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'Google Play Newsstand' could bring digital newspaper subscriptions to Android soon
You can already download anything from TV shows to magazines from Google Play, so it's no surprise that newspaper subscriptions might come in the future. Android Police tore down the upcoming Google Play version 4.4., and it strongly hints at a portal called Newsstand. It's not exactly brand new -- it first appeared as Play News within the store's website code earlier this year -- but the recent discovery makes the section's debut look more likely. While there's no concrete info at this point, a close scrutiny of the APK's code has revealed that the Magazines section might merge with it, creating a centralized store for virtual readables. That makes sense, considering it's most likely designed as a competition to the iOS app of the same name. The code also hints at a free trial, but you know what'll make the service better? If newspapers offer free digital versions to print subscribers from the start. [Image credit: Bill Ward, Flickr]
Jeff Bezos buys 'The Washington Post' for $250 million in cash
Some big (and surprising) news in the media industry today: The Washington Post has just confirmed that it and its affiliated publications have been acquired by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for $250 million in cash. The paper notes that Amazon itself "will have no role in the purchase," and that Bezos "will buy the news organization and become its sole owner when the sale is completed, probably within 60 days." It also goes on to explain that the existing Washington Post Company, which owns a number of other businesses (including Slate), "will change to a new, still-undecided name and continue as a publicly traded company without The Post thereafter." In an interview with the paper, the Post Co.'s chief executive, Donald Graham, says that "The Post could have survived under the company's ownership and been profitable for the foreseeable future. But we wanted to do more than survive," adding, "I'm not saying this guarantees success but it gives us a much greater chance of success." In a letter to Post employees, Bezos, who was apparently one of several suitors considered by the company, says that he "won't be leading The Washington Post day-to-day," but that "there will of course be change at The Post over the coming years," and that "we will need to invent, which means we will need to experiment."
The Telegraph erects paywall for UK readers
The Telegraph has had a paywall in place for international readers since November, and now its spreading the subscription model to folks in the UK. Despite the slow rollout, the price tiers are staying the same: £1.99 a month nets unlimited access to the newspaper's website and mobile apps, while £9.99 per month grants the same perks, plus use of its tablet editions. Each subscription comes with a free trial before you're charged, but you could keep your wallet shut and skate by on 20 free articles every month. If you're already subscribed to the dead tree version of the publication, however, you'll be able to reap the benefits of its digital incarnations without spending any extra pennies pence. [Image credit: Pleasance, Flickr]
Daily Update for December 17, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
News Corporation shutters The Daily tablet newspaper as of December 15th
News Corporation's The Daily was to have been a vanguard of the future, based on the past -- a tablet-focused newspaper that could get us back to paying subscriptions for our regular news fix. Not enough of us were as enthralled with the retro-future concept, however. While CEO Rupert Murdoch calls The Daily a "bold experiment," he's shutting the publication down as of December 15th following sluggish growth that didn't match long-term expectations. The move may pay off for other divisions. As part of a larger spinoff of its publishing wing headed by Robert Thomson, News Corp is moving the all-digital outlet's resources and some of its staff (including Editor-in-Chief Jesse Angelo) into the considerably more paper-bound New York Post. In some senses, it wasn't hard to see a shutdown as a possibility. While Murdoch is more than a little fond of paywalls as an alternative to free, ad-based viewing, The Daily was counting on building a paid readership completely from scratch in a web-based era -- it's hard to compete with free.
New York Times for Windows 8 hands-on (video)
While today's Windows 8 launch event in NYC didn't open our eyes and ears to anything we haven't known Microsoft's latest OS and the Surface RT tablet, we did take a few moments to spend some time with the New York Times' new app for the OS. The layout is frankly dead simple, and should be familiar to anyone who's unfolded a traditional daily edition made from that stuff they call paper and ink. Swiping from side to side lets you transition between verticals -- it becomes long-winded quickly, unfortunately -- while swiping down from the top edge gives you even more sub-sections to choose from, like photos and video. We're pleased to note that we didn't notice a hint of lag on the VAIO T13 Ultrabook and Asus tablet we tried it out on, either. Your main changeable setting is the interval between auto-refreshes and, naturally, a subscription is required for enhanced access to the NYT's content. Overall, it seems like a simple, clean and fresh reading experience. It's available now from the Windows store, and you can catch our video overview past the break to see for yourself! %Gallery-169353%
New York Times releases 'experimental' HTML5 iPad app, puts Twitter trends front and center
The New York Times isn't beyond a little "experimentation" -- not when it comes to iPad apps, at least. The old gray lady today is showing off its "experimental" iPad web app, an HTML5-powered reading experience available to digital subscribers with its Web + Tablet and All Digital Access packages. The app's got four ways to consume all the news that's fit to digitize, including the Trending format, which offers up the past hour's top 25 trending stories on Twitter and the more traditional Today's Paper, which recalls those days when people used to get their news from dead trees. More info can be found in the press release after the break, and if you're on an iPad, you can access the site via the source link below.
Google runs newspaper ad for Google ads, universe has yet to implode
Google knows how to tug at your heart strings when promoting its services, but it also has the whole irony thing down pat. Last Thursday, the search giant touted the advantages of its targeted advertising in the Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail, taking out a large spread asking the delightfully smug question you see above. Lest you think Google's pitch for AdWords wasn't in earnest, the ad also appeared on the Globe's website.
New York Times sees higher circulation numbers, digital paywall smiles knowingly
Given how aggressively The New York Times pushes its digital packages -- we've long since dropped our subscription yet are still bombarded with offers -- you'd hope the paper was at least seeing some results. Well, never fear: it is. A report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) found that the Times has seen a healthy increase in circulation, with the Sunday edition selling 2,003,247 copies (up 50 percent from last year) and the weekday editions racking in an average of 1,586,757 (up 73 percent). The ABC attributes much of this gain to the NYT's addition of digital access to paper subscriptions, and we're sure the paywall, which limits non-subscribers to just ten free articles a month, has something to do with it, too.
Augmented reality iPad app enhances Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer is working with Augmented Reality specialists Aurasma to provide an enhanced version of their newspaper says a report in ITworld. The project would allow people to launch a custom iPad app built by Aurasma that would show animations, video and audio when it's pointed it at a printed copy of the newspaper. AR technology can be useful when used in the right context, but, as ITworld writer Keith Shaw points out, it's somewhat unnecessary to require people to have a printed newspaper and an iPad app. Instead, The Inquirier could roll all that interactive material into a dedicated iOS app or even a multimedia-rich webpage that doesn't need a printed copy of the paper.
Report: Newsstand apps for the iPad generate about $70K per day
A report from Distimo suggests iPad Newsstand apps are generating US$70,000 per day for Apple and its top 100 participating publishers less than six months after the category debuted in iOS 5. Not surprisingly, the top grossing apps are The Daily, the NY Times for iPad and The New Yorker Magazine. Though it pales in comparison to some categories like Games which generates millions of dollars in revenue, the growth in the Newsstand category is a sign that magazine and newspaper apps have potential, especially on a tablet device like the iPad.
The Daily hints at iPhone version
Speaking to Venture Beat, Greg Clayman, the publisher of the iPad-only newspaper The Daily, hinted at a forthcoming version of its newspaper app for the iPhone. Clayman said a scaled-down Daily might just look like its recently released standalone guide to Angry Birds Space. The Daily's team has created five custom apps for clients so far, and the Android version of the ABS guide just arrived. If [the phone version of The Daily] resembled the guide we built for Angry Birds, I wouldn't be surprised. You can check out The Daily's guide to Angry Birds Space to get a sneak peek.
New York Times nears half-million online subscriber mark, halves free article allowance to celebrate
The New York Times just gave you more reason to consider making the jump to a paid online subscription -- beginning in April, that free article allowance will see a 50-percent cut, from 20 monthly articles to just 10. This modification comes one year after NYTimes.com launched its infamous content paywall, and following an announcement that the publisher has signed up 454,000 digital subscribers. Paying readers will receive a 12-week subscription that they can gift to anyone on the fence about swiping for access, and smartphone and tablet app users will continue to have access to the "Top News" sections for free. You'll also be able to read articles linked from other sites on the web, including your inbox, and can access five free posts a day that appear in search engine results. Completely unfettered access will range in price from $15 to $35 per month -- you'll find full details in the PR just past the break, and at the source link below.
Google launches PSA-style 'Good to Know' ad campaign, wants to keep us safe
Google's no stranger to privacy-related controversy, which may explain the motivation behind its latest ad campaign. On Tuesday, the company will launch a series of ads across major newspapers, magazines and billboards, as part of its new "Good to Know" initiative, designed to make the internet "a safer, more comfortable place." According to Google, these ads will offer tips and advice on how to secure your personal information online, including details on how to protect your passwords from web predators. The entire campaign has a distinctly PSA flavor to it, though there's also a different subtext at work here, since Google is effectively branding itself as "the one you can trust." There are certainly some who would dispute that, but at a time when most privacy concerns are focused squarely on the government, it may be a good time for Google to crank up its PR machine. Find out more at the links below.
Samsung takes aim at Apple with Australian Galaxy Tab ad, credits Cupertino for its popularity
Now that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been cleared for sale in Australia, Samsung is taking the opportunity to publicly celebrate its courtroom victory, at Apple's expense. Exhibit A: a local newspaper ad that flatly brands Sammy's slate as "the tablet Apple tried to stop." The spot, which ran in the Sun-Herald this week, came just a few days before Samsung Australia's mobile head openly credited Cupertino for making the Galaxy Tab a "household name." Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Samsung Australia's vice president of telecommunications, Tyler McGee, declined to say how much his company lost in sales revenue due to Apple's temporary injunction, but was more than willing to laud the iPad maker for inadvertently turning the spotlight on the Galaxy Tab. "At the end of the day the media awareness certainly made the Galaxy Tab 10.1 a household name compared to probably what it would've been based on the investment that we would've put into it from a marketing perspective," McGee explained. The exec went on to say that the manufacturer is bringing to market "as many units as we can," since it expects the device to be in "short supply against the demand." To the courtroom victor go to the spoils -- including, apparently, bragging rights.
British Library digitizes 300 years worth of newspaper archives, brings 65 million articles online
Britain's historical news junkies are in for a treat today, because the British Library has just digitized a major chunk of its newspaper archive, comprised of four million pages spanning some 300 years of headlines. With today's launch of the British Newspaper Archive, users can search and browse through a staggering 65 million articles from a range of regional UK papers, encompassing the most newsworthy events from the past few centuries. Developed in coordination with online publisher Brightsolid, the archive also allows for remote article access and download, saving researchers a trip to the British Library's newspaper depository in North London. The initiative seems similar to some we've seen from the Library of Congress in recent years, though the archive isn't completely open to the public. Users can search the site for free, but will have to pay a subscription fee to download any article as a PDF. And, expansive as the selection may be, Brightsolid and the Library are aiming to digitize a full 40 million pages over the course of the next decade. Nevertheless, today's arrival marks an important first step for the British Library and, in a larger sense, British history -- on both individual and collective levels. "For the first time people can search for their ancestors through the pages of our newspapers wherever they are in the world at any time," Ed King, head of the library's newspaper collection, told the Telegraph. "But what's really striking is how these pages take us straight back to scenes of murders, social deprivation and church meetings from hundreds of year ago, which we no longer think about as we haven't been able to easily access articles about them." Be sure to check out the archive at the source link below, and be prepared to lose your entire afternoon in the process.
The Guardian comes to the iPad
The British national daily newspaper The Guardian has come to the iPad. The 190 year-old newspaper is celebrating its iPad launch by allowing users access to their first 86 issues (starting on the day you launch the app) for free when they start using the app. After that time, a monthly subscription charge will only be $13.99 for US subscribers or £9.99 for UK subscribers. Six issues will be "printed" a week. Existing subscribers to The Guardian's six or seven day print subscriptions will get the iPad edition for free. Though the Internet edition of The Guardian has an audience of over 50 million readers, the newspaper wanted to make the iPad edition align more closely with the print edition. For that reason the iPad edition will be a once-a-day edition, without the live updating of and blogging on the website. The app itself is laid out quite nicely, with articles arranged into thirteen different sections. The app was designed so that on the front page of each section users only have to swipe a maximum of two times to see all the articles available – a welcome feature since many news apps require so much swiping you forget where in them you are. And since it is part of Newsstand, The Guardian for iPad will automatically download once a day so it's ready for you when you wake up. You can download The Guardian for iPad for free from the US and UK App Stores.
Facebook adds real-time 'ticker' to overhauled news feed, donates old layout to science (video)
Facebook is about to turn your social life into an online newspaper. That's the takeaway from a new slate of changes the company unveiled yesterday, ahead of its annual f8 developer conference in San Francisco. From now on, if you log in to Facebook after a lengthy hiatus, your news feed -- much like the front page of a daily paper -- will consist of a list of "top stories," photos and updates that were posted while you were away, with each high-priority item tagged with a blue earmark. More frequent users, on the other hand, will find a list of most recent stories presented in chronological order, along with larger photos embedded directly within their news feed. The company has also introduced a new "ticker" feature that provides users with real-time updates on their friends' activity, displayed along the right-hand side of the home page. Here, you'll find the exact same updates you'd see on a real-time news feed, with the crucial difference being that you'll be able to interact with each development without missing a beat. If you see that a friend comments on a cat video, for example, you'll be able to click that item in the ticker and add your two cents, without having to navigate away from the home screen. Facebook will likely provide more details on these new features at its f8 tomorrow, but you can find more information in the demo video, after the break.
Philly newsies to offer Archos Arnova 10 G2 tablet for $99 with subscription bundle
Taking a cue from other publications pushing tablet content, two major Philadelphia newspapers are offering discounted subscriptions bundled with a discounted device to read it on -- the Android-based Arnova 10 G2. The Philadelphia Media Network and Arnova will offer the tablet for $99 when purchased with a two-year digital subscription to The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News for $9.99 a month, or $129 for the year. That tally is substantially lower than the HK $1,680 (around $250) mark that the slate alone hit when it launched last month, but it's not apt to attract too much attention outside of Brotherly Love's favorite locale. So... which paper's lined up to play copycat? Check out the more coverage link after the break for some hands-on video with the tablet.
Huffington Post adds 'Classic Edition' to iPad app
I'm happy to report that The Huffington Post has updated their iPad app to version 3.0 today and has added a "Classic Edition" layout option to the app. Back in December, The Huffington Post released version 2.0 of their iPad app. While in some ways it was an improvement over version 1.0. The developers went a little interactive-menu crazy and unveiled this new thing called newsglide. The intention of newsglide was to enhance navigation, but one also got the feeling that the company wanted to add eye-candy to their app just because it looked cool while using it. I wrote: "The old app had a very newspaper-like feel to it as far as navigation goes. The new app seems to be the love child that would result if the BBC for iPad and Twitter apps hooked up. Personally, I like my newspaper apps to have the layout of newspapers." With today's version 3.0 release, newsglide is still there, but users can select between reading the app in newsglide view or classic view. Classic view is just that -- it retains the look and layout of a classic newspaper. In my opinion, that's all an iPad newspaper app has to do to be a good app. After all, a newspaper (even an Internet-only one) is meant to be read. It's not important for me to feel like I'm Tom Cruise in Minority Report while reading about the latest economic troubles. I want the text, the information, and all new apps should focus on providing that over any eye-candy interactivity. Pamela Maffei McCarthy, The New Yorker's deputy editor, said it best when she told The New York Times shortly after it was announce that The New Yorker's iPad edition was outselling other iPad magazines that had more eye-candy interactivity. "That was really important to us: to create an app all about reading," she said. "There are some bells and whistles, but we're very careful about that. We think about whether or not they add any value. And if they don't, out the window they go." I'm glad The Huffington Post seems to now agree and hopefully other newspapers will too. The Huffington Post for iPad is a free download.
