Tech Directions - August 2007 - (Page 17) giving new options to advertisers and readers. According to IntelliQuest’s latest surveys, the circulation base of PC World (www.pcworld.com) is 850,000, slightly higher than PC Magazine’s 700,000 (www.pcmag. com). Both claim readership of 4.8 million, which includes those who don’t buy but pick up the magazine after someone else has read it. Both magazines have lost advertising and editorial pages and readers since the year 2000. PC World’s McCracken quit after the magazine’s new CEO killed an article titled “Ten Things We Hate About Apple.” When readers heard about this, they went ballistic, expressing their indignation in blogs, online discussion groups, and letters to the editor, with many threatening to cancel their subscriptions. The CEO then reportedly denied that advertiser pressure played a part in McCracken’s resignation. In an e-mail message to me during this time, McCracken told me he was asked to return as editor-in-chief but declined. Only days later, however, he changed his mind, and he was reinstated in his former position, reportedly earning a hero’s welcome among fellow editorial staffers back at the magazine. The new CEO was reassigned by the magazine’s parent company. This is not to say that bias doesn’t exist at even the best computer magazines. Most computer publications, subtly or blatantly, encourage readers to buy the latest and greatest. Part of this bias innocently stems from the fact that many people who write and edit computer magazines are gadget geeks, and their zeal for the latest tools and toys colors their buying recommendations. But part, no doubt, also results from a “Buy, buy, buy!” pro-industry boosterism that creates an overall climate attractive to advertisers. The Blogs The Internet remains tough competition for computer magazines. Blogs, such as Engadget (www. engadget.com), founded by Peter Rojas and recently purchased by America Online, are good reads for gadget geeks. The same can be said for Web aficionados about the blog BuzzMachine (www.buzzmachine. com) from Jeff Jarvis. It only follows that more and more people are using information technology to obtain news about information technology. Getting your computer and Internet news over the Web makes it easier to archive material for later retrieval, and it can’t be beat for breaking news. Traditional computer magazines for some years have been paying attention, trying to leverage the Internet with free, advertising-supported online versions. Many also offer free e-mail-based news alerts, which you can sign up for by filling out a form at the respective site, as well as RSS feeds for mobile devices. CNET (www.cnet.com), an oldiebut-goodie online news and information service, is available only online, providing the same kind of content as the best computer magazines. www.techdirections.com MASTERING COMPUTERS 17 http://www.engadget.com http://www.pcworld.com http://www.buzzmachine.com http://www.buzzmachine.com http://www.cnet.com http://www.engadget.com http://www.7corners.com http://www.7corners.com http://www.7corners.com http://www.techedcnc.com http://www.techedcnc.com http://www.techedcnc.com http://www.7corners.com http://www.techdirections.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.