zinio
Latest
Zinio magazine app heads to Windows Phone 8 as a Lumia exclusive
Zinio's magazine app for tablets and smartphones has already found its way onto quite a few platforms (even some now-defunct ones), and it looks like it'll soon be heading to yet another -- at least partially. The company announced today that its Windows Phone 8 app will be available in the coming weeks, although you'll need a Nokia Lumia phone to use it. Yes, this is yet another exclusive deal for a popular app, but if past history is any indication you can likely expect it to hit other devices sometime after the initial rollout. As TechCrunch notes, Zinio is also using its venture onto Windows Phone to branch out a bit from its traditional focus, with the the new app able to pull content from multiple sources into a reading list -- as opposed to simply letting you jump from one magazine to the next. You'll also expectedly get WP8 live tile support, as well as what Zinio describes as "improved text mode support" to make reading on a smartphone-sized screen a bit easier.
Zinio finally hits the PlayBook, becomes your Berry own magazine stand
Zinio's had a comfortable spot sitting on the Android and iOS stores for months, but up until now, it'd been steering clear of a certain App World. Fast forward to today and the digital magazine service is staying true to its tweet, at last making its way to that 7-inch BlackBerry slate. The PlayBook flavor brings along the usual traits, including over 5,000 mags in 33 different languages, multiple device syncing, as well as full subscriptions or à la carte issues . Early adopters have already taken the app for a spin, giving it mixed reviews, and you can do the same directly from your two-dot-oh slab or via the source link below.
Zinio caves to begging, says BlackBerry PlayBook app landing in March
Zinio's magazine app has certainly made the rounds -- Android slabs, the Kindle Fire, the iPad and even the ill-fated TouchPad have had their shining moment with the digital service -- but months of "consideration" for their platform have BlackBerry PlayBook owners feeling left out in the cold. Zinio, however, recently tweeted that a PlayBook app is coming "real soon," and one prospective customer decided to fish for more details by taking drastic measures: good, old, greasy bribery. The enterprising Twitter user promised to subscribe to more magazines if the company would tell him when the app is coming out and, well, it actually worked. PlayBook owners can apparently expect to read mags like Rolling Stone, Maxim and The Economist via the Zinio app by "mid March." Coupled with the release of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 on Feb. 21, it seems like RIM's faithful tablet owners are finally starting to get some much needed attention.
Zinio now available on Amazon Appstore, brings 5,000 magazines to Kindle Fire
After having already arrived on a host of Android slates, iPads and even TouchPads, Zinio's reader app has now made its way to the newest tablet platform -- the Kindle Fire. The magazine marketplace made its debut on the Amazon Appstore today, just in time for today's grand launch. Available as a free download, Zinio brings more than 5,000 magazine titles to Amazon's new slab, including The Economist, Rolling Stone and US Weekly, among others. New subscribers, meanwhile, will benefit from an extra $25 in credit, redeemable through March of 2012. Find more specifics in the full PR, after the break.
Zinio arrives for the Touchpad, with fashionable lateness
The Touchpad may no longer be with us, but that hasn't stopped Zinio from launching its reader app on HP's abandoned tablet. The tool hit the App Catalog earlier this week, bringing magazine subscriptions and single-issue purchases to users still clinging to their 9.7-inch slates. The newsstand is available as a free download, and, by all appearances, doesn't stray too far from the layout and functionality found on previous iOS and Android releases. News junkies can grab the app now, though according to some early users on PreCentral's forums, it may act a little buggy.
Zinio 2.0 for iPad adds in-app purchasing, free article preview (video)
If you're reading magazines on your iPad, there's a fairly good chance that you're using Zinio. Released today, version 2.0 of the Zinio app for iPad makes it easier to hand over those newsstand-like per-issue fees with in-app purchasing, while also adding a variety of free preview content, including access to current articles from thousands of top publications. The app's new Explore section hosts this new free content, which updates daily and includes stories from magazines like Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Elle. The new app also features significant performance boosts, like we saw with last month's Android update, in-magazine shopping, and advanced bookmarks. Another update in the coming months will bring social media capabilities, such as bookmark and article sharing. We'd still love to see lower per-issue and subscription rates, but we're happy to welcome free article content in the meantime. Jump past the break for a video overview, along with a sneak peek at those social media features with Zinio CEO Rich Maggiotto.
Zinio adds full Froyo and Gingerbread support, now available for all Android devices
Earlier this summer, Zinio released its reader app for a small handful of Android tablets, bringing more than 20,000 full-format magazine titles to the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and a half dozen other slates. Now, the app is available for all current Android 2.2 Froyo and 2.3 Gingerbread devices, including tablets and smartphones. At launch, you'll have access to a dozen free current issues, including ESPN The Magazine, Maxim, and Robb Report. You'll be back to paying full rates after downloading those 12 single issues, however, so prepare for a bit of sticker shock when you're ready to hit the subscription page.
Zinio brings Tegra hardware acceleration to Honeycomb tablets
Zinio's smartphone and tablet apps make it easy to bring a lifetime's worth of magazine content with you on the go, but performance has been inconsistent, especially when navigating through pages or zooming into photos and text. The company's latest app improves upon both critical elements, however, taking advantage of the Nvidia Tegra chip in your Mototola Xoom or Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to smooth out page transitions and pinch-to-zoom. Nvidia posted a side-by-side comparison video demonstrating the improvements on a pair of Xooms, and there's clearly a noticeable difference. You can try it out for yourself by downloading Zinio version 1.10.3641 from the Android Market, or jump past the break for the demo.
Zinio comes to Android tablets, gives you 24 magazine issues for free
The iPad has yet to transform the publishing world as many expected it would, but some healthy competition from Android tablets should help to keep that process in motion. Zinio's reader app is now available on select Android 2.2, 2.3, and all 3.0 tablets, bringing Esquire, National Geographic, and 20,000 other magazine titles to the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and a half dozen other devices. And, to kick off the launch, Zinio is picking up the tab on the most recent issues of 24 top magazines, as long as you download by June 15. Digital subscriptions are still often more expensive than their print counterparts, but at least Android tablet owners will have a safer place to hide their issues of Playboy.
T-Mobile G-Slate bundled apps tour (video)
The G-Slate from LG (aka Optimus Pad) was on display at T-Mobile's booth here at CTIA, so we spent a few minutes investigating the apps the carrier is bundling with the 8.9" Honeycomb tablet at launch, namely Need for Speed Shift, T-Mobile TV, and Zinio eReader. Interestingly, the same three apps are also pre-installed on T-Mobile's other dual-core LG device du jour, the tantalizing G2x. Check out the tour in our video after the break.
Mysterious 7-inch Viewsonic Android tablet breaks cover, reveals little
Let's see, if there's a ViewPad 10 and a ViewPad 4, logic would dictate that a ViewPad 7 couldn't be far out, right? Unfortunately for those convinced, Viewsonic actually has a 7-inch ViewPad on the market already, and the device you're peering at above most certainly isn't it. This gem was spotted by CarryPad at Zinio's CES booth, complete with Android 2.2, the outfit's own content software and... well, who knows what else. Chippy noted that booth attendees weren't exactly hip with him toying around with the device, though he did remark that performance seemed snappier than usual when compared to the other 7-inchers out there. So, will Viewsonic come clean with its LTE-enabled, 7-inch miracle-of-a-tablet? Highly doubtful, but who said dreaming was a crime?
Videos: Wired, VIVmag showcase iPad offerings
One of the elusive goals of tablet computing has been to totally replace print media with something new. To date, nobody has been completely successful. When the Windows-based Tablet PCs shipped in the early 2000s, for instance, there was a lot of talk about how magazines would move completely to electronic publishing platforms such as Zinio. Well, here we are in 2010 and many of us still have print magazines showing up in our physical mailboxes on a regular basis. But it could be that the new generation of tablet devices, as heralded by the iPad, could finally create such a great user experience that most magazines would finally make the jump from "dead-tree" to electronic versions. Two magazines well-known for their content, typography, and art design have produced videos highlighting their upcoming offerings for the iPad. Wired Magazine is featured in a video that appears to have been produced by Adobe, highlighting how the magazine plans to use interactive advertising, social tools, and a very paper-like user interface to bring the Wired experience to tablet devices. The second video is from ViVmag, an online woman's magazine touted as "the first interactive all-digital luxury magazine for women." The VIVmag video shows how the magazine plans to use dramatic animation to move between elements in a story. Both videos give you a taste of what we might expect to see starting shortly after April 3rd. Click the Read More link to view the videos, and let us know iif you've already given up paper-based magazines or if you'll still need your paper copy of Popular Mechanics for bathroom reading material.
Where's the iMag store?
You know, at first I wasn't so impressed with the iPad, but the more I thought about the ways in which you can use it, the more excited I got. As a piece of leisure technology - something you just have laying around your living room like a newspaper - it's a lot more user friendly than a laptop or an iPhone. However, I don't think the iPad is revolutionary. By now we're well familiar with multi-touch devices and apps stores. And let's face it, ebooks are nothing new. The iBooks app isn't going to be breaking any ground, but you know what would? An iMag store. Sure, there're sites like emagazines.com that offer browser-based magazines, but there's no one universal storefront for emagazines that's easy to use. Even Zinio doesn't make the emagazine buying experience as easy or pleasurable as buy a song from the iTunes store. Can you imaging what an iMag app might be like? Bjørn Rybakken, creative director at Tangram Design, an Oslo based design agency, sent me these mock-ups (and you guys know how I love mock-ups) which got me thinking what the iMag store might be like.
Zinio offers fix for QuickTime + Flash quirk in their magazines
Zinio, if you aren't familiar, offers magazines in digital format (yes, with DRM), many of them with rich media like embedded movies right in the pages, for Mac and PC. They have quite a selection and they've been around for a few years now, but apparently their latest version (released around the dawn of time) is suffering a quirk due to Apple changing the way QuickTime renders Flash with the latest QuickTime 7.1.3 update, causing embedded rich media to misbehave.Fortunately, they've issued a fix via email, and it goes a little something like this: Close the Zinio Reader, if open Go to the QuickTime pane in System Preferences In the Advanced tab, check 'Enable Flash' After that simple process you should be able to return to your regularly scheduled, though in my opinion ridiculously overpriced, reading.This fix, by the way, is also how you enable iTunes 7 to play interactive booklets from the iTunes Store according to this Apple KB article.
