magazines

Barnes & Noble is trying to lure more Windows 8 users to its Nook app with new features and a half-off promotion.

Updated Wednesday, Nook for Windows 8 and RT adds a new interface along with speedier performance, according to B&N. Users can also now highlight and annotate text, search for words via a dictionary, and find specific text within a book.

Book and magazine buyers will find a redesigned shopping experience. And users can now sideload both ePub and PDF files from their computers. The app also takes advantage of Windows 8 search. People can simply start … Read more

Is an album a more substantial work of art than a single? Or is a well-crafted single all we need? There were always singles, but in the days before the Internet, fans were sometimes "forced" to buy albums to get the music they wanted, even when most of the album's tunes weren't great. The hugely entertaining "The Great Debate: Singles vs. Albums" held last Monday at the New Music Seminar in NYC covered the issue in depth.

Robert Christgau, one of the first generations of professional "rock critics," was there to defend … Read more

This app gives you the chance to be the star of a magazine--a really poor magazine, but a magazine nonetheless! InstaMag - Magazine Collage automatically organizes a few of your pictures into a spread, but it looks terrible. You won't want to share anything this collage app makes.

This app is designed to present your photos as if they were in a magazine spread. InstaMag - Magazine Collage only supports collages with four photos-- you can't have more or less. You can't move where the photos sit on the digital page, either. In fact, the only thing … Read more

Just last week I told you about Zinio's new Z-Pass, a $5 subscription option that gives you a choice of three digitally delivered magazines per month.

You can try that free for a month, but here's an even better deal: a $50 Zinio credit absolutely free.

That credit is good for 18 single "subscriptions" (i.e. individual issues) or six mini-subscriptions (of three issues each). And you don't have to redeem it all right away; you've got until mid-August to use up your credit.

Let me mention right now that this offer comes courtesy … Read more

I love a good magazine. That's why I'm hoping digital distribution services like Next Issue and Zinio can help usher in the age of the digital periodical.

Yesterday, Zinio gave it a little nudge by unveiling Z-Pass, a sort of a la carte subscription option: three magazines for $5 per month.

According to the Zinio press release, "The monthly cost of a Z-Pass is the lowest available in the market for a multiple-magazine subscription model." That's technically true, but with a huge asterisk: Next Issue (a sort of Netflix for magazines) costs $9.99 per … Read more

In an age of information overload, apps like Flipboard provide the much- needed organization and curation tools to keep it all in one place. By taking your RSS subscriptions, Twitter account, Facebook account, and other online accounts and combining them into one easy-to-use interface, Flipboard simplifies the consumption of information on an iPad and makes it faster and easier than ever before to get what you need from your device.

When you first open Flipboard, you'll be prompted to create an account. This account will store all of your subscriptions, and you can choose to either create a new … Read more

Flipboard is a must-have newsreader and social network hub that lets you organize the info you want to look at, then flip through it like you would a magazine. The latest version of the app for iOS lets you create custom magazines from the sources you like most so you can browse through your favorite topics, share your magazine with others, or find magazines about topics you're interested in created by other users.

Get started by creating an account with Flipboard, then sign in to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. You also have the option to connect with your … Read more

Call me old-school, but I still like magazines. Reading them, writing for them -- heck, I even started one many moons ago.

If you feel the same way, but prefer digital editions to their paper counterparts, check out Next Issue. A kind of "Netflix for magazines," the service offers unlimited access to over 80 titles, all for a flat monthly rate.

The rate: $14.99 for Next Issue Premium, or $9.99 for Basic (more on all that in a minute). For a limited time, however, CNET is offering a three-month Next Issue Premium trial absolutely free. (You'… Read more