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I would take the printed version over the online version any day, but the iPad version versus the printed version? I have a feeling the iPad version will win me over. It’s the same layout and great design with added bonuses. This is another one of those apps that will make me get the iPad. Imagine what other magazines could do with it. Popular Science would be another good tech magazine to do this. What about National Geographic embedding short videos when you click on a photo so you could see more? Or giving a voice over if you wanted to hear fun facts? Bon Appetit could upload videos with each recipe or how-to videos in sections where they explain unique cooking techniques. Sports Illustrated also comes to mind… of course there are sections I wouldn’t want to “come alive,” but what about including clips from games? Or mini-sports games in the app. The possibilities are endless.

I hate to say it, but if print is on it’s way out in the future… jumping on the mobile bandwagon seems like it could save a lot of magazines and newspapers. Of course, that might speed up the process, but I can’t help but think we’re headed that ways anyways. This might actually be a good stimulus to get more people reading magazines. For all those people with short attention spans who can’t take the time to read, maybe interactive reading apps like this could get them to read and find out more about what they are looking at.

Who knows. All I know is, this makes me want an iPad even more. I’m waiting a bit to see what Android Froyo does with tethering (through my DROID). I’m pretty curious about Google’s plans. My only concern is – if Google creates a tablet will all these apps eventually come to Android?

Check out WIRED’s iPad App video below.

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MashableMashable

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The gadget geek in me is jumping up and down, but so is the designer side of me. It’s very cool to read about and look at photos of past technology, crazy inventions, and (what were) futuristic ideas. At the same time, it is amazing to compare the designs from various dates such as 1874, 1940, 1972, and 2010. Design and the technology printing those designs was constantly changing as well. People were creating new ways to share ideas and information. Layouts changed from plain, standard column text to full page ads and articles with lots of photos and flexible regions of text.

Something that everyone should check out: Popular Science Archives

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The main areas that were highlighted in a summary of the report were:
Mobile media driving increased consumption
Parents and media rules
Media in the home
Heavy media users report getting lower grades
Black and Hispanic children spend far more time with media than White children do
Big changes in TV
Popular new activities like social networking also contribute to increased media use
Types of media kids consume
High levels of media multitasking

It’s interesting how much of an increase there is once children get to the tween, 11-14 year-old age group. This report didn’t even include texting, which would bring the amount of time up another hour or so for that age group. I also found the gap between gender pretty interesting. The report found that girls spend more time reading and networking than boys, while boys spend more time than girls on video game usage and visiting video websites. I find it rather disappointing that roughly 30% of children have any type of rules regarding the time they can spend with different types of media. One thing’s for sure, marketing departments should have a field day with this report.

Report: Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8 to 18 Year Olds, KFF
Daily Media Use Among Children and Teens Up Dramatically From 5 Years Ago, KFF
Generation M2: Understanding the Multimedia Teen, ReadWriteWeb
Media Consumption Way Up for 8-18 Year-Olds From 5 Years Ago, Game Informer

Also, if you’re interested in media consumption, WIRED came up with an interesting chart in the article, Balance Your Media Diet, as part of their How to Behave: New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans article, which I also featured here.

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cKc_pvpuqg

This morning I came across a Gizmodo post, Sneak Peek of New BBC Documentary ‘The Virtual Revolution.’ The multi-part documentary airs on January 30th. It’s a look at the internet featuring interviews with Tim Berners-Lee (MIT engineer behind the web), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Al Gore, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, and Stephen Fry.

BBC has an ongoing website to capture the project in the making. You can also follow their updates on Twitter (@bbcdigrev). It looks like the series is divided into the following titles: 1. Power on the web, 2. The fate of nations, 3. The cost of free, 4. The web and us. I hadn’t heard of this series before, but it seems pretty interesting.
digital revolution is a four part series for BCC Two about how the web is changing the world. Due in 2010, it’s in production now, and we’re offereing a range of ways to interact with the programme team and the content we produce. get involved

Check it out at their official page BBC -- Digital Revolution.

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This could be good. It would be nice to have more mainstream titles added to the Watch Instantly catalog. I doubt however, that this will boost the sale of Warner Brothers DVDs at the time of release. People are turning to Netflix because they don’t want to have to buy DVDs either because they don’t want to own the DVD, don’t want to venture out to rental stores, or because they are trying to cut costs. There are a number of other methods that people can turn to in order to see the new releases, the biggest being the iTunes Store, RedBox, Blockbuster, XBox Live/Playstation Network, Amazon On Demand, video rental stores, and as Gizmodo suggests, peer-to-peer sharing via torrents. I’m guessing the latter of the list will gain some momentum, especially as other companies join in.

Elsewhere:

• Netflix, Warner Brothers End Dispute, Reach Deal on DVDs – Bloomberg on BusinessWeek
• Netflix Is Losing New Release Rentals – Gizmodo
• 28 Days Later: Say Goodbuy to the Netflix New Release Rental – Mashable
• Netflix, Hollywood Politics and the War for Streaming Movies – Gizmodo
• Netflix bends over, agrees to delay renting Warner DVDs – Engadget

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Uncharted 2 – Definitely the top of my list for 2009. First, you couldn’t get closer to playing through a movie if you tried. Uncharted 2 had an excellent use of sound and graphics, as well as excellent interaction with the environment. My favorite part of any media is when it makes me go, “This is amazing, I can’t even begin to think how much work went into this.” Uncharted 2′s visuals were unbelievable. The level in the mountains of Nepal was breathtaking. I loved that there was almost no load time and I often was confused whether I was watching a cutscene, or expected to control Drake. I especially appreciated how much of a step up the game was from it’s predecessor, only because I thought the original Uncharted was an amazing game to begin with. Uncharted 2 added vehicles to interact with, more puzzles, another excellent story. It also continued to utilize sound not only as background noise, but as a main component. As soon as I started hearing drums and an increase in volume, my heart would start pumping with the expectation of a new battle with the enemy.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Yeah, so it made many of Joystiq’s “disappointment” lists. Personally, I think these games are amazing. Yes, they stretch pretty far into the “this probably would never happen” side of things, but again, like Uncharted 2, the graphics, sound, and varied interaction was just awesome. This game was one of the most intense games I’ve ever played. It also made me reflect and pay close attention to how anyone else played through it. I played through the game and there were certain points, other than just the airport scene that made me go, “What the f***?! I can’t believe they actually did that.” It toyed with my emotions, and made me think. On the other hand, I also watched a close friend play the game with almost no regard whatsoever to what his character was being made to do. As soon as the airport scene came up he just started firing. Two other players, a bit younger, I let play the game. The older one, admittedly, was not within the “Mature” rating age, I sat with him while he played “the scene.” Although he didn’t fire at first, I could see he didn’t really think about what was going on. I explained thoroughly what was going on in the game, and what they were actually playing out. We had a quick discussion and both boys were surprised where the game was taking things… especially when the game makes you feel like you are a modern soldier with “realistic” missions. He stopped shooting. His younger brother played through the game and when he got to that part, he asked me to skip over it as soon as he was dropped into the airport. He was appalled at the task before him.

inFamous – So, at first, I have to admit that I had no idea what people were thinking when I saw this on so many Game of the Year nomination lists. The graphics are good, but not as good as the two previous titles I’ve mentioned. The story is good, but you don’t really understand what is going on throughout most of the game. The sound is alright, but not a major component. But the interaction and the sandbox environment… once you start to build up your powers, you can’t stop. I mean come on… you’re electric! Once I realized that I could toy with the game AI a little, I started to have some fun, now I can’t stop. You can climb literally everything, glide/fly through the air, drain anything electric of it’s power. You also start to acquire new powers which enable you to vary your attacks quite a bit. I still don’t think it’s GOTY material, but it’s definitely a blast.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time – I can’t help it, I love Ratchet & Clank. It’s probably one of my favorite series on the Playstation, and one of the main reasons I won’t switch to another console. Graphics, sound, script, interaction, weapon modifications… the fun never ends.

Other – Plants vs. Zombies and Machinarium.

2009 Titles That Look Awesome, But Are Still Sitting On My Shelf Waiting To Be Played – (Too Many) Red Faction: Guerilla, Assassin’s Creed 2, Killzone 2, Resident Evil 5, Fallout 3: DLC, SKATE 2.

Disappointments – Borderlands. It’s good. It’s creative. It’s attractive. It totally feels like a rip off of Fallout 3. And it takes sooo long to build up your character.

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Personally, I think it’s missing quite a few important systems/games, but it’s still an interesting timeline.

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I have an iPod Touch and have used many free and paid apps which I have purchased through the App Store. I also unlocked my iPod Touch for a time and took the chance to use some apps through Cydia. Recently, I bought the DROID and have been using apps which I purchased from the Android Market. On occasion, I also use mobile web apps.

In a location where phone service is not always available, I use many an app that does not rely on having service. Mainly these apps are for passing time (playing games) or catching up on a little reading with apps like Kindle for iPhone. A good majority of the apps I use on my phone or my iPod do require an internet connection whether it is wireless or 3G. For those apps, I wouldn’t really mind if the apps were replaced by web counterparts. A few web services that I use now (Xpenser, Meebo, Facebook) either only have a web app, or are inferior apps on either iPhone or Android OS and I would rather use the web interface. Some apps lack a user friendly, attractive UI and I would much rather just see development go into a web interface. If it’s something I use frequently, it’s quite simple to bookmark a web site on my phone’s desktop to return quickly.

A clear upside that I can see to a movement towards mobile web apps is that HTML5, CSS etc. is much more accessible than the development tools necessary to create apps for certain app stores. It would most certainly bring an increase in development and the web apps would most likely be accessible from all phone OSs. It would be nice to see apps that were just as good on Android as they are on the iPhone.

Of course, there are many downsides as well. First, it would be hard to charge for web apps, although I suppose there could be subscription type fees applied. Second, like the current stores, there would be an overwhelming amount of shovelware out there and would most likely open the phones to web delivered virus attacks. You would also need a signal in order to access the apps and at first, page transfers will be slower than moving around in native apps.

Native apps are preferred for now, but I’m guessing there will be a big increase in web app development next year, especially as the divide between phone OSs continues to grow. If developers could make a web app that could compete with similar apps across the various app stores and find a way to make a profit, it could start a wave of innovative new web apps that everyone could benefit from.

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