ABB named Boris Falk head of sales at the firm’s Center of Excellence Printing in Switzerland.
Goss International Corp. said Ragy Isaac, the firm’s quality director, won certification from the IdeAlliance as a G7 Expert. G7 is an industry methodology governing how proofing and press systems are calibrated to ensure print quality and consistency.
www.abb.com
San Diego News Network named former San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun journalist Chris Jennewein president.
Chicago Tribune Media Group named Susan Jacobs vice president of retail advertising.
Inergize Digital added support for Google mapping technology to its Web content management system software.
www.inergizedigital.com
Le Temps of Geneva, Switzerland, extended its online news portal, with EdiosMedia. The publisher uses Méthode to produce its print edition and will use Méthode Portal Server for its online edition, Eidos said.
www.eidosmedia.com
PageSuite began publishing the free online editions of Associated Newspapers’ Metro U.K., Metro Ireland, London Lite and 7Days.
The free digital editions give the titles greater reach outside their traditional distribution areas, PageSuite said, and also allow readers who have missed printed editions to catch up on the day’s news.
www.pagesuite.co.uk
El Siglo de Torréon of Mexico installed Protecmedia’s Milenium Cross Media platform to integrate its newsroom, advertising and production operations, Protecmedia said. The paper will also use the app to share resources with three other papers — El Siglo de Durango, La I de Saltillo and La I de Laguna.
www.protecmedia.com
IFRA is offering tutorials for potential participants in its next round of International Newspaper Color Quality Club events (INCQC 2010–2012). Tutorials are scheduled for June in Darmstadt, Germany; July in Hyderabad, India; October in Darmstadt and Vienna; and in November in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Jakarta, Indonesia.
Additional tutorials may be scheduled upon request.
www.colorqualityclub.org
www.ifra.com
The Wall Street Journal launched a new culture blog, Speakeasy, that’s aimed at enhancing the site’s art and entertainment coverage. Meantime, three newspapers, the Flint (Mich.) Journal, the Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore., and Newsday in Melville, N.Y., will begin including Sunday Journal pages in their Sunday editions. Finally, Dow Jones said Hyatt Hotels & Resorts selected The Journal as the complimentary newspaper to be delivered to a majority of its Gold Passport members.
Baldwin Technology Co. Inc. announced an agreement with Tolerans to represent Tolerans’ in-line stitching products in the United States and Canada. Baldwin also said it will supply spraybar dampening and blanket cleaning systems to two Japanese newspapers, Yomiuri Shimbun and Nichinichi Shimbun.
www.baldwintech.com
Adobe Systems Inc. released a free preview of Adobe BrowserLab, a new hosted service that enables Web designers to view and test their sites on a variety of browsers and operating systems.
www.adobe.com
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said it has commissioned a shaftless DiamondSpace press at The Yomiuri Shimbun in Japan. The conversion project retained existing RTPs.
www.mhi.com
Roxen Internet Software of Sweden opened a U.S. office in Chicago. Shaw Newspapers last year became the first U.S. newspaper publisher to deploy Roxen’s Editorial Portal.
www.roxen.com
The Associated Press said that its Mobile news widget is preloaded or available for download on the new Nokia N97 smart phone, which began shipping last week.
www.ap.org
Celsius Technology Group introduced Celsius Technology Platform. a hosted content management system that includes Celsius Publisher, Story and Pipeline applications. The system allows readers to add elements to an existing story. including photos and videos.
www.celsiustechnologygroup.com
Monday, June 8, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
June 1, 2009 — Tribune launches ‘super blog’
Tribune Co. last week unveiled a Chicago-based blog aggregation site as it attempts to lure more readers to its online offerings.
The beta version of ChicagoNow features blogs from more than 30 local personalities and subject matter experts.
By year-end it hopes to increase that number to more than 80.
In a video introducing the project, the Tribune said ChicagoNow can be described as a site where “The Huffington Post meets Facebook for Chicago.”
The Tribune has been working on developing the site since late last year. The new site will offer a slate of advertising options, and it will also be home to the Chicago Tribune’s relaunched RedEye Web site.
News & Tech will have more information about Tribune’s plans in the July issue.
The beta version of ChicagoNow features blogs from more than 30 local personalities and subject matter experts.
By year-end it hopes to increase that number to more than 80.
In a video introducing the project, the Tribune said ChicagoNow can be described as a site where “The Huffington Post meets Facebook for Chicago.”
The Tribune has been working on developing the site since late last year. The new site will offer a slate of advertising options, and it will also be home to the Chicago Tribune’s relaunched RedEye Web site.
News & Tech will have more information about Tribune’s plans in the July issue.
NAA: Ad sales drop almost 30% in Q1
Print ad sales for the first quarter of 2009 fell almost 30 percent, the worst drop in modern history.
According to the Newspaper Association of America, newspapers posted $5.9 billion in print ad revenues, down 29.7 percent from the year-ago quarter. Online sales, meantime, fell 13.4 percent, to $696 million. Taken together, newspapers sold a total of $6.6 billion in overall advertising, a decrease of 28 percent.
In 2008, newspapers sold more than $9.2 billion in print and online advertising during the first three months of the year.
As expected, classified ad revenues continued their swift decline, falling during the first three months of 2009 by 42 percent, to $1.4 billion.
By segment, automotive classifieds fell 43 percent, to $322 million; and real estate fell 45 percent to $336 million. Recruitment classifieds declined a whopping 67 percent, to $205 million.
According to the Newspaper Association of America, newspapers posted $5.9 billion in print ad revenues, down 29.7 percent from the year-ago quarter. Online sales, meantime, fell 13.4 percent, to $696 million. Taken together, newspapers sold a total of $6.6 billion in overall advertising, a decrease of 28 percent.
In 2008, newspapers sold more than $9.2 billion in print and online advertising during the first three months of the year.
As expected, classified ad revenues continued their swift decline, falling during the first three months of 2009 by 42 percent, to $1.4 billion.
By segment, automotive classifieds fell 43 percent, to $322 million; and real estate fell 45 percent to $336 million. Recruitment classifieds declined a whopping 67 percent, to $205 million.
Free Lance-Star picks QIPC for register, color control
The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., said it would equip its new press with automatic register and cutoff control systems from Q.I. Press Controls.
QIPC will install its mRC registration system on the newspaper’s Goss International Corp. FPS press, which is slated to go into production next year.
The triplewide FPS press is configured with four towers and two folders. Eight cameras on the towers will monitor color register while 18 additional mRC cameras will sit on the folders to control cutoff.
The Free Lance-Star is the third newspaper to buy the mRC system, following The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Transcontinental Inc., which is using it in its soon-to-be-opened Fremont, Calif., facility.
QIPC will install its mRC registration system on the newspaper’s Goss International Corp. FPS press, which is slated to go into production next year.
The triplewide FPS press is configured with four towers and two folders. Eight cameras on the towers will monitor color register while 18 additional mRC cameras will sit on the folders to control cutoff.
The Free Lance-Star is the third newspaper to buy the mRC system, following The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Transcontinental Inc., which is using it in its soon-to-be-opened Fremont, Calif., facility.
Lee reporting ink savings with Kodak app
Lee Enterprises is reporting ink savings of 20 percent to 25 percent since implementing Kodak’s Ink Optimizing Service software at 12 of its daily newspapers, Kodak said.
Kodak’s Ink Optimizing Service, which Lee first tested at the Billings (Mont.) Gazette, provides customers with an ICC DeviceLink profile that plugs into Kodak’s Prinergy workflow app.
Based on the that profile, separated image files go through a gray component replacement process that reduces ink usage by replacing CMY inks with less-expensive black ink, while limiting the Total Area Coverage to a predefined level.
“Ink savings have met our expectations and we also see enhancements to the quality of photos,” said Brian Kardell, vice president of production and chief information officer at Lee.
In addition to the Gazette, Lee rolled out the service to the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune; the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal; the Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune; the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal; the Times in Munster, Ind.; the Times News in Twin Falls, Idaho; the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; the Missoulian in Missoula, Mont.; the Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa; the Pantagraph in Bloomington, Ill.; and the North County Times in Escondido, Calif.
Kodak’s Ink Optimizing Service, which Lee first tested at the Billings (Mont.) Gazette, provides customers with an ICC DeviceLink profile that plugs into Kodak’s Prinergy workflow app.
Based on the that profile, separated image files go through a gray component replacement process that reduces ink usage by replacing CMY inks with less-expensive black ink, while limiting the Total Area Coverage to a predefined level.
“Ink savings have met our expectations and we also see enhancements to the quality of photos,” said Brian Kardell, vice president of production and chief information officer at Lee.
In addition to the Gazette, Lee rolled out the service to the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune; the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal; the Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune; the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal; the Times in Munster, Ind.; the Times News in Twin Falls, Idaho; the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; the Missoulian in Missoula, Mont.; the Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa; the Pantagraph in Bloomington, Ill.; and the North County Times in Escondido, Calif.
New Zealand news agency picks DTI
The New Zealand Press Association purchased Digital Technology International’s ContentPublisher software, DTI said, marking the vendor’s first customer sale in New Zealand.
ContentPublisher will allow NZPA to automate news editing and delivery processes to its news and image Web sites and commercial customers, and will provide NZPA with a single multimedia app to exploit the Internet for developing new products and expanding its multimedia news operations.
"Our 24/7 integrated newsroom requires comprehensive, easy-to-use tools to deliver multimedia content and wire feeds — including breaking news, weather, sports, financial information and entertainment — to a demanding audience, fast," said Simon Randall, NZPA’s manager of commercial services. “It will also enable us to create new products and services.”
NZPA publishes information every 24 hours from its news staff, overseas wire services and other sources including the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
ContentPublisher will allow NZPA to automate news editing and delivery processes to its news and image Web sites and commercial customers, and will provide NZPA with a single multimedia app to exploit the Internet for developing new products and expanding its multimedia news operations.
"Our 24/7 integrated newsroom requires comprehensive, easy-to-use tools to deliver multimedia content and wire feeds — including breaking news, weather, sports, financial information and entertainment — to a demanding audience, fast," said Simon Randall, NZPA’s manager of commercial services. “It will also enable us to create new products and services.”
NZPA publishes information every 24 hours from its news staff, overseas wire services and other sources including the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
Finnish daily buys KBA Cortina
Finnish publisher Keski-Pohjanmaan Kirjapaino purchased a waterless Cortina press from Koenig & Bauer AG.
The 4-by-1 machine, to go into production next year, will be configured as four towers and two folders and sport a 22-inch cutoff. It’s capable of printing 150,000 32-page, full-color tabloids per hour. The machine will also be equipped with KBA’s PlateTronic automatic plate changers, RollerTronic automatic roller locks and NipTronic bearers.
Copies can be stitched, glued, perforated or scored after the quarterfold, KBA said.
KBA said the press is the 17th Cortina it’s sold since introducing the waterless machine in 2002.
The 4-by-1 machine, to go into production next year, will be configured as four towers and two folders and sport a 22-inch cutoff. It’s capable of printing 150,000 32-page, full-color tabloids per hour. The machine will also be equipped with KBA’s PlateTronic automatic plate changers, RollerTronic automatic roller locks and NipTronic bearers.
Copies can be stitched, glued, perforated or scored after the quarterfold, KBA said.
KBA said the press is the 17th Cortina it’s sold since introducing the waterless machine in 2002.
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