ABC rules out combined print/digital figures

As expected, the UK's Audit Bureau of Circulation has ruled that digital editions will not be included in headline ABC figures.
(From Journalism.co.uk

icWales on electronic publishing

"[Guardian Unlimited] have been bending over backwards to reassure everyone and their dog that there are no plans to start charging for use of the site, but do they believe it? No. Not even the dog."
(From The Western Mail)

QuarkXPress 6.1 released

Quark have released QuarkXPress 6.1, which is compatible with the latest version of Mac OS X. New features include improved Excel compatibility, an "edit in another application" bridge for attached images, and a tool to set font substitution rules. More excitingly, some of the bug fixes make it almost conceivable that you could use the application for something. Some examples: "Creating a layout after checking Facing Pages in the New Project dialog box no longer causes QuarkXPress to quit unexpectedly" ... "A number of issues dealing with saving documents locally and over the network have been resolved" ... "no longer quits unexpectedly when you import, update, print, or collect JPEG images that were created in Photoshop" ... "You can now use a mouse to create tables correctly" ... "When you select text in a text box and increase the font size to 128 pt or larger, the color of the text no longer change" ... "QuarkXPress no longer quits unexpectedly if a large number of fonts are installed on your computer" ... and my favourite: "QuarkXPress no longer quits unexpectedly if you open a document or project that was saved in QuarkXPress 6.0."
(From VersionTracker:)

Quark appoints new CEO

Company president Kamar Aulakh has replaced Fred Ebrahimi as Quark CEO. Ebrahimi remains chairman of the board.
(From Macworld UK)

AOP: digital edition move by ABC is insufficient

The UK Association of Online Publishers reckons the UK Audit Bureau of Circulation's change of policy over digital editions "does not afford publishers a good enough reason to have digital circulation figures audited by ABC or ABCE". ABC have ruled that digital edition figures may now be included on the print certificate, but not as part of the crucial "headline figure", the value considered definitive for circulation. Includes an interesting quote from the manager of Telegraph.co.uk: "Tabloid, broadsheet and digital -- same product, different format!"
(From Association of Online Publishers)

Five myths about short writing

A nice, short article.
(From Poynter Online)

Irish Independent to go tabloid

The Irish Independent is following its UK cousin into parallel broadsheet-and-tabloid publishing. The tabloid version is due to launch in the Dublin area next week.
(From The Scotsman)

Newspaper Registration Service update

THe Newspaper Society and the Royal Mail went back into talks in January regarding the threatened withdrawal of the Newspaper Registration Service -- the thing that lets newspapers post their products first class but at second-class rates. The Royal Mail has told Media Week that an outcome is expected soon.
(From Media Week)

Vodafone's Trekkie vision

Vodaphone's vision of the future of mobile communication devices and other futurist gizmos. Nice demonstrations of the usual stuff: electronic paper, "Visual bracelets", personal comms hubs, etc. Some of these devices even make Star Trekesque chirrupping noises, so they must be really serious. Nothing new here but the Flash manages to be both slick and silly and the same time, which amused me. You can turn off the tweeting birds etc using the sound on/off switch at top left.
(From E-Media Tidbits)

Nisenholtz on the Third Way

Find the Pong...
(From E-Media Tidbits)

K4 updated

Softcare have announced an update to their QPSalike K4 publishing system. Version 5 works with InDesign/InCopy 3.0. An enhanced use of XML allows story structuring; for example photo credits may be associated with a photo. The user interface has been improved, as have the querying tools. Images, adverts, and multimedia objects -- in fact just about any old file -- can be tracked through the workflow.
(From Macworld UK)

Tabloidisation update: Indy hints about discarding broadsheet

INM managing director Terry Grote: "If the broadsheet sales get down below a certain level and the tabloid sales keep rising, then we probably will do it”.
(From Media Week)

Philips demonstrates e-paper

(Low-res .wmv file.) If your browser doesn't know what to do with the link, change the protocol from http to mms. If that doesn't work take a look at the press release here.
(From E-Media Tidbits)

Philips: E Ink "no longer a research project"

Philips Electronics have announced that the rollable version of E Ink's e-paper will go into mass production in the near future. The rigid version of e-paper is already due to go to market later this year.
(From CNET News)

AIM report on digital editions

Advanced Interactive Media had done a (NewsStand-sponsored) report on digital editions, summarising findings from a couple of surveys and looking at some case studies. SOme noteworth stats: of respondents to one servey, "69.4 percent were interested in subscriptions, 65.8 percent in single-copy purchases, 54.1 percent enjoyed reading the publication, and 49.4 percent were interested in getting d-editions that they read for work or research ... 74.3 percent said they preferred the paper version; 76.2 percent did not like sitting in front of the computer to read the magazine, and 66.5 percent found reading on the monitor hard on their eyes."
(From E-Media Tidbits)