rise from last year.

In contrast, people are spending only 44 minutes a day reading newspapers and magazines, a small drop from last year. But the results stemming back from 2008 show a sharp rise for mobile devices and a steady decline for print publications.

Despite the popularity of mobile devices, people are still spending much more time watching TV … Read more

It's not pareidolia. You're actually looking at the face of the Little Printer, a tiny output device coming in 2012 that curates your online subscriptions and spits them out as a snackable newspaper.

The Little Printer occupies as much room on your shelf as an alarm clock, but the wireless server inside the molded plastic and brushed steel faceplate connects to an accompanying smartphone app with which you choose the services you want in your morning or evening report; multiple feeds are available, including your daily agenda, news headlines, personal messages, games and puzzles, and birthday reminders extracted from Facebook.

The guts of the Little Printer are simple; a roll of paper sits on a spool and a thermal printer heats up chemicals that change color when exposed to heat (the same inkless printing technology is used on sales receipts, giving you an idea of the output quality limitations)--maybe that's why every message starts and ends with a happy face.… Read more

I've been reading magazines on my iPad for months. I didn't need iOS 5 to do it. I keep these apps--The New Yorker, Wired--in a separate folder on my iPad, called Reading. With iOS 5, that's no longer the case. A new baked-in app (or, rather, a type of smart folder) called Newsstand has now absorbed these apps into an iBooks-like wooden bookshelf.

Newsstand was one of the iOS 5 features that I'd been long awaiting, because I dreamed it would be a way of integrating books, periodicals, and all reading material into one destination. Alas, that's not the case here. Instead of being slotted into iBooks, Newsstand is a separate app. This means two icons to manage instead of one.

Also, I hoped that Newsstand would become a digital way of discovering not just magazines, newspapers, and journals, but a means of browsing covers and headlines from current issues. I browse real newsstands on the corner of 28th and Park, or at a bookstore, and based on what I see, I actually might buy an issue. A football preview came out this month? A cover story on a dinosaur discovery? Sure, I'll bite.

Newsstand on the iPad does none of this.… Read more

A study conducted by the Knight Foundation has found that "students who use social networking daily to get news and information" are more likely to agree that 'people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions'," than those who don't use social networks. And the more kids use social network, the more likely they are to hold that opinion. Fully 91 percent of those surveyed who use social networks daily agree with that premise compared to 82 percent of monthly users and 77 percent of those who never use social media, the study found.

The study included … Read more

The New York Post is now blocking iPad owners from accessing its Web site through mobile Safari, trying to instead force them to download and use the paper's own iPad app.

iPad-owning New Yorkers looking for their daily Post fix online will see nothing but a message directing them to download the paper's $1.99 iPad app where after 30 days of free access they must pay for a monthly or annual subscription to read the content--$6.99 for one month, $39.99 for six months, or $74.99 for a year.

But the block seems limited … Read more

Who says the old broadsheet newspaper is dead?

To celebrate its 190th anniversary, the U.K.'s Guardian (known at its 1821 founding as The Manchester Guardian) has concocted a very-old-school version of the front--er, home--page of today's edition.

The page uses serifed and black-letter Web fonts; copious vertical and horizontal rules; vintage engravings; and a background image of a pulpy, papery texture to re-create the thrill that awaited one who clapped a copper into a newsboy's palm and flapped open a newly purchased copy of the Latest Edition.

In explaining the project, the page's developers also have some fun with Georgian/Victorian-era prose stylings:

"This new edition is available in the following establishments: the Flaming Fox public house; the Verdi & Traviatta at the Royal Opera House; the African Expedition outfitters and the recently-constructed Silver V8 engine foundry," they write in a blog post. When readers click the included links, the rather exotic appellations become clear:… Read more

Google might have near-boundless ambition, but every now and then it throws in the towel. The most recent example: a project to scan newspapers for publication online.

"Users can continue to search digitized newspapers at http://news.google.com/archivesearch, but we don't plan to introduce any further features or functionality to the Google News Archives and we are no longer accepting new microfilm or digital files for processing," Google told Search Engine Land in a story published today.

The newspaper-scanning project fit neatly into Google's mission, "to organize the world's information and make … Read more

While there's no shortage of people criticizing Apple's new App Store subscription service, some executives at major media companies are still unsure what to think.

Some said Apple's plan to allow app publishers to sell subscriptions for the first time through the iTunes App Store was a step in the right direction. Others saw many of Apple's new requirements for app sales, which include a guarantee that publishers offer their best subscription price at the App Store, as the newest way for the company to grab more control of online media.

One possible reason for why … Read more

Apple launched a subscription service at the App Store for magazines, newspapers, videos, and music bought through its App Store.

In a move that goes a long way to addressing concerns of many in the magazine and newspaper sectors, Apple said today that publishers will be allowed to set the price and the length of the subscription term. The processing of payments will be Apple's job and handled within the App Store. Apple will collect 30 percent of the revenue.

"Our philosophy is simple," Steve Jobs wrote in a statement. "When Apple brings a new subscriber … Read more