Last week I mentioned low-cost ways to get broadband and connect to the internet. Former Sunday Express writer Michael Watts wrote in to mention the £14.99 128k deal he has from NTL (www.ntl.com). The deal is certainly good and is great for accessing the web and sending and receiving e-mails, but more intense users will need an ultra-fast broadband connection. He also pointed out that the connection fee, which included a modem, was £25, making it good value for money. NTL also offers a 1MB broadband connection for £34.99 with no connection charge and free modem. The only downside is that you need to be in NTL’s cabled area.
At the first Association of Online Publishers awards last week, NME.com carried away the most awards. The IPC site won best editor, best integration of media (consumer) and best innovation (consumer). Best publisher award went to Rivals Digital Media for consumer and TSL Education for business. More than 150 entries were received for the 15 categories of awards. The awards ended a half-day conference in which the AOP (www.ukaop.org.uk) discussed a range of issues from how to make paid-for content work to the importance of getting digital media properly audited for advertisers.
Last week I took a look at Adobe’s PhotoShop Elements 2.0, which really makes it easy for anyone to develop quality images on a PC or Mac. I’ve got three copies of the £80 software to give away thanks to Adobe. If you want to be in with a chance to win one, just answer the following question and tell me your name and postal address.
What else does Adobe make?
a. Acrobat b. Circus c. Big Top
Send you answers by e-mail to: compy@bunder.com. Closing date for entries is 11am on 28 October 2002. The first three correct entries drawn after the closing date will win.
The Wall Street Journal has shown that its policy of charging for content is working. It now has 664,000 subscribers, of which 18,500 are in Europe. By having a strategy in place for charging people and not being afraid to do so, The Wall Street Journal is succeeding, although many others have left charging very late. The issue is still how to go from what was traditionally free to access to paying for it. One way for UK publishers to go forward, and this mainly applies to magazines offering subscriptions, is to offer full access to sibling sites only to subscribers. What do you think? Are publishers really clued up on how to charge and are they making the most of their relationship with subscribers?
Leslie Bunder
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