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Friday, January 11, 2002 Media Cynic | Forum | Advertising | Classifieds | Jobs Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Marvel Enterprises, Inc. has promoted Bill Jemas to Chief Operating Officer. The announcement was made by Marvel CEO Peter Cuneo. · InfoWorld Media Group, a resource for technology experts within senior IT management, announced the appointment of John F. Murphy to the position of associate publisher, western region. Murphy will report directly to InfoWorld Media Group's Executive Vice-President and Publisher, Thomas C. Rousseau, and will be responsible for all display advertising operations in the Western United States. · Vivendi Universal announced that, effective January 21, 2002, Andrew J. Kaslow will join Vivendi Universal as Senior Executive Vice President of Human Resources. He will be a member of the company's Executive Committee. Mr. Kaslow will be based in Paris and will report directly to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marie Messier. His responsibilities will include all aspects of human resources around the globe, including leadership, organizational and career development, attraction and retention of employees, compensation, benefits, and employee and labor relations. · Primedia Enterprises, the licensing arm of Primedia Inc., announced that Sean Holzman has been promoted to Vice President and that Karen Cahill has been promoted to Vice President of Retail and Product Development. Mr. Holzman, who was previously the company's Senior Director of Licensing Sales, will now oversee the procurement of all licensing deals and business development for Primedia brands. Ms. Cahill, who was previously the Senior Director of Retail and Product Development, will continue to supervise those areas. · InformationWeek, an IT media brand, announced that Mark Durrick has been named Associate Publisher of CMP Media's InformationWeek and Optimize publications. Mark will be responsible for leading, planning and directing all aspects of the InformationWeek and Optimize sales strategies, objectives and organization, as well as continuing to build out the brands' products and services. Mark was most recently the Associate Publisher of eWeek. · Mark A. Lund, the publisher of International Figure Skating magazine, will be an analyst for the CNN/SI, CNN and Headline News cable networks and the CNNSI.com website during the XIX Winter Olympics Games. Lund, who is an accredited member of the media for the XIX Winter Olympics with International Figure Skating, will combine with CNN/SI and Sports Illustrated writers for the CNN networks' coverage in Salt Lake City. · Lyor Cohen, President and CEO of The Island Def Jam Music Group, a lifestyle and music company, announced the promotion of Julie Greenwald to President of Island Records. Formerly, Ms. Greenwald served as Senior Vice President of Marketing for The Island Def Jam Music Group. · Universal Pictures has promoted Laura R. Kessler to executive vice president, human resources, it was announced by Stacey Snider, chairman, Universal Pictures and Ken Kahrs, executive vice president, human resources, Universal Studios. Ms. Kessler, who will continue to report to Ms. Snider, has served as senior vice president, human resources, since joining Universal in February 1999. She is responsible for overseeing and supporting all aspects of human resource functions and administration for all domestic and international business units of Universal Pictures, Universal Studios Home Video, Universal Television Distribution and Universal Pictures Franchise Development, as well as StudioCanal's U.S. operations. · Alan Aldworth has been promoted to the position of president and chief operating officer of ProQuest Company. Prior to this promotion, Aldworth was the company's senior vice president and chief financial officer. Reporting to Aldworth in his new position are Joe Reynolds, president and CEO of the Information and Learning business unit, as well as the Corporate Finance and Investor Relations functions. James Roemer, the company's chairman and CEO, will continue to be actively involved with the daily management of the company. · Bigfoot Interactive, a provider of ROI-focused email communications technology and services, announced the appointment of Sophia Corona as chief financial officer. In this role, Ms. Corona will oversee and steer the company's financial planning and operations, and will report to Bigfoot Interactive CEO Al DiGuido. · Knight Ridder announced the appointment of Marti Buscaglia, vice president of marketing and communications for The Baltimore Sun, as publisher of the Duluth News Tribune, effective Feb. 4. · The New York Times Company announced that Bruce Gaultney, general manager of the Ocala Star-Banner, has been named to succeed Charles J. ``Chip'' Stout as publisher upon his retirement on March 22. Mr. Gaultney, 45, joined the Star-Banner as executive editor in 1994, was named operations director in 1999 and was promoted to general manager last year. He has been with The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group since 1983. · Zinio Systems Inc., a developer of digital magazine technology and services, announced the appointment of former Ziff Davis and Softbank publishing executive Mike Edelhart as president and COO. Edelhart takes his new role after eight months as a member of Zinio's Board of Directors. Digital Publishing · iUniverse, an epublishing services provider, has announced the availability of ebook production to its authors. iUniverse's authors can now produce their self-published titles in ebook form as well as hard copy using print-on-demand. · E-Book Systems, Inc. announced they will demonstrate their new MultiFlip technology at the 2002 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. E-Book Systems will be demonstrating its FlipAlbum 4.5 Beta, which incorporates the new MultiFlip feature. MultiFlip allows users to flip multiple pages simultaneously without losing the ability to view images and text as they flip. · Texterity, Inc., a provider of electronic publishing services, announced its support for MobiPocket, a technology company that enables the reading and secured distribution of electronic text across OS platforms. Texterity has also entered into an agreement with MobiPocket to license the MobiPocket server, enabling Texterity to offer direct secure distribution of electronic content, in addition to automated distribution to MobiPocket, Franklin Electronics, and other MobiPocket retailers. Content Deals · The McGraw-Hill Companies' Construction Information Group (CIG) and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) have announced a strategic alliance. Under the terms of the agreement, NECA members can access Dodge's database of over 500,000 active projects and over 60,000 digitized plans, specs and addenda at discounted rates. In addition, NECA members will receive discounts on Engineering News-Record (ENR) magazine, professional books and a free weekly electronic newsletter, Constructionmail. · Tele-Publishing, International (TPI), a division of the People2People Group and a provider of voice and web-based personals classified services to newspapers, announced that it has acquired the portfolio of newspaper classified voice personals clients of NVS Interactive Media (NVS). This makes TPI the largest single provider of personals classifieds services to newspapers, serving about two-thirds of the newspaper voice personals market in the United States. · Classwell Learning Group, a Houghton Mifflin Company, and an online learning service for pre-K-12 schools, announced the addition of educational content from the Gale Group, a business unit within the Thomson Learning Division of The Thomson Corporation. Classwell is a resource to improve student learning in grades preK-12. Classwell integrates instruction, assessment and teacher training and localizes content to state and district standards. Classwell also allows for customization and personalization of its content to individual student and teacher needs. · Uncommon Media Group, Inc. has established a partnership with Spin, a music magazine. According to the contract, Uncommon will develop and distribute interactive CD's to the subscribers of read Spin magazines monthly, launching with a Q2 2002 issue. After the initial distribution, subscribers will receive a Uncommon CD bundled with their magazine, with additional CD's coming out monthly or quarterly. · Advanstar Communications Inc. and the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) International announced the acquisition by Advanstar of the AIIM Conference & Exposition. Under a related strategic alliance agreement, Advanstar will manage the event and AIIM will continue its 50-year history of organizing the event's conference, meeting and awards program for the enterprise content management industry. The AIIM Conference & Exposition is a content management event attracting over 20,000 IT and business professionals annually. · Kluwer Academic Publishers has acquired the publishing rights to more than 270 professional food science textbooks from Aspen Publishers. Both companies are owned by Wolters Kluwer. The food science list, with annual sales of more than $2 million, includes more than 270 top-selling titles for food science professionals and students. This list will be augmented by Kluwers' current list of 30 titles focused on basic research and food chemistry. Launches and Redesigns · Post Newsweek Tech Media, a division of The Washington Post Company, announced that it would be introducing a new look with expanded content for its Washington Technology magazine beginning with the January 7, 2002 issue. Other elements of the redesign include more focused coverage on the integrator community in a new section called ``The IT Crowd'' and increased coverage of relevant policies coming out of Congress and the White House. · Terra Lycos announced Lycos Finance, a new online investing destination. The new investing site, Lycos Finance, combines features of Quote.com and Raging Bull. · Lagardere Active announced that ELLE.com, in partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises, has launched a new online store, ELLE Shop, to showcase fashion merchandise selected daily by ELLE.com editors. The ELLE shop is part of a redesign of ELLE.com, a resource for style-conscious women. · Barron's Magazine, the Dow Jones Business and Financial Weekly, will introduce a new section entitled Technology Week in the issue dated January 14, 2002. The new weekly section comes at a time when many technology magazines are cutting back staff or going out of business completely. But the editors at Barron's feel that, with tech stocks well off their highs, now is a good time to invest in the sector. As a fourth section of Barron's, Technology Week will offer coverage of the technology sector in column and chart formats. Weekly features include a new column entitled Tech Trader, written by Bill Alpert, plus Plugged In, a column penned from the West Coast by Mark Veverka. The section also includes a chart page devoted to technology and complete NASDAQ stock tables. · DTN Energy announced the release of a new electronic weekly magazine, DTN Energy Marketwire. The new product extends DTN Energy's daily Market Intelligence product offerings. · A new Internet on-line magazine, AirlineMonitorWeekly.com, will be launched Jan. 15. Scott Hamilton, a veteran aviation reporter, is founder of the magazine. AirlineMonitorWeekly.com is an independent publication affiliated with Airline Capital Associates Inc., as is Edmund Greenslet's The Airline Monitor, from which the name AirlineMonitorWeekly is derived. AirlineMonitorWeekly.com will be published every Tuesday beginning January 15. The Weekly's subscription is $200 a year · eMedicine.com, Inc., announced that it is now offering an Institutional Edition of its World Medical Reference for medical institutions and organizations. The new site, called iMedicine.com, will offer full access, with printing capability, to the reference's comprehensive professional and consumer content, covering thousands of topics in over 60 medical specialties. · Well and Healthy Woman has entered 2002 with a fresh look, new interactive resources, and more health and wellness information. New to the revamped online magazine in 2002 is WHW Community, offering personal stories, opinion polls, and other forums. · Sybex Inc., an independent computer book publisher, and ProsoftTraining, a provider of information technology (IT) curricula and IT job role certifications, have announced a partnership to produce retail Study Guides for the CIW (Certified Internet Webmaster) certification. The Study Guides, to be published by Sybex, will be endorsed by ProsoftTraining as being suitable for self-study by CIW exam candidates. CIW study guides will be available in retail outlets in the second quarter of 2002. · TheStreet.com, Inc., a provider of financial commentary, analysis and news, announced the launch of The Daily Swing Trade, its ninth subscription product offering. The Daily Swing Trade is a report delivered every business evening that contains stock and market analysis and stock picks based on the swing trading techniques of Alan Farley, author of the investing book, The Master Swing Trader, and a frequent commentator for MSN Money, Barron's and TheStreet.com's RealMoney. Miscellaneous · Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. announced that ValueAct Capital Partners (``ValueAct Capital'') purchased 3 million shares of Class A common stock from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Martha Stewart. The shares are priced at $15.00 per share, and represent approximately 6% of MSO's outstanding shares and approximately 9% of Ms. Stewart's holdings in MSO stock. The Company also announced that Jeffrey W. Ubben, the Managing Partner of ValueAct Capital, has been appointed to MSO's board of directors. · MediaBrains Inc., which provide performance solutions for the publishing industry, announced it has signed a contract to provide its reader service solution to Bridal Guide Magazine. · The American Heart Association has launched Rapid Access Publication, a new process providing Internet publication ahead of print for journal articles from Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. The first Rapid Access Publication manuscripts appeared online December 31, 2001. The next group of manuscripts will be available to subscribers January 15, 2002. With Rapid Access Publication, original clinical and basic science manuscripts accepted for publication in Circulation are now published online within four to nine days of the author's return of corrected proofs to the publisher, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, and in the print journal within five to six weeks. · Miramax Films has acquired the rights to The Forger and hired Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn to adapt the novel by Paul Watkins. Laura Ziskin (To Die For, As Good as It Gets, Spiderman) will produce the film. The announcement was made by Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of Miramax. The Forger is a suspense story about a young American art student who moves to Paris in 1939 to study with a great Russian emigre, only to be caught up in a brilliant, elaborate and exceedingly dangerous plot to forge renowned paintings -- in an effort to keep the genuine artworks from falling into the hands of the acquisitive occupying Nazi regime. 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