Facebook, Google and Apple make the headlines, but there are many inspiring startups to dissipate the sense of techno-dreadA quarter of a century ago, the Canadian author Douglas Coupland published his third novel. Microserfs was the tale of a group of young Microsoft employees who decide to exit the realm of Bill Gates in Washington state and chase a dream of their own in California places that, back then, sounded like the epitome of futuristic magic: Palo Alto, Menlo Park. As well as prescient flashes of the world to come – “Beware of the corporate invasion of private memory,” warned one of its protagonists – what always stuck with me was its air of techno-optimism, perfectly crystallised right at the end, when the central character’s mother has a stroke and is rescued from silence by a set-up attached to an Apple Macintosh. She communicates via such staccato sentences as “I am here”, and “I feel U”; the novel’s closing pages capture her and her family marvelling at the fact that she has become “part woman/part machine, emanating blue Macintosh light”.The book was published in 1995, when computers suddenly offered an ever-expanding window on to the world. Many of us had no doubt that the leap from old to new represented nothing but progress. By the start of this decade social media platforms were being hailed as a means of individual and collective emancipation. But where has this faith in the future gone? Related: The rise of technology in care: how will it affect... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2018-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Booksellers Association is urging members to write to their MPs today expressing their... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hodder & Stoughton has acquired music star Sir Elton John's first book, Love is The Cure... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Now that the early enthusiasm behind generating magazine apps for tablet and smart phone devices has settled into a more or less pragmatic approach for publishers, a nagging question is bubbling ever closer to the top of digital content development efforts for the mobile platform: HTML5 or... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Businesses have little recourse - or human contact - when resolving disputes with Google or Facebook, write Julian Lee and Ben Grubb. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2011-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US retailer Barnes & Noble's e-reading device range, the Nook, will be available in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Blake has promoted four members of staff to reflect a new emphasis on digital publishing for... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More than a third of publishers internationally believe that digital formats will account for at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At the New England Independent Booksellers Association annual fall conference earlier this month, booksellers and publishers grappled not just with the question of what bricks-and-mortar bookstores will look like in the future, but how long they will continue to exist. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Specialist magazine publisher Future is launching a new monthly print and digital magazine, N-Photo, next month. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-10-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 04/10/2011 - 10:05 Little, Brown and Sphere has bought the autobiography of Duran Duran bassist and founding member John Taylor. Little, Brown editor in chief Antonia Hodgson bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, at auction from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What better place to be the day after Amazon unveiled its $199 Kindle Fire tablet (plus three Kindle models starting at $79) than a conference on e-readers? Long scheduled for September 29 and 30 in San Francisco, Intertechs two-day eReaders 2011 conference offered an even better platform than... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Magazine publisher Future expects to pay out up to £4.9m to cover redundancies and unused property, according to a trading update released today. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2011-09-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 08/09/2011 - 15:50 John Wiley & Sons has reported revenue growth of 5% for its first quarter fiscal year 2012 results, up to $430m (£267.5m) from $408m, on the same period last year. Revenue for its professional and trade division grew... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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There is a new tool in the magazine publishing arsenal for delivering new and dynamic content to the readerBUT from the printed magazine! By using your smartphone, you can take a picture of a postage stamp-sized 2D barcode on a printed page of an article (or ad), and suddenly be transported to... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 05/09/2011 - 08:20 Orion has made a series of promotions within its fiction and non-fiction teams, appointing new publishing directors in both departments. Orion Fiction has promoted Kate Mills to the role of publishing director, with... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 01/09/2011 - 08:51 Readers will be able to download the ebook of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for free with the limited edition model of the new Sony Reader. Further details have emerged about the Reader, which is set to go on sale in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 22/08/2011 - 15:00 Simon & Schuster US has signed a deal to publish the physical editions of John Locke's Donovan Creed novels in North America. In June, Locke became the first self-published author to sell more than one million ebooks... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Thu, 18/08/2011 - 15:17 Titan has acquired an accompaniment to the Harry Potter film franchise, which drew to a close this summer with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II. Harry Potter: Page to Screen: The Complete Film-making Journey will... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 12/08/2011 - 08:40 The recently appointed children's laureate Julia Donaldson has condemned the "Future Libraries" report as a "cost-cutting exercise" containing among its recommendations some likely to lead to a deterioration of the service.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 08/08/2011 - 16:08 Literary agent Andrew Wylie has said publishers need to "stand firm" in the face of digital companies like Amazon and Apple or risk being locked into an insupportable business model that is unable to reward writers. In an... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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