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Friday, June 1, 2001 Publishing Industry Soundbytes · Dow Jones & Company announced a realignment of management responsibilities within the Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing group, including The Wall Street Journal Online. Key responsibilities within the new structure are as follows: Neil Budde, 44, becomes chief product officer for Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing, while continuing as publisher of The Wall Street Journal Online. Bill Grueskin, 45, a senior editor of The Wall Street Journal, becomes managing editor of the Online Journal. Rich Jaroslovsky, 47 -- who came from The Wall Street Journal's Washington bureau in 1994 to become founding managing editor of the Online Journal -- will return to the print Journal as a senior editor, reporting directly to managing editor Paul Steiger, and will assume a variety of news, management and administrative responsibilities. Todd Larsen, 35, becomes general manager of Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing, focusing on business and operations functions for the Online Journal, Barron's Online and Wall Street Journal Interactivo. · Starting June 1st, passengers on more than 1,071 daily TWA, Trans World Express, and Trans World Connection flights will receive American Way, the award-winning inflight magazine of American Airlines. The appearance of the magazine in TWA seat pockets is one of the first major customer service enhancements resulting from the integration of TWA into American Airlines. American Way is currently available to 280,000 American Airlines passengers per day. With the addition of TWA, American Way will be available to 356,000 passengers daily. · Salon.com, an Internet media company, announced an annual partnership with Powell's, an independent bookseller, to become Salon's exclusive books partner. Under the agreement, Powells.com will be prominently featured as the exclusive sponsor of the Salon.com Books site. In addition, the retailer will also receive contextual ``smart links'' within books-related editorial that direct readers to the Powells.com site for online purchases. As well, Powells.com will receive advertising banners and placement within Salon.com's Business Showcase. · Mesa Air Group announced the appointment of Benet J. Wilson to the position of Director of Corporate Communications and Community Affairs. Wilson was the editor of Commuter/Regional Airline News, a trade newsletter published by Washington, D.C.-based PBI Media LLC, for eight years, and has been a working journalist for 16 years. In her new position, Wilson will handle the company's communications, along with redesigning the corporate website and developing a corporate and community culture. · Hearst Magazines President Cathleen P. Black announced that U.S. Marie Claire Editor-in-Chief Glenda Bailey, 42, has been named editor-in-chief of the U.S. edition of Harper's Bazaar. The announcement is effective immediately. Bailey, replaces Katherine Betts, 36, who is departing the magazine. · Penton Media, Inc. announced that it has acquired the assets of DWR Media, one of Australia's leading IT media companies. DWR publishes Windows 2000 Magazine (a Penton Media/Duke Communication brand which DWR previously published under license); iTgraphics Magazine, a title in Asia serving the graphic design industry; Computer Reseller News, published biweekly; and Information Week, an IT business newsmagazine. Computer Reseller News and Information Week are published by DWR under license from CMP Media, Inc. DWR also produces two IT Australian websites, www.itnews.com.au and www.itgraphics.com. Following the acquisition, the new company will be known as Penton Media Australia. · Element K, a provider of corporate elearning solutions for information technology and business skills training, announced the completion of an $18 million financing led by existing investor Wasserstein & Co., LP. · USA Networks, Inc. announced that Laura Rubin has been appointed Director, Corporate Communications. In this capacity, Ms. Rubin will manage Corporate Communications for USA and will report to Adrienne Becker, Vice President, Corporate Communications. She is based in New York. Laura Rubin has served as General Manager of Companion Sites for USA Interactive Entertainment where she oversaw USANetwork.com, TRIOtv.com, NWItv.com and CRIME.COM. Previously she served as Senior Marketing Manager for that division, where she oversaw internal and external communications and developed advertising for multiple mediums. Prior to joining USA in 1999, Ms. Rubin served as a Senior Associate in the national marketing department for Ernst & Young LLP and before that as an Associate in their marketing department. · MSNBC.com, an Internet news site, announced the ability to provide users of Microsoft Office XP with related links to news and information using newly developed smart tag technology. Integrated links for local news, weather and sports stories from 190 U.S. cities, as well as weather links for 190 cities throughout the world are displayed in a smart tag pull-down menu available on Office XP versions of Word, Excel and Word-enabled Outlook email documents. · Style.com, an online fashion resource, announced the appointment of Jamie Pallot as editor in chief. Pallot will be responsible for the editorial, design and production teams at Style.com. He joins the site on June 13th and will report directly to Managing Director Goli Sheikholeslami. Before joining Style.com, Pallot worked as an editorial consultant at Time Inc. Interactive, chiefly on People.com. · America Time East Media Group, Inc., announced that the company has entered into an agreement to acquire 51% controlling interest of East Entertainment Group which includes: East Entertainment Magazine, East Beauty, East Fashion and East Gourmet. East Entertainment Group promotes the Entertainment Industry covering superstars like: Jacky Chan, Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yang, Andy Lau, and Maggie Cheung. Recently the group has published Beijing Times, which is a weekly Chinese newspaper. Currently the company intends to publish Time East Journal, which is a weekly English and Chinese business newspaper that is circulated nationwide in the United States. It would emphasize on China, Hong Kong, and the United States business & finance market and entertainment news distributions. The group is also negotiating to acquire a television network company to accomplish its entire multi media business plan. · A new weekly newsletter focused on biochips and microarrays published its inaugural issue this week. BioArray News provides in-depth commercial and technical coverage of these important new technologies in genomics and proteomics. The first issue of BioArray News includes a page one interview with Affymetrix CEO Steve Fodor, along with reports on Corning, Motorola, Agilent, Incyte and other companies entering the growing market for biochips. The new newsletter is edited by veteran life sciences journalist Marian Moser Jones, previously senior reporter at GenomeWeb News. BioArray News is published by GenomeWeb LLC. · eRealty.com, an online real estate brokerage, announced the appointment of George C. Stephens as its new director of compliance, effective May 19, 2001. Stephens, who brings more than 25 years of experience to the position, is a national real estate writer and holds leadership positions in local and state real estate associations. As director of compliance, he will be responsible for eRealty's compliance with federal, state and local real estate regulations, as well as guidelines in all of the company's current and future U.S. metro markets. · IBSystems, a provider of web portals targeted at professional audiences, launched its EDAVision online magazine, the first of four `Webzines' aimed at professionals in the Electronic Design Automation, Mechanical Computer Aided Design, Geographical Information Systems, and Architectural Engineering computer modeling fields. · PC Connection, Inc., a direct marketer of information technology products and solutions, and Cyberian Outpost, Inc., an Internet provider of consumer technology and ebusiness services, announced they have signed a definitive merger agreement. · Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., an interactive entertainment company, announced that it has promoted Evan Stein, to the position of Vice President of Brand, reporting directly to Gregory Fischbach, Chief Executive Officer of Acclaim. In the new position, Stein will oversee the company's brand management, including product delivery, forecasting and budgeting, as well as Acclaim's marketing and public relations departments and two advertising agencies. · Suite101.com, Inc., an online publishing community, announced the publication of its first anthology, Real People, Real Stories: How the Internet is Touching Lives, a compilation of personal essays on how the Internet is changing people's lives across North America. The content for Suite101.com's first anthology was harvested from the Suite101.com community. Recently, Suite101.com sponsored an online writing contest, inviting emerging writers to submit their stories on how the Internet has touched their lives. The contest garnered over 600 entries. The resulting anthology, Real People, Real Stories, contains 30 stories: the three winning entries selected by a panel of judges, 17 entries that were short-listed by Suite101.com's Editors, and 10 entries selected by the Suite101.com community at large. · Hulabee Entertainment, a digital media company created by Humongous Entertainment co-founders Shelley Day and Ron Gilbert, announced a preview of its first offering, SportsSquad.com, a sports service for kids on the Internet. SportsSquad.com was selected by The Sporting News, as its official kids' content provider. Hulabee Entertainment also announced it is creating additional properties including adventure games for children, slated to debut this winter, starring new original characters. · Toppan Printing Company Ltd., a provider of color filter arrays in the flat panel display industry, and E Ink Corporation, a developer of electronic ink technology for paper-like displays, announced a strategic partnership to develop color electronic ink displays. · MerlinOne, Inc. announced that it has been selected by Marvel Enterprises, Inc. to provide a Visual Asset Management (VAM) solution that will capture and preserve images of its world-famous characters, which include Spider-Man, Captain America and the X-Men, in a searchable, accessible online database. · The American Management Association has named Edward T. Reilly as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining AMA, Reilly served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Big Flower Holdings, Inc. (now Vertis, Inc.), a provider of integrated marketing and advertising services. · OverDrive, Inc., a provider of ebook conversion services, announced the opening of the first European retail store in the Content Reserve Network to sell secure ebooks from US publishers. Since opening last month, more than 250 international and US publishers have joined the Content Reserve network. OverDrive has entered into Application Service Partnerships with Autotext of Copenhagen, Denmark serving the Scandinavian publishing community; Emotionbooks.com, of Milan, Italy; and Estuary Technologies of Dublin, Ireland. European Content Reserve Network members include www.epocket.fr, Vivendi Universal Publishing (France); www.ePan.se, KF Media (Sweden); www.libuk.com, (Italy); www.pocketmanager.com, (Ireland) with more scheduled to open this summer. · iVillage Inc., operator of the iVillage Network, which includes iVillage.com, Lamaze Publishing and the Newborn Channel, announced that it has regained Nasdaq listing compliance as stated in a letter from The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. dated May 31, 2001. This letter acknowledges iVillage's common stock had maintained a minimum bid price of $1.00 for at least 10 consecutive trading days to comply with Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4450(a)(5) and states that the matter is now closed. · Raymond E. Himmelberg has been appointed vice president, human resources of the Los Angeles Times, effective immediately. He will be responsible for all human resources functions including employee relations, recruitment, training and development, compensation and benefits, and HR information systems. He will report to John Puerner, publisher, Los Angeles Times. Himmelberg, 42, had been regional director, human resources of Wendy's International since June 1999. Prior to joining Wendy's, he spent 22 years at The Walt Disney Co. where he held a variety of positions at the company's amusement parks and resorts. · Riverside, Calif.-based The Press-Enterprise, a Belo subsidiary and the largest circulation daily newspaper in Inland Southern California, will Internet enhance news and advertising content using :CRQ(TM) print-to-Web technology from Digital:Convergence Corporation beginning with the June 3 edition. Press-Enterprise readers will be able to access additional online content directly from the newspaper using Digital:Convergence printed ``cues,'' which resemble product codes. · Commission Junction announced that it has helped The New York Times launch an affiliate program to increase online subscriptions to The Times. The program uses Commission Junction's tracking and reporting technology, and is managed by NETexponent, a partner marketing agency. As part of the partner program, New York Times advertising links are offered to Commission Junction's network of more than 400,000 publisher sites. As an application service provider, Commission Junction monitors and reports the program's performance in real time and handles related transactions on behalf of The New York Times. NETexponent will analyze and help optimize the partner relationships. · On the heels of the fairy tale opening for DreamWorks' computer animated comedy Shrek, the studio is gearing up for a theatrical sequel to the film, it was announced by DreamWorks principal Jeffrey Katzenberg. The writing team of Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio, who co-wrote the screenplay for the first Shrek, has been set to write the sequel. Opening in New York and Los Angeles on May 16 and nationwide on May 18, Shrek has grossed more than $112 million dollars domestically to date. Starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow, Shrek was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson from a screenplay by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Joe Stillman and Roger S.H. Schulman, based on the children's book by William Steig. · MediaBay, Inc., a retailer of spoken audio and nostalgia products, announced that it has filed a complaint against Napster Inc. for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement and unfair competition. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. · G+J USA, a magazine publisher, is partnering with Dallas-based Digital:Convergence Corporation. Articles and advertisements in Family Circle, Rosie, YM, Parents, Child, Fitness and Homestyle magazines will be linked to specific online content through Digital:Convergence's proprietary cues (which resemble product codes such as UPCs). In order to read cues embedded in the magazines, consumers need Digital:Convergence's :CRQ software and handheld :CueCat device. The technology is available free to consumers at RadioShack locations in the U.S. and through G+J magazine websites (e.g., www.getrosiescat.com or www.getymcat.com). When G+J readers swipe a :CueCat device over a cue, their :CRQ-enabled computer instantly launches the relevant webpage. For example: The cover story in the May issue of Rosie includes a cue that takes readers to a webpage featuring warning signs and treatment methods for uterine cancer. 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 © 1997-2011 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
