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Friday, December 14, 2001 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Kevin Smith, 49, Manager of Editorial Development for Motor Trend magazine has been named Editor in Chief of Motor Trend, it was announced by John Loughlin, President and CEO of the Primedia Consumer Media Magazine Group. Mr. Smith replaces C. Van Tune, who resigned in October. Effective immediately, Mr. Smith will be responsible for the overall direction of Motor Trend's editorial. · Ben Taylor has been named senior vice president of communications at The Star Tribune Co., it was announced by J. Keith Moyer, president and publisher. Taylor, who previously was the Star Tribune vice president of marketing, will be in charge of the company's internal and external communications, community affairs, strategic research and the Star Tribune Foundation. · Andy Cowles has been named art director of Rolling Stone magazine. The announcement was made by Robert Love, managing editor of Rolling Stone and vice president of Wenner Media. Cowles has served as creative director for the launch of Q and Mojo magazines. · Cox Interactive Media (CIMedia) announced that Steven J. Pechman has joined the company as director of network sales. The announcement came from Neil Helms, vice president of sales. In his new role, Pechman will direct all national sales efforts for CIMedia's network of 20 award-winning websites. · Integrity Incorporated, a media/communications company that produces, publishes and distributes Christian music, books and related products, announced that Jerry Weimer has been appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company's Integrity Music, Inc. subsidiary. Mr. Weimer will continue to serve as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the parent company, Integrity Incorporated. He joined the Company in 1996 and has more than 20 years' experience in the music industry. · AOL Time Warner Inc. announced the appointment of Larry L. Cockell, deputy director of the U.S. Secret Service, as the company's senior vice president and chief security officer, a newly created position, effective January 14, 2002. Reporting to Patricia Fili-Krushel, AOL Time Warner's executive vice president, administration, Mr. Cockell, 51, will be responsible for security at AOL Time Warner on a worldwide basis, overseeing and coordinating the company's security policies and operations. · The Los Angeles Times has named Barbara Demick as foreign correspondent and bureau chief of its Seoul, South Korea bureau. She most recently served as Middle East bureau chief for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Demick is The Times' first full-time Seoul bureau chief. The Times has maintained an office in Seoul since 1988 but until now it had never been staffed full time. Digital Publishing · XanEdu, a division of ProQuest Company, and Harvard Business School Publishing have entered a digital content relationship under which Harvard Business School case studies and reprints of Harvard Business Review (HBR) articles will be available through XanEdu's digital CoursePack System. · LexisNexis, and Knight Ridder Digital have announced the formation of an interactive-content alliance. Through the relationship, Knight Ridder Digital is syndicating its content available to LexisNexis users; and LexisNexis is powering access to on-point information to 17 Knight Ridder newspapers in 28 markets. Twenty-eight full-text daily Knight Ridder publications will be available to LexisNexis customers, powered by Knight Ridder Digital. The offering includes major metropolitan papers such as The Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, the Detroit Free Press, The Charlotte Observer, the Pioneer Press in St. Paul-MN, and The San Jose Mercury News. Content Deals · We Media Inc. announced that it has signed a marketing alliance with The New York Times Large Type Weekly, a publication of The New York Times Company. The agreement will allow both companies to maximize awareness among a shared target market - people with low vision or who have visual impairments, including the 69 million Americans over the age of 50. Using cross-media promotions, the companies will leverage their respective media outlets to increase readership, product awareness and brand recognition. · Audible, Inc. announced plans to create promotions within Good Guy's 79 retail stores featuring portable digital audio players that are AudibleReady -- capable of playing audible.com's collection of content. The in-store promotions will call attention to rebates off the retail prices of AudibleReady devices when the user signs up for an AudibleListener flat-rate monthly membership plan. · Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI) completed the sale of its Collectors' Choice Music catalog and related CCMusic.com website to Chicago-based Infinity Resources, Inc., effective November 30, 2001. Infinity Resources, Inc. already owns the Critics' Choice Video catalog and CCVideo.com website, which it acquired from PEI in October 2000. · MediaBay, Inc., a provider of spoken audio and nostalgia products, including audiobooks and old-time radio shows, and StarBand Communications Inc., a high-speed satellite-delivered Internet service, announced that they have entered into a content distribution and marketing agreement. · BlackVoices.com, a community of African-American adults online, announced an agreement with Yahoo! Inc., to distribute co-branded African-American interactive news content. Story pages on Yahoo! News will provide links to relevant content areas on BlackVoices.com such as the multimedia BlackVoices Centerpiece news analysis and commentary section and BlackVoices Sports Corner, which covers black college sports and professional athletics from a black perspective. · Electronic Arts, an interactive entertainment software company, has signed an agreement with the LEGO Company. Under the terms of the global agreement, EA will co-publish and provide marketing support for more than 30 LEGO software titles on a minimum of four platforms over a three-year period. LEGO Company and EA will create software for young gamers, while building current franchises and establishing new ones. Current franchises include: LEGO Racers, Bionicle, LEGO Island, Academy of Flight, LEGO Sports and Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension. Launches and Redesigns · LeapFrog, a developer of educational products for children, has launched Leap's Pond, a new interactive educational magazine for children ages four to seven. Delivered directly to a family's mailbox, Leap's Pond features 24 pages of fun and entertaining activities teaching children about six critical curriculum areas: language arts, math, music, science, social studies and foreign languages. Also included with the magazine is LeapParent magazine, a guide to help parents ensure their children get the most out of each issue, including activities parents and kids can enjoy together. · International Data Group, a technology media company, announced the launch of Electronica, the Arabic edition of Infoworld. Debuting this week in Egypt, Electronica is a monthly magazine delivering in-depth analysis of enterprise technology and strategies. · Yaga, Inc., a provider of a peer-to-peer (P2P) digital goods distribution, transaction, and subscription network, announced a pay-per-download option to complement its subscription service. For content owners and publishers seeking to make their content available through the Yaga network, the pay-per-download option allows both Yaga subscribers and non-subscribers to download and purchase content through the Yaga network. · America Online Inc. announced the launch of the AOL Online Campus (KW: Online Campus), with courses and content from adult education content providers. The new service, on AOL's Research & Learn Channel, enables members to research and register for offline courses, access career advancement resources, pursue an interest or hobby and complete undergraduate and graduate degrees online. Educational providers include the University of Phoenix, University of California Berkley Extension, PBS and Barnes & Noble. Miscellaneous · TechBooks announced that the company has entered into an agreement to sell its Print Division to a group of TechBooks executive managers, led by Jim Kell, Jr., senior vice president of the division. The new print company will operate under the name York Graphic Services. York Graphic Services will be led by Jim Kell, Jr., who was employed with the original company and has headed TechBooks' Print Division for the past year and a half. Like TechBooks' current Print Division, the new York Graphic Services will specialize in printing corporate-identity material, catalogs, magazines, brochures, annual reports, posters and limited-edition art prints. Kell said the company, which will continue to operate at its current York, PA location, also will offer a variety of front-end services, ranging from copy writing and editing to design and layout. · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. announced that it has published a revised printing of its 32-volume encyclopedia, the first revision of the printed set since 1998. The 2002 printing of the Encyclopaedia Britannica includes revisions to thousands of articles as well as hundreds of entirely new ones. · Reuters and Prentice Hall, an imprint of Pearson Education, are publishing September 11, a testimony, a pictorial record of the events of September 11 and the reaction to them around the globe. All royalties from the sale of the book will go to charity. September 11, a testimony includes over 130 photographs, many of them previously unpublished. The book contains images taken by Reuters award-winning photographers. It captures a first-hand account of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and on the Pentagon in Washington D.C., the crash of United flight 93 in Pennsylvania, and subsequent events. All royalties from the book, to be published worldwide, will be donated to disaster relief funds via Reuters Foundation AIDfund and AIDfund for America and The Pearson September 11 Children's Fund. · Fans of Boston-based and nationally recognized medical suspense author, Michael Palmer, M.D., can now bid on eBay.com for a chance to have his or her own name used as a character in Palmer's next novel, Fatal, due for publication in May 2002. All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Starlight Children's Foundation of New England, a charity dedicated to brightening the lives of seriously ill children. The auction is currently underway and is scheduled to close on Sunday, December 16. Interested bidders may go to www.ebay.com and type in item #1495322681 to place their bids. 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