BLU for you

Another recent recruit to the growing "Web first Print later" fraternity is BLU Magazine, which launched in the US last month.

Its mission statement reads as follows -


Blu is the social, fashion and lifestyles sourcebook for the United States’ most discriminating single adults. Male and female single, confident, professional, affluent adults aged 30 years and older are the most underserved demographic in the consumer magazine community. Through utilization of a sophisticated, sleek format and sharp editorialization and reporting, Blu satisfies the intellectual side of educated, professional adults, while also catering to the whimsical, spontaneous personalities typical of unmarried affluents.

Er.... whatever that means. All I can say is that if you are thinking of launching on the Internet first then make sure that you design for the web rather than the page. BLU is full of text, reversed out and otherwise, and too many pictures are hard to read.

Must try harder...

Take a Load off

A new magazine (well for me anyway) out for the PSP and PC. Load Magazine covers film, music and games and best of all, is completely free to download.

E-Paper edging toward reality

Have a look at this report from Reuters which talks about the way that electronic paper is gathering hold in the R&D departments of several major tech manufacturers.

BBC Magazines goes digital with music mag

BBC Magazines Bristol is to launch its first digital magazine in a one-off promotion for the BBC Music Magazine Awards.

The specialist publisher is to mail a free 16-page digital magazine showcasing this year's winners of the annual awards, featuring video footage of performances and acceptance speeches from the event and streamed recordings of nominated artists. The editor's letter will appear as a video message.

The magazine will also offer links to HMV.co.uk, where readers will be able to buy the featured discs.

BBC Worldwide already publishes a digital version of Top Of The Pops with Zinio, but the one off will be published on the Ceros platform, which already hosts Dennis and IPC products

Gamerzines launch PS3Zine

Cranberry Publishing have just launched the latest in their excellent series of free games magazines - PS3zine. Each issue will contain games reviews, previews and of course lots of interactive elements.

They are fantastic products - being free - and in a demo less world, why pay £6 for a print version when everything you want is free ?

A measure of their popularity is that they have over 50,000 subscribers signed up to their existing products, so they have obviously tapped a vein with gaming consumers.