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Friday, January 18, 2002 Publishing Industry Soundbytes Launches and Redesigns | Miscellaneous People · Myron Maslowsky, formerly vice president of internal audit, Gannett Co., Inc., has been named vice president, finance for USA Today. Maslowsky will oversee USA USA Today's finance department. The appointment will be effective February 1. Maslowsky replaces Antoinette (Toni) Miller, who retired earlier this month. Prior to joining Gannett, Maslowsky was an audit manager for Price Waterhouse. · Bio-IT World, Inc., IDG's new business unit established to support the emerging technology information needs of the life sciences market, announced the appointment of Alan Bergstein to vice president and publisher, Diane Lieberman to vice president of marketing, and Deborah Walsh to circulation director of the publication, Bio-IT World. · Adobe announced the appointment of James E. Daley, executive vice president of EDS and Colleen M. Pouliot, former general counsel of Adobe, to the company's Board of Directors. James E. Daley is executive vice president and chief financial officer of EDS. · The McGraw-Hill Companies announced that Deven Sharma, formerly a partner with Booz Allen Hamilton, will become executive vice president for global strategy. He will report to Harold McGraw III, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, of The McGraw-Hill Companies. · AOL Time Warner Inc. announced the appointment of Theodore W. Ullyot as senior vice president and general counsel for AOL Time Warner Europe. Mr. Ullyot will continue to serve as a vice president and associate general counsel of AOL Time Warner, and to report to Paul T. Cappuccio, executive vice president and general counsel of AOL Time Warner. · Ziff Davis Media Inc. announced the promotion of Wendy Taylor to Editor-in-Chief of Ziff Davis Smart Business. The business technology magazine is based in San Francisco with more than 800,000 subscribers. Ms. Taylor has been covering the high-tech industry for over 13 years. She has held various editorial roles at Ziff Davis Smart Business and currently oversees all editorial operations. Ms. Taylor also coauthors a monthly column for the publication with Marty Jerome on business and the Internet. · Bill Colson has decided to step down as Managing Editor of Sports Illustrated, effective at the conclusion of the Winter Olympics in late February. Colson, 51, SI's top editor since January of 1996, has been at Sports Illustrated for nearly 24 years. He was promoted to Managing Editor from his role as Assistant Managing Editor, succeeding Mark Mulvoy. · The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has named Keith Allo as Managing Director of Entertainment Properties. He is charged with building and expanding the division, including developing programs across multiple platforms such as television, film, the Internet, as well as new media like DVD and HDTV. Allo's recent hiring completes the USOC's plans to assemble an experienced team of marketing executives to develop programs aimed at enhancing the U.S. Olympic Team's image while continuing to drive revenue to support the U.S. Team's efforts to achieve excellence in sport. Digital Publishing · Infotrieve, a document delivery and library service, has announced several new publisher partnerships. The new partners include The American Psychological Association, Gordon and Breach, Thieme, and The World Health Organization (WHO) · ebrary, a provider of information distribution and retrieval services, announced that it has partnered with the Harvard, Cornell and Indiana university presses to make content in key subject areas including American history, political science and philosophy available through its online channels. · ProQuest Company's Information and Learning unit and Safari Books Online, LLC announced an agreement that will grant ProQuest exclusive distribution rights of Safari Tech Books Online to academic, public, and K-12 libraries and non-exclusive rights for government libraries. The Safari Tech Books Online library edition, currently under development by ProQuest and Safari, is scheduled for release later this month. The Web-based service allows library patrons to conduct online searches of more than 20 technical categories from Networking to Java to Microsoft's .Net. Safari Books Online is a joint venture between two publishers of information technology (IT) books: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. and The Pearson Technology Group. Content Deals · Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), a licensing agent for text reproduction rights, and Scoop ReprintSource (Scoop) announced a strategic alliance that will enable publishers who use Rightslink, CCC's digital rights management solution, to streamline delivery of custom reprints to their customers by taking reprint orders right at their websites. Customers who wish to order reprints of articles, news items and other content click on a link located near the item they wish to reprint. The Rightslink service instantly forwards the order to Scoop which, in turn, will provide price quotes for customized reprints and then produce the reprints to fulfill customers' orders. · Kaplan, Inc., a provider of education services for individuals, schools and businesses, has acquired the assets of Achieva, a San Mateo, CA.-based company that specializes in online tools to help students in grades 6-12 improve study skills and standardized test performance. The acquisition signals Kaplan's increased prominence in the K-12 marketplace, where Kaplan K12 Learning Services already offers professional development tools, curricular materials and test-readiness materials to over 800 schools nationwide. · The Weather Channel (TWC), a provider of weather information, and USA Today, a daily newspaper, announce a multi-media partnership to offer consumers weather content in print, online and on air. As of January 21, TWC will be the premier weather forecast provider for both USA Today domestic and international editions. Additionally, The Weather Channel staff of 125 meteorologists will serve as USA Today's resource for outside weather expertise, in print and online at USAToday.com. The network's website, weather.com, will deliver the latest weather data for 80,000 locations worldwide on USAToday.com. This will include 5-day forecasts, current conditions and various radar, satellite and forecast maps. USA Today will also feature links to weather.com's popular lifestyle content, such as golf, ski and travel, which will be updated seasonally. · The McGraw-Hill Companies' Construction Information Group (CIG) announced the acquisition of several former Construction-zone.com (c-z.com) key business assets. CIG will begin integration of relevant construction-zone.com content, applications and services into construction.com's Building Product Center which is powered by Sweet's, a building product information source. Completion of the integration is scheduled for the second quarter of 2002. · Pebble Beach Company and Desert Publications Inc. announced that the publishing rights to Pebble Beach -- The Magazine have been acquired by Desert Publications Inc. from Somerset Publications Inc. located in Monterey, Calif. Pebble Beach -- The Magazine presents articles related to the interests and lifestyles of the residents and guests of the coastal enclave. Launches and Redesigns · The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign announced the launch of DrugStory.org, a website designed to provide entertainment writers and feature journalists with a comprehensive, online resource about substance abuse and related issues. · Dow Jones Newsletters announced the launch of a weekly newsletter, Dow Jones Charting Money. The new publication will be authored by Stephen Cox, a Chartered Market Technician and chief technical analyst for Dow Jones Newswires, and will provide his technical outlook for major world markets and instruments. · The first international edition of O, The Oprah Magazine will be published in South Africa in April 2002 as a joint venture between Hearst Magazines, Harpo Print, LLC and Associated Magazines South Africa. · Lebhar-Friedman, Inc. announced a new name for its National Home Center News effective with the January 7 issue. The new name, Home Channel News recognizes the evolution of the home products market since the bi-weekly publication's inception nearly three decades ago. Home Channel News is a controlled-circulation newspaper that serves retailers selling building materials, hardware, and home-improvement products to do-it-yourself consumers and building professionals. It also covers wholesalers, distributors and buying co-ops selling the retail home-improvement market. Current circulation is 51,182. · Our-Hometown.com, announced that The Wave of Long Island (http://www.rockawave.com), a Far Rockaway, NY-based weekly community newspaper with a 12,000 paid circulation, began using Our-Hometown.com's just released web-based Story Studio Content Management System. The Wave's reporters now can enter their stories from a web browser at the office, from home or in the field. The system allows users to optionally publish "hot" news to the web instantaneously with editor/publisher approval. All stories can be exported from Story Studio and imported into QuarkXpress to layout the print edition at week's end. · Atkins Nutritionals Inc. has launched a completely redesigned website for its Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution bestselling book. Atkins has totally refocused the website, around tools that allow each visitor to create a personalized online weight management support system. The site features a comprehensive Q/A section, a carbohydrate gram counter, recipes, advice and inspiration, online journals and an electronic newsletter. · BookHq.com announced the launch of its book price comparison site. BookHq.com searches 21 bookstores in real-time for prices of new & used books. Results are returned within 15 seconds. Users are able to search using an ISBN number, a title or the author name. In addition to the book price, bookHq will calculate the approximate S&H and taxes to provide users with a true price comparison. Miscellaneous · Parachute Associates, has been founded to help people who want to speed up their hunt for a job that really matches their skills and interests, or who want to change careers. Parachute Associates, was created by David R. Bennett in consultation with Richard N. Bolles, the author of the popular job-hunting book What Color Is Your Parachute? (7 million copies in print, updated annually). Parachute Associates has developed job-hunting and career changing workshops for corporations and individuals. · Encore, Inc. announced that the company has signed an exclusive, five-year, worldwide agreement with Marvel Enterprises, Inc., to publish action-adventure games starring Daredevil. Daredevil ranks among the most beloved characters in the Marvel Universe, alongside other superhero icons Spider-Man, The X-Men and The Incredible Hulk. · Archie Entertainment Co-Chairman Michael Silberkleit, Lou Pearlman and ZelnickMedia principal Strauss Zelnick announced the creation of a joint venture to launch real life music groups based upon The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats comic book character music groups of Archie Entertainment's affiliate, Archie Comic Publications, Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Archie Entertainment will license the venture to create The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats as real life music groups. · Universal Interactive, Inc. (UI) announced that the company has signed an agreement with Marvel Characters, Inc. for the rights to create video games based on The Incredible Hulk franchise. The license agreement enables Universal Interactive to build a video game franchise based on the popular Marvel Comics character. · The blockbuster Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins sold its 50 millionth copy on Saturday, January 12. English teacher Donna Camby, of Pacolet, S.C., made the purchase of the 50 millionth copy at Christian Supply in Spartanburg, S.C. during a booksigning. 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. |
