When costs are high and demand is low, it’s time to cut out the middle man. That seems to be what Amazon is doing in their latest move to expand both their reach and influence as they will be publishing 122 books this fall directly from the writers’ works. They’re publishing program has been available for some time but this is the first time that they are actually threatening to do something with it. To accelerate the move and bring credibility to the product, they hired veteran publisher Laurence Kirshbaum to run the program. Kirshbaum, 67. was CEO of Time Warner Book Group until 2005. He was hired earlier…

Games go social, computers go mobile, and communication goes online, but many newspapers and magazines still haven’t made the connection; Or as the old saying goes: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” It hasn’t ever been more relevant than today when New Corp failed to convince many of its publishers that an online subscription-based newsstand was worth their while. Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp, is always on the hunt to find new ways to make people pay, even if that means pissing people off. The concept of an online subscription newsstand sounds like a fair middle ground;…

Got a world class newspaper you want to keep publishing as tastes go digital? The LA Times has, and so it has introduced its rather marvelous and all brand new Los Angeles Times News Reader iPhone app. A $1.99 app which delivers a nice and easy route into all the influential newspaper’s editorial content. There’s no half measures here, no attempt to give readers a tiny morsel of the content to hook them into expensive monthly subscription fees. Not from the LA Times — instead you get news, commentary and photography. Oh, and it has an offline mode so you can read it on the subway. Better yet, the…

Like most newspapers and magazines, Sports Illustrated has been wondering how to handle the move to digital and internet distribution. Some publications are leaning towards iPhone and iPad apps, but the most promising technology in terms of widespread distribution is still the web. As the video shows, HTML5 has more than enough capability to create a compelling experience for magazine readers. The iPad is a success because people can envision themselves sitting on the train reading a book or magazine. But as devices like ebook readers and tablets become smaller, lighter and sturdier, and…

Offering the promise of a promise, Adobe next month will formally introduce its next-generation of creative software products, Adobe Creative Suite 5. The routinely expensive software suite will get its first public demo on Monday, April 12, 2010. What do we know about CS5? …

Amazon and Apple may be actively engaged in an eBook war, but that hasn’t stopped Amazon promising a Kindle eBook app for Apple’s iPad. Details of Amazon’s iPad land grab first emerged this morning at the New York Times, which also reports Barnes & Noble to be hatching similar plans – releasing new digital readers and stores for the iPad, in addition to those already offered for the iPhone and iPod touch. …