The championship of the online newspaper world changed hands the other day. The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) (as measured by comScore (NSDQ: SCOR), currently the most fashionable collector of digital evidence extant) had 44.8m unique visitors in December, while our own dear Daily Mail (LSE: DMGT) had 45.3m. Manhattan’s “grey lady” doesn’t rule the global web world any longer. A hundred years on, the heirs of Alfred Harmsworth are sticking it to the Yanks – boasting about “reinventing popular journalism for the digital era”. As with almost any bold claim, there are nuances. Digital statistics are damnably variable according to the rules
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Many people think the main task of a journalist is to write. That’s part of the job, of course, but sourcing and checking stories is probably as important. It has always been the case, but luckily, new tools have made our lives much easier. No need to make ten phone calls to locate the right person to interview, as social networks have become an important tool for newsrooms. This isn’t only about Facebook and Twitter; a professional network like LinkedIn can also prove very useful for reporters who know how to make the most of its advanced features. Here are a few tips
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The top priority for most magazine executives today seems to be building iPad apps. Yet the user experience of a print magazine is unmatchable: they’re cheap, never out of battery charge, not a target for thieves and they have twice the screen space when spread as an iPad screen. Magazines might have a place in our connected future, but they risk loosing a generation if they don’t modernize their subscription systems instead of trying to compete with Angry Birds. Consider my recent experience renewing my favorite magazine, The Week: My subscription was given to me as a gift. After a couple
Read MoreNo, really, today Zynga will file for an IPO. Okay, tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. Good lord, the S-1 filing for the online gaming phenom is going to drop in the middle of the Fourth of July BBQ, isn’t it? In any case, I was interviewed on the streets of New York about Zynga and other frothy stock market topics yesterday by Beet.TV’s Andy Plesser : Related posts The Zynga IPO: Who Owns What, Who Makes What Zynga Has Raised $845 Million in Capital, But No Mention of Google as an Investor The Zynga-Facebook Codependency Becomes More Clear Here’s the Zynga S-1 to Play With (Get It?!?) Zynga Finally Files for IPO to Raise $1 Billion Day 3: Zynga Holds Tech Reporters Hostage in Endless IPO Watch What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Zynga IPO (Insider Selling, Natch!) A Sneak Peek at Zynga’s IPO: How to Turn Virtual Goods Into Real Money Exclusive: Zynga About to File for IPO Zynga Full Coverage
Read MoreBy Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Barnes & Noble Inc. is expected to debut a new e-reader on Tuesday, marking the latest chapter in the bookseller’s battle with Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. to dominate the fast-growing digital book sales business. In a bid to make a splash in the book industry, Barnes & Noble is hosting its event the same week the annual booksellers’ convention unfolds in New York City. The convention attracts publishers and retailers from around the world. Bertelsmann AG, which owns publisher Random House Inc., recently said that e-books now account for as “much as half” of first-week sales for some U.S. fiction titles. Barnes & Noble, which once lagged about two years behind Amazon on the digital books and e-reader front, must now try to lure back as many consumers as possible. Read the rest of this post on the original site
Read MoreBy Amy Schatz, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. defended their privacy practices Thursday to lawmakers considering how to update privacy laws to include more protections for Internet users. At a Senate hearing on mobile privacy issues, lawmakers grilled technology executives on their policies and how they share consumer information with other companies. The hearing comes amid recent revelations that Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android phones routinely collect information about the location of consumer cellphones. Apple has since limited the data it collects. “I know you can shut off your location services but that doesn’t do the trick because we want to use them,” said Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.), who recently introduced a privacy bill along with Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), which would establish consumer online privacy rights. “We still need a privacy standard. We still need basic rules of the road.” Read the rest of this post on the original site »
Read MoreBy Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Reporter, The Wall Street Street Journal A bill introduced in the Senate on Tuesday would require law enforcement to get a search warrant before obtaining old data like emails stored on servers — a major update to U.S. digital-privacy laws. The bill, by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), would amend a 1986 law called the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which extended restrictions on government wiretaps to data transmissions as well as phone calls. Critics of the earlier law say it has become outdated and doesn’t adequately address new technology like geolocation and long-term data storage. “Today, this law is significantly outdated and out-paced by rapid changes in technology and the changing mission of our law enforcement agencies after September 11,” said Sen. Leahy, who also authored the 1986 law. Read the rest of this post on the original site
Read MoreBy Ian Sherr, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Dell Inc.’s profit nearly tripled as the computer maker benefited from favorable component costs, strong corporate demand and rising sales of its higher-margin products. Like other computer makers, Dell said consumer demand for personal computers was sluggish, a trend that weighed on low-end “netbook” computers as buyers looked instead to tablet computers, like Apple Inc.’s iPad. To offset the slowdown, the company is focusing on more profitable products, such as data storage and software. Dell’s results stood in contrast to those of rival Hewlett-Packard Co., which cut its 2011 forecast earlier Tuesday at a hastily scheduled earnings call. Read the rest of this post on the original site »
Read MoreBy Lynn Cowan, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Professional networking site LinkedIn Corp. raised its price range for its initial public offering this week by 30 percent, a strong indication that demand is running high for the new stock. The company, which is set to price Wednesday night and begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LNKD on Thursday, had originally set out to sell 7.84 million shares at $32 to $35 apiece. In an updated filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday morning, the company set the range at $42 to $45. While companies sometimes raise their price ranges by as much as $3 to $4, a $10 increase is very uncommon. It’s a clear sign that investors are jockeying for shares ahead of the offering and are willing to pay far more than the company was originally asking in order to get a piece of the IPO. Read the rest of this post on the original site »
Read MoreBy Christopher Lawton, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal Germany’s SAP AG sees the business-software industry’s future in a decidedly consumer-oriented tool–the app. For decades, business software has been focused around specialized users tied to large computers. Now, SAP is attempting to stretch those boundaries, betting that a broader set of workers will want access to business information via their mobile devices. The push is at the center of SAP’s new growth strategy. Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe, who took over as co-chief executives in February 2010 following revenue and profit shortfalls, have sold investors on a plan to make SAP a growth company again in part by bringing the consumer mobile-app craze to the enterprise. Read the rest of this post on the original site »
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