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Wednesday, February 21, 2001 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. announced the expansion of its Martha Stewart Baby publication from two issues per year to four by extending the category to include Martha Stewart Kids, in 2001. Martha Stewart Kids, a new publication, will be dedicated to the essentials of caring for a child from three to ten years of age. Martha Stewart Baby and Martha Stewart Kids will be alternating on a quarterly basis starting with the Spring 2001 issue of Martha Stewart Baby, sponsored exclusively by babyGap. About, Inc., a network of web guides, announced that its stockholders have approved the proposed merger with Primedia Inc. Primedia has also received approval from its stockholders and both companies have received all necessary regulatory approvals. The merger is expected to close at the end of the business day on February 28th. The L.A. Times reported that the Bertlesmann backed, music-swapping website Napster is rapidly trying to ready a fee-based service. Meanwhile, Rolling Stone reported that it is already too late for Napster. MSNBC.com, an Internet news site, and RedHerring.com, a provider of technology business information, have entered into a content distribution agreement. The agreement allows MSNBC.com to incorporate daily RedHerring.com content into the technology business area of MSNBC.com's business section. RedHerring.com will be the premier provider of news and analysis for the technology news category. Audible, Inc. has announced a co-marketing agreement with Britannica.com Inc., which will bring audible.com's downloadable audio content to Britannica.com. Audible's features are scheduled to be added to Britannica.com in March. During the initial phase of the agreement, Britannica.com will provide a prominent text link on its search results pages containing listings of relevant downloadable audio titles available for purchase at audible.com. Once Audible's features are fully integrated into Britannica.com's search engine, a selection of the most relevant digital audio products from audible.com will be displayed on the Britannica.com search results pages. 101communications LLC announced the appointment of Dan Altman to the new position of senior vice president and chief financial officer. Altman will be responsible for 101's Finance Department and will be involved with all of the company's domestic and international units and operating divisions. Previoulsy, Altman was executive vice president and CFO at Intertec Publishing. CNET reported that ehow.com, an online how-to resource, has filed for bankruptcy. OpenTable, Inc. and Fodors.com announced an alliance that brings OpenTable's real-time online restaurant reservations to Fodors.com, an online travel information provider. Liquent, a division of ESPS, Inc. that provides content middleware for the exchange and reuse of business content, announced that it has signed an agreement with eonDigital, a provider of web-hosted software that radically improves the way companies develop, manage, and publish documents, marketing materials, and one-to-one communications. HarperCollins has acquired world rights for the first major biography of the late Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz in a deal handled by agent Melanie Jackson. Cable channell CNBC is cutting 26 of its 100 Internet employees at CNBC.com. CNBC is also cutting 21 employees in the broadcast department. Riverdeep Interactive Learning announced the release of Living Library, an online research tool that provides over two million reference resources for the classroom and home. Living Library content is categorized by age range and can be searched by subject and keyword. Updated weekly, Living Library provides resources in the form of encyclopedia reference texts; news archives; images and diagrams; sound clips; clipart; dictionaries and thesauri; career information; and recommended Web links. Living Library will initially be offered free. After March 31, 2001 the resource will be available as part of the Riverdeep online subscription. Lisa Bentley, publisher of eCompany Now, the technology business magazine from Time Inc., announced that Fritz Hottenstein has been named online sales director, overseeing strategic sales initiatives for the online division of the magazine. Hottenstein joins eCompany Now from CNBC.com and will be headquartered in eCompany Now's San Francisco office. The Webby Awards announced that the fifth annual award show will take place on Wednesday, July 18th at San Francisco's recently renovated War Memorial Opera House. The Awards are for websites and individual achievement in technology and creativity and are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, the voting body of The Webby Awards. ``The Webbys'' recognizes a diverse range of categories from Activism, Health, and Film to Music, Community, and Travel. Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP) announced that Scott Lubeck would join the company as Chief Technology Officer. He was most recently Vice President and Managing Director of the Perseus Books Group (PBG). In this newly created position, which reports to HBSP Chief Executive Officer Linda Doyle, Mr. Lubeck will work with each of HBSP's business units on digital publishing strategy, electronic publishing, and the development of state-of-the-art content management systems. MSNBC.com is the number one news site for the month of January according to the most recent data compiled by Media Metrix. MSBNC.com reached 11.8% of Internet visitors. CNN.com came in second with 9.3%. Stayhealthy, Inc., a provider of health-related products and services, has signed a letter of intent wherein Dr. Joyce Brothers Media Group, Inc. plans to merge with Stayhealthy. Dr. Joyce Brothers, a celebrated health expert, provides wellness information and advice. Dr. Joyce Brothers has published ten best selling self-help books, a daily column in 175 newspapers and numerous radio and TV appearances including the Today Show, the Lifetime Channel, Conan O'Brien and MTV. The New York Times is introducing a new column by James Gorman about outdoor activities and nature beginning. ``The Outsider'' column will appear every other week in The Times's Friday Weekend section. Gorman, a seasoned science and nature writer and an outdoors enthusiast, will cover activities such as kayaking, hiking, canoeing, birding and more. EE Times, an electronics industry newspaper for engineers and technical management, announced two promotions. Gail Robinson, a CMP veteran with more than 20 years covering high-technology and electronic issues, has been promoted to executive editor of Supersections, a column where technology editors take an in-depth look at one of four hot design areas each week. David Roman has been named deputy executive editor of news, a new position at EE Times. Roman will serve as a more traditional ``city editor,'' working closely with field reporters to move breaking news stories to the publication's Web site, eetimes.com as well as help expand and target online stories for print. Infotrieve announced agreements with three publishers in the scientific, technology and medical field: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Research Press, and International Water Association Publishing. Infotrieve will offer the publishers' electronic journals within its e-Content collection. iSource Business magazine, a publication covering the Web-enabled supply chain, has purchased Stratos, a lifestyle magazine edited for the passengers of private and corporate business jets. Beginning with the May issue, iSource will be distributed on the 14,000+ jets Stratos serves. Stratos reaches an audience heavily weighted with Fortune 1000 senior executives and Forbes 400 members. NewsEdge Corporation, a global provider of syndicated content services and electronic publishing technologies for business, announced the availability of its Electronic Publishing Technology. NewsEdge Electronic Publishing Technology enables content creators and information providers to collect and standardize content from disparate sources, classify that content with NewsEdge's NewsEdge Refinery and taxonomy, and deliver that content to the Web in real-time XML format. ebrary, an online research service, announced the appointment of John Kulka, to the position of director of content acquisition. Kulka is founding editor and series co-editor of the annual short story anthology Best New American Voices. He has edited books for publishers including Simon & Schuster, Harcourt, and Barnes & Noble. Prior to his editing work, Kulka was divisional merchandise manager at Barnes & Noble, Inc. Bookstore chain Crown Books filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. Source PublishersWeekly. Moreover, a directory of news headlines, and Autonomy, a provider of Web infrastructure software, have announced a partnership aimed at bringing breaking news to enterprise portals. As part of the agreement, Autonomy's Portal-in-a-Box will provide access to Moreover's dynamic Web news database. Autonomy's customers, including Ericsson, British Aerospace, Clorox and the U.S. Department of Defense, will now have access to Moreover's new headlines. Julie Schmidt, C.E.O. of the Early Foundations Learning Company, announced that her two year old company now offers children's books in a downloadable format. Melanie Griffith will lend her vocal talents to Columbia Pictures' Stuart Little 2, the studio announced today. She will join returning Stuart Little cast members Michael J. Fox, Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, Nathan Lane and Steve Zahn in the family comedy. Online retailer Amazon.com and MGM Home Entertainment announced the launch of the MGM Movie Vault, which sells rediscovered titles from MGM's film library. The rediscovered MGM titles include early films from well-known actors and directors such as Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, Katharine Hepburn, Holly Hunter, Jack Nicholson, and Roger Corman. The MGM Movie Vault also features hard-to-find cult favorites such as Daughters of Satan and Dance Macabre. All titles in the program are priced at $7.99 and can be purchased at a special MGM Movie Vault Store within the Amazon.com website. Click here to return to the homepage of The Write NewsTM Click here to subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter.  www.writenews.com Copyright © 1997-2007 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
