WoodWing announces development partnership with GNL

In tandem with Apple's and Adobe's announcements that Guardian Newspapers Ltd are to develop an editorial system using Adobe's InDesign and InCopy on Apple's Macintosh OS X, WoodWing software have announced their partnership with us in developing this system.
(From WoodWing)

NewsStand partners with Adobe, improves reader

NewsStand have announced a partnership with Adobe to allow it to build its own PDF engine into its NewsStand Reader product. It will also uses Adobe libraries to enhance its content production technologies. Meanwhile, its has advised subscribers that its new reader, 2.0, already has many new features: "(1) one click zoom-in and zoom-out for smooth, fast reading; (2) intuitive scrolling with "hand" functionality to see what you want to see; (3) pen enabled for annotating important items and working crossword puzzles; (4) no need to install Internet Explorer or Acrobat; (5) true-to-life page turning - just like the real thing! (6) many other surprises to make reading easier." Their original reader was so lame that I cancelled my subscription to the New York Times.
(From Digital Deliverance)

Kill duck before serving

Nice, whimsical little essay about corrections in newspapers.
(From Slate)

End of standalone Internet Explorer

Microsoft is talking about dropping Internet Explorer on the Macintosh platform. They are citing Safari as the excuse, but the development is most likely part of a move to do away with IE altogether as a standalone application and to roll it into the next version of Windows (aka Longhorn, thereby compelling people to upgrade to new versions of Windows in order to gain access to patches to the browser. Should go down well with the hardware manufacturers (given that buying a new computer is probably the easiest way to upgrade an MS operating system).
(From CNET Tech News)

Quark 6.0 released

Quark have finally released QuarkXPress 6.0, the OS X-compatible upgrade of XPress 3.32, erm, 4.1, erm, 5.0 ... Only five years after Apple announced it was developing a new operating system, one of the Macintosh's most important third-party products has caught up. What's it got? Um, PDF export (yeah, OK, that does come with the operating system), "projects" (groups of layouts sharing assets such as style sheets, content, etc), a full resolution preview (like everyone else) that only works if you register your copy, extended web design support, some new output features, and a couple of other bits and bobs. Unsurprisingly, the Apple web site is totally dominated by the news.
(From Quark)

Digital edition update: OJR

JD Lasica on OJR speculates about the value of digital editions, and questions the motives. He suggests they are a means by which people can roll back free web content, or a way to begin charging for web content, or a way to hike circulation (albeit only under ABC USA's criteria). Lasica reckons that 90 newspapers worldwide are now doing it (I'd guess that three times as many are. American news organisations -- and universities -- tend to be rather short sited.) The fear, as expressed by E-Media Tidbits contributor Adrian Holovaty, is that "such a user-unfriendly dud of a product " may threaten the quality of conventional web news output from newspapers. However, another Tidbits regular, Vin Crosbie, reckons (rightly) that the technology has great potential for use in a wider range of devices than is the norm at present. Page has a reasonable summary of relevant links.
(From Online Journalism Review)