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JNSQ, An Independent Style Mag For iPad, Makes Its Public Debut

Achilles — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:11:21 +0000

JNSQ , the first independent style magazine for the iPad, is making its public debut today. The app, created by former Beauty.com marketing manager Melissa Middleton and angel investor and stealth startup founder Fritz Lanman , features similar content as to what’s found on the online version of the company, at www.jenesequa.com , but is published monthly – like a real magazine. The magazine has actually been live in the app store since October, so you may have stumbled across it on your own. But that was a “soft launch,” meant for testing and experimentation, as opposed to today’s public debut. What’s perhaps more interesting (at least to those of you whose interest in fashion goes about as far as “what t-shirt should I wear today?”), is the platform on which JNSQ was built. Developed by an ex-Amazon employee hired on contract by the company, the magazine was created within a custom-built CMS system for building iPad magazines. That’s going to be useful going forward, because founder Middleton has ambitions to take JNSQ and expand it, turning the company into a new, digital media empire. Or, as she puts it, “the Conde Nast of digital.” As for the user interface, it’s highly usable, clean, and uncluttered. There are integrated, but unobtrusive, sharing, bookmarking and favoriting buttons. And beneath the articles, a small “related content” section directs readers around the magazine in a more intuitive, iPad-friendly way. The app also doesn’t spend ages downloading content to the iPad upon launch, and the homescreen is broken up into clearly marked sections: Featured Articles, Fashion, Beauty and Lifestyle (think health, home, travel, etc.). JNSQ’s content is created by a team of 21 editors who contribute content to the app on deadline – like a real magazine. Their work is edited and scrubbed prior to publication, again, just like a real magazine. However, JNSQ will update throughout the month with new content – and will soon use push notifications (via Urban Airship) to alert readers of the additions. Another difference between JNSQ and a traditional magazine is that the editors are bloggers. “Readers are trusting bloggers because we’re more accessible, it’s not ‘industry.’…Bloggers are non-policed, it’s fun, and they can put more personality into it,” Middleton explains. The bloggers’ voice throughout JNSQ will hopefully appeal to the right kind reader, she hopes: “our audience is the everyday woman. She’s not sitting at fashion week, but she still has a taste for style.” Says Middleton, she got the idea for JNSQ back when the iPad first came out. “I was looking for style magazines,” she says, “and there was nothing. The demographics of the people who were buying the iPad at the time were men.” Obviously, that’s no longer the case – the iPad is for everyone. There’s a huge market for appealing to the style-savvy women’s mag crowd. Or really, anyone who loves fashion and style, regardless of gender. JNSQ is too new to be sharing download numbers or active users numbers yet, but Middleton says the engagement metrics are “unbelievable.” So unbelievable, in fact, that one potential investor didn’t actually believe them. He requested she send a screenshot of proof. The metric that he couldn’t grasp? Users were spending an hour and a half in the app per session, on average. Hey, that’s kind of like a real magazine. Maybe even better.

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JNSQ, An Independent Style Mag For iPad, Makes Its Public Debut

iOS 5 Likely Pushed To The Fall After A Cloud Unveiling At WWDC

A D M I N — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 01:59:50 +0000

Many people (including myself ) were a bit disappointed that Apple didn’t devote any time during the iPad 2 unveiling to talking about iOS 5, the next major revamp of the software. But there may be a very good reason for that: it’s not coming anytime soon. In fact, the plan right now is to wait to launch iOS 5 until the fall, we’ve heard from two solid sources. If our sources are right, this would break the pattern of Apple unveiling the latest iOS iteration in the early spring, leading up to a summer launch alongside new iPhone hardware. The spring timetable usually reserved for an iOS roadmap event is why some were hoping Apple may just rope the details into the iPad 2 event. When that didn’t happen, rumors quickly spread that there may be another event in April to talk iOS 5 (and MobileMe). But it’s looking like that will not be the case this year. But it’s not all bad news. Here’s what we’re hearing right now: iOS 5 will launch in the fall and will be a major revamp of the OS. It could well be previewed at WWDC, it just won’t be released then. The iOS 5 launch is also likely to coincide with the release of a new type of iPad, which we previously reported on . The new iOS will be heavily built around the cloud, and we could see several new services launch from Apple that take advantage of this. Yes, one of those is very likely a “music locker” service. There is also a fall launch aim for this, during Apple’s annual music-themed event. But much of the cloud stuff will first be talked about at WWDC, Apple’s developer event which will take place in June. One of the new cloud service elements is likely a location service that focuses on finding friends and family members. As we said yesterday, OS X Lion is still on pace for a summer release — some of the new cloud components are likely to be baked into it as well. So the next obvious question is where does this leave the iPhone 5? Again, the standard model for Apple has been to release a new iPhone alongside the new iOS version. We haven’t heard anything specifically about the iPhone with this news, but I would guess that it’s still on track for a WWDC unveiling and release shortly thereafter. If that’s the case, it will just be released with a version of iOS 4.X. That’s all for now, more to come in the coming weeks, I’m sure. [photo: flickr/ vsz ] CrunchBase Information Apple Information provided by CrunchBase

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iOS 5 Likely Pushed To The Fall After A Cloud Unveiling At WWDC

Craigslist Censored: Adult Section Comes Down

bestcbstore — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:54:11 +0000

Bad news for Craigslist users who like to peruse the Erotic Services Adult Services section of their site. It’s gone, replaced by a large black and white “censored” logo. I’ve reached out to Craigslist for comment and await their reply. But the choice of words is significant – the section wasn’t simply removed, the censored word was used. The site has been embattled as old press and state attorneys general use any excuse to blame sex crimes on the site. From South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster’s failed crusade against them to a variety of press stories about sex and other crimes. If it’s just a sex crime it isn’t a story. But if a listing on Craigslist was involved, it’s a big story . Craigslist has fought back using little more than their blog and logic . And they’re right. Having prostitution up front and regulated, as Craigslist does, means less crime is associated with it. It’s not like prostitution, sometimes called the world’s oldest profession, was invented on the site. The fact that eBay and others do exactly the same thing , but without human review and moderation, doesn’t seem to matter. Craigslist Sex is what scares the general population, and it’s what the press and the politicians will continue to use to get their hits and votes. So the Craigslist Adult Section was removed. Is the world now a safer place? Update: This only appears to affect U.S. sites, so if you’re looking for a happy ending in Saskatoon or the West Bank, have at it. CrunchBase Information Craigslist Information provided by CrunchBase

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Craigslist Censored: Adult Section Comes Down

Fast Trains to Connect US Cities, Alleviate Highway Congestion

blogger — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:30:43 +0000

The Obama administration back in January promised $8 billion in funding for cities and states to build high-speed, intercity rail projects . This week, the Department of Transporation issued its specifications for the manufacture of new fast trains, namely double-decker coach, dining, baggage, and business class passenger rail cars that can travel between 79 MPH and up to 220 MPH. Bi-level rail cars not typical in the US today, would accommodate more passengers, and hopefully alleviate congested roads and some resulting air pollution. According to the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO) 95 percent of passenger travel in America is made by car, motorcycle and truck on our highways now. Expanding highway capacity and overhauling busted roads with more durable and sustainable materials can prevent some traffic jams. But even highway professionals advocate building efficient, intercity, high speed trains and upgrading our freight rail systems. Wireless companies like Groundlink and D-Link could win business rigging new high speed trains with internet service and related equipment. Cities that recently won government funding for their high speed passenger rail projects include: Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinatti, Ohio , and Battle Creek, Michigan among others along the Detroit to Chicago route. Feds promised the biggest piece of the budget in their national high speed rail transit program earlier this year to large-scale efforts in Florida and California that would connect Tampa and Orlando with 168 MPH trains, and Los Angeles and San Francisco with trains running up to 200 MPH. CrunchBase Information GroundLink Information provided by CrunchBase CrunchBase Information D-Link Information provided by CrunchBase

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Fast Trains to Connect US Cities, Alleviate Highway Congestion

Why This New Apple TV Makes Sense — For Now

bestcbstore — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:24:29 +0000

As a longtime Apple TV owner, I’ll admit a dirty little secret: I really like the device. Sure, it has been one of the rare flops for Apple in recent years. And it could be so much more with say, a Blu-ray player or a web browser. But it is really good at its core functionality: bringing iTunes content into your living room. And that’s why this new version of the Apple TV makes sense — at least for now. When I first bought the Apple TV, there were two varieties: a 40 gigabyte version and a 160 gigabyte version. I was torn between which one to get, but I ultimately went with the 160 GB one thinking I could put most of my movies on it. Big mistake. I basically never use the hard drive on my Apple TV, so it’s a 160 GB hard drive sitting there doing nothing. Instead, I stream everything to the Apple TV. In fact, the only time I do use the hard drive on my current Apple TV is when I rent a movie on it. Currently, even when renting, you download a movie to your hard drive where it sits for up to 30 days (or 24 hours after you start playing it). But with the new iTunes rentals (both TV and movies) everything is streamed — no hard drive is required (besides a small one for buffering purposes). Thanks to that, and undoubtedly the knowledge that most owners were using it for streaming, Apple removed the hard drive from the device, and cut it down in size and price. Now, at one-forth the size and less than half the price, it’s an even more attractive way to get your iTunes content into your living room. And it has a few very nice bonuses. The mixture of the new Netflix functionality with Apple’s new release rental movies makes this an excellent in-home movie machine for the masses. For those who pay $9 a month to Netflix, you get access to tens of thousands of older movies. For those interested in newer movies, they’re $4.99 a pop from Apple. Yes, Apple removed the option to buy movies on the Apple TV itself. But you can still do this through iTunes on your computer — or on your iPad/iPhone/iPod touch. And guess what? With the forthcoming AirPlay feature, you’ll be able to stream any of those purchased movies right from any of those devices to the Apple TV. In a way, it sort of does make the Apple TV a $99 iPad accessory . Further, the removal of the option to buy (as well as the removal of the SD options) make Apple TV much less complicated for general consumers. Now there is no question about whether you should rent or buy. There is also no question about whether you should do rent or buy in HD or SD. I suspect most people were renting in HD on the device, which is why Apple made the move it did to eliminate the other unnecessary options. They’re keeping it simple, stupid . Apple also removed the option to buy TV shows — which never really made much sense to me. There are some shows that people would like to own, but most are definitely watch-once programs. Previously, there was no rental option, you had to buy. Worse, even if you did want to own a lot, the old Apple TV didn’t have nearly enough storage to handle them all — some HD TV show seasons take up 30 GB of space or more. The model just didn’t make a lot of sense. Granted, Apple’s current $0.99 TV show rental option is pretty weak. They only have shows from ABC and Fox — and only some shows from Fox. But obviously, just as happened with iTunes music and movies, Apple is hoping all the studios eventually get on board. And if they do relatively soon, the Apple TV will be a very interesting device to consumers as both a movie box and as a potential cable replacement. Sure, most people aren’t going to feel comfortable totally killing cable just yet — but at $99, this will be a very interesting experiment for a lot of people. All that said, let’s be clear: this Apple TV is not the killer device in the living room. This will be more popular than the current Apple TV, but it will not be iPod/iPhone/iPad-big. And Apple seems to know that, which is why they’re still talking cautiously about it. The problem Apple faces is the same problem that everyone faces: content agreements. Hollywood is proving much harder to convince than the music labels were. In a few years, if DVD sales keep falling and cable revenues start decreasing, they’ll be more receptive to new options. The killer Apple TV would have TV network subscription packages. It would offer live events. It would have every movie ever made available on-demand. And on-demand is the big key to all of this. All of this content is going to move to the cloud . It has too for storage purposes and given how many devices we all have. Rentals just completely made the jump, but eventually purchases will too. At first, you’ll have the option to download certain movies you’ve bought to take on the go, but when you’re at your home, even movies you “own” will be streamed — they’ll simply be streamed for free. And then one day, all of this stuff will be in the cloud entirely as mobile devices will always be connected by high-speed wireless. This is the future. It’s Apple’s future along with everyone else’s. This Apple TV is one small step in that direction, and at $99 it makes sense for now — at $229, it never did. This is a stepping stone to the cloud age. Right now it’s a mixture of the internal cloud (streaming from within your house) with the external cloud (streaming rentals from the cloud). Soon it will all be external. If this half-step isn’t your thing, if you want more functionality, buy a Mac mini . There’s a reason Apple just added a HDMI output to it. But that device is too complicated and way too expensive for most consumers to use as a set-top box. The Apple TV is simple. Oh, and one more thing: the true killer Apple TV device will have apps. I’m still absolutely convinced (as many people are) that it’s only a question of when they make the jump to the living room. The fact that this new Apple TV is running iOS seems to be all the proof one should need that this will come eventually. When that happens, the Apple TV will become a hell of a lot more than a hobby.

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Why This New Apple TV Makes Sense — For Now

Get Your Virtual Pen Out And Sign The Google Voice Desktop Petition

jos — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:09:27 +0000

As soon as everyone got to actually see the unreleased Google Desktop application in action, they wanted to have it. The only problem is this isn’t just about waiting until Google finishes it off and ships it. There’s a real possibility that Google will never release a Skype-like soft phone for the desktop – they clearly want to build these types of applications in the browser.

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Get Your Virtual Pen Out And Sign The Google Voice Desktop Petition

Get A White iPhone 4 Right Now — If You Have Money, Steady Hands, And No Fear

blogger — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 22:02:15 +0000

In the past week or so that the iPhone 4 has been available, there’s been one major thing holding people back from from getting one. No, not the antenna issue

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Get A White iPhone 4 Right Now — If You Have Money, Steady Hands, And No Fear

The $700 Million Travel Search Deal And Google’s Shift In Strategy

kram412 — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 19:38:30 +0000

Last Thursday, Google placed a major $700 million bet on a new strategy. It announced an agreement to purchase ITA Software , a leading provider of flight information (fares, schedules, availability) to most of the key online travel sites, travel search engines, and airlines

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The $700 Million Travel Search Deal And Google’s Shift In Strategy

The Top 10 DIY iPad Projects

vertical8 — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:17:04 +0000

So you have yourself a fancy new iPad , eh? Good for you. Now it’s time to deck it out with all sorts of cool but expensive add-ons

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The Top 10 DIY iPad Projects

Andreessen’s Advice To Old Media: “Burn The Boats”

bestcbstore — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:25:02 +0000

Legend has it that when Cortes landed in Mexico in the 1500s, he ordered his men to burn the ships that had brought them there to remove the possibility of doing anything other than going forward into the unknown. Marc Andreessen has the same advice for old media companies: “Burn the boats.” Yesterday, Andreessen was in New York City and we met up. We got to talking about how media companies are handling the digital disruption of the Internet when he brought up the Cortes analogy

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Andreessen’s Advice To Old Media: “Burn The Boats”