Buy Stuff Straight from the Pages of a Digital Magazine with ShopThis!

MasterCard has come up with a way to add more to the digital reading experience. You know how you flip through a magazine on your tablet and see something that you really like? Normally you’d take down the name of the product and then search online for buying options.

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What MasterCard is introducing changes all that and reduces the process to a single step. The app is called ShopThis!, and it’ll let you buy the item that you want by tapping on the article or in the ads.

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The item will be added to your cart, and you can then continue to flip through the contents of the magazine before finalizing the purchase and checking out.

The app works in conjunction with MasterCard’s MasterPass which offers digital and mobile payment solutions. In essence, it turns your smartphone or tablet into a credit card of sorts so you can shop, shop, shop.

ShopThis! was developed by MasterCard Labs’ incubation program, and you’ll be able to check out the first use of the technology in the November iOS issue of WIRED.

[via C|NET]

Newsweek to drop print edition after December 31st, gives the digital future a warm hug

Newsweek to drop print edition after December 31st, gives the digital future a warm hug

It's no secret that print media is on its way out, as many regional and niche publications have had to either find a path through the digital wilderness or fold completely. We're still not used to national publications facing that ultimatum, though, which makes Newsweek's fresh decision to drop its print edition after December 31st both unusual and a bellwether. Anyone still yearning for the magazine's content after the presses stop will have to turn to the purely digital Newsweek Global or its The Daily Beast sibling, no matter how attached they are to the outlet's 80-year history with paper. The explanation for the cutoff remains a familiar story: print readership is dying on the vine and expensive to maintain, while web and tablet adoption is growing quickly enough that Newsweek believes it can make the switch without taking a long-term financial hit. Whether or not the transition works, it's evident the periodical knows its identity must be wrapped around an online presence -- figuratively, not literally.

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Newsweek to drop print edition after December 31st, gives the digital future a warm hug originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Next Issue brings its all-you-can-read magazine store to the iPad, plans start at $10 a month

Next Issue brings its allyoucanread magazine store to iOS, plans start at $10 a month

The last time we heard about Next Issue, the all-you-can-read magazine store was launching on Android, with an iOS version said to be coming soon. Three months later, the startup's made good on its promise: the storefront is now up and running on iOS, with an iPad app live in the US App Store. If you're not familiar with the way Next Issue works, it's angling to be the Netflix of digital magazines, with a monthly subscription getting you unfettered access to a library of 39 titles. In brief, the fees break down to $10 per month for all the monthly and bi-weekly mags, and $15 if you want all that plus access to tabloids and other weeklies. One last thing: the free app is just the magazine reader; you'll need to download the apps through Next Issue's browser-based store.

Now, if you're wondering what sorts of magazines will be represented in that list of 40-some-odd titles, know that every bigwig in magazine publishing is on board: Conde Nast, Time, Hearst, Meredith and News Corp. That means the The New Yorker is included, as are Esquire, GQ, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated and Popular Mechanics. In an interview, a company rep told us that Next Issue Media hopes to double the catalog by year's end, as well as ink deals with additional publishers. The biggest caveat, it seems, is that content providers have the prerogative to make a title available on one platform but not the other, so don't count on the iOS and Android apps offering identical selections. Feeling a bit tentative? The company is offering new customers a 30-day free trial, and we've also got not one, but four (yes, four) demo videos after the break.

Continue reading Next Issue brings its all-you-can-read magazine store to the iPad, plans start at $10 a month

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Next Issue brings its all-you-can-read magazine store to the iPad, plans start at $10 a month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe upgrades its Digital Publishing Suite with iPhone viewer, improved social media features

Between rolling out Creative Suite 6, Creative Cloud and a new video platform for broadcasters, Adobe's been mighty busy lately. If that's not evidence enough that the outfit is making good on its promise to restructure around digital media, hear this: the company just announced a slew of enhancements to its Digital Publishing Suite (DPS), which Conde Nast and others use to format magazines for mobile devices. For starters, publishers now have a way to tailor content specifically for the iPhone, just as they can for the iPad, Kindle Fire and Android tablets. So far, we know Conde Nast will be using this tool to build a modified edition of The New Yorker, though Conde Nast hasn't announced when it will become available for download. Meanwhile, art departments used to working in InDesign can now take a single a layout and repurpose it across multiple devices. Similarly, DPS is now integrated with Adobe Edge, which means publishers can create HTML5 animations and then easily port them over to their digital editions.

Moving on, SocialSharing is exactly what it sounds like: it promises to make it easier for people reading these magazines to share stories using built-in email, Twitter and Facebook functionality. Getting more granular, a new font rights policy means that once a publishing company buys rights to use a certain font, it won't have to pay additional per-usage fees every time someone downloads the app. Lastly, Adobe announced that Meredith, the company that brings you (yes, you) Better Homes and Gardens, Parents and Fitness will also begin using the platform to create digital editions. Hold onto your britches, kids.

Continue reading Adobe upgrades its Digital Publishing Suite with iPhone viewer, improved social media features

Adobe upgrades its Digital Publishing Suite with iPhone viewer, improved social media features originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 May 2012 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Next Issue Media launches on Android, $15 a month for access to 32 magazines

Next Issue Media launches on Android, $15 a month for access to 32 magazines
If you've taken issue with your usual choices for buying magazines on your tablet, be it pay-per-issue or per-subscription, you're not alone. If you'll recall, it was nearly a year ago that Next Issue Media launched the preliminary version of its "Hulu-meets-magazines" app on the Galaxy Tab, and it's finally ready to release this physical newsstand alternative officially. After raking in a slew of deals last November, its Android 3.0 app is now available -- users can fork over a monthly fee of $10 to access all of its monthly and bi-weekly content, while an extra five bucks adds in weekly content, essentially giving you access to every publication on offer. Singular subscriptions are also available for two to 10 bucks, and you'll currently have a choice of 32 mags from the likes of Car and Driver to The New Yorker. Interestingly, TechCrunch notes that NIM plans to get the app over to iOS "soon" -- it'll surely be interesting to see how it competes with Apple's own Newsstand. You'll find more info at the via links below, and you can flip over to the source for details about a 30-day trial offer.

Next Issue Media launches on Android, $15 a month for access to 32 magazines originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 06:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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