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Celeb mags up in the US

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Limo - celebs could be here…Advertising Age tells us that celebrity magazines are up, quoting figures from OK, Us Weekly, Star and other mags I’ve never bothered to read. Good for them.

I think it’s interesting that these titles are going up, since most mags are struggling these days. Online is the new place to go read stuff, basically, and that certainly goes for most areas. Teen magazines are having a hard time, that same AdAge story says so, and it’s a known fact as well.

But why do these celebrity mags do so well? Maybe they were very poor last year, what do I know, but I’m guessing not. The celebrity magazine segment should have a hard time as any other since there are dozens of big sites that do more or less the same thing. Gossip, celebrity pictures, that sort of thing is huge online.

Maybe the celebrity market isn’t saturated yet, or maybe these mags do something that the web publications don’t. Any thoughts?

Originally posted on February 13, 2007 @ 1:53 am

What offline web apps would do to the world

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FirefoxRead/WriteWeb tells us that Firefox 3 will have support for offline web applications. They do the whole Google-Mozilla connection, which isn’t off the mark of course, and lists Google services such as Gmail, Calendar, Docs & Spreadsheets and so on.

If you’re in the Google OS crowd, i.e. waiting for Google to release an actual operating system (preferably online based), then this is probably music to your ears. Having all your stuff stored online is great when you’ve got a fast internet connection, but that’s not always the case. It can be down, the wireless network is malfunctioning, there’s service work being done on the online application itself – the availability of online apps just doesn’t make it a 100% natural choice due to this.

What will happen if Gmail works offline, if Docs & Spreadsheets continues to evolve and becomes a serious option from Microsoft Office? Collaboration is a simple thing with Google’s online apps (although they aren’t the best choice for everything, there’s work to e done there) and if you can work offline with them as well then it’s very easy to invite other people to your projects when you need to.

All in all, offline access to web applications will give us more choices, be it Google or someone else that is delivering them. Microsoft, which of course could be a target for this kind of evolution, knows this. They’ve been working on their online services for a long time and spoke about them and how they would change the way we work years ago. Still, it’s a transition and while it might not be easy for the general public to switch from the dominant Windows platform, it might be a lot easier to go in another direction when it comes to on/offline web apps. That direction might or might not be one dictated by Google or Microsoft or someone else, but rest assured it should be possible for companies to pick the one that truly fits, instead of what they need to be using because of the OS dominance of Windows versions today.

Originally posted on February 12, 2007 @ 6:11 am

Post-Vista: Vienna due in 2009

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Windows VistaIn an article over at PC World we learn that the delay of Longhorn, that’s the codename for Windows Vista folks, was due to the massive worm attacks on Windows XP. Five years later and Vista is out all over the world.

But what’s next? Well, Microsoft have big plans, including new file systems and stuff like that, but that just wasn’t possible with Vista due to time and, of course, backwards compatibility. The next Windows version, codenamed Vienna, is scheduled to be released before the end of 2009, and we can expect it to kick all those XP programs you love down the drain. Vista is pretty backwards compatible, but that’s probably something that weighs a bit on the performance.

When asked about the key super duper cool feature in Vienna, we get this answer:

“We’re going to look at a fundamental piece of enabling technology. Maybe its hypervisors, I don’t know what it is,” he said. “Maybe it’s a new user interface paradigm for consumers.”

My guess? Multiple desktops, much like Linux systems have had for years, and Apple is introducing in the next OS X version. Oh, and they’ll kill the Start menu for something niftier. Time to speed up, Microsoft?

There’s a Techmeme discussion on this as well.

Originally posted on February 12, 2007 @ 6:24 am

MyBlogLog co-branding communities

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MyBlogLogDarren over at Problogger notes that TechCrunch have a special style MyBlogLog community, with integrated navigation, logo, colors and all. Apparently there’s a beta out on this feature, which of course made MyBlogLog a lot more interesting.

Check out Darren’s post and the TechCrunch MyBlogLog community to see what’s yet to come.

As I write this, TechCrunch is actually down. I can’t remember when that happened…

Originally posted on February 12, 2007 @ 5:43 am

Foreign minister Carl Bildt to attend inaugural ceremony in Second Life

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Second LifeCarl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, will attend the inaugural ceremony for the virtual Swedish embassy in online game Second Life. With his avatar of course. He told the world, or at least the Swedish speaking part of it, via his blog the other day (in Swedish).

This is of course a PR stunt for Sweden as a country, but still, to have the foreign minister there is a pretty big thing. I would assume that the Second Life community will boost this, as will Linden Labs, since it’s a pretty big thing already.

Also check out our previous coverage of the Swedish embassy in Second Life.

Originally posted on February 8, 2007 @ 4:32 am