Gripevine

Journalism today is not what it was like five years ago. The popularity of blogs, social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, plus the surge in independent online news portals is changing the landscape of publishing as we know it. As more people get wired, they have at their fingertips, access to a wide array of online content free of charge. In light of this, how will the print industry (newspapers and magazines) keep their readership and sales levels up? Then there is the issue of the "Independent Journalist" , many journos with reputed news organisations are gaining a steady following through Facebook and Twitter - where their friends and subscribers get a dose of the news as it happens in a stream of quick updates. So by the time the story comes out in the paper the next day or makes it to the online edition, those in the social media world would have got the gist of it already. Mainstream publications have taken to tweeting and facebooking news updates t...

Ever thought of making a movie? Nope? Not even a slideshow of pictures accompanied by your favourite song.....? Well I suppose most of us would be too lazy to put our PowerPoint or amateur movie making skills to good use unless it was for a specific purpose. If you fall into the above category, you might want to give the Facebook Timeline Movie Maker a try. This nifty app was created by Marketing Agency Definition 6 and Facebook. The app will scan your entire Facebook life and pull out random photos, videos and stuff posted to your profile to create a short history of your Facebook life. Quick and Easy Just log into your Facebook account and type "Timeline Movie Maker" in the search function. Oh and this app only works if the Timeline feature on your profile has been activated. This page will appear, click the green button. The app will ask permission to access data from your profile. Your movie will be ready in a jiffy. However in order for your movie to be ma...

How many of us still get our daily copy of The Star or the NST from dedicated newspaper vendors? Not many I'm guessing. Well if this particular invention takes off in a big way, in future we could be receiving our daily dose of news from this cute little device that prints news updates on paper the size of a sales receipt. The innovators This cool new product comes from Berg , a London based design consultancy that aims to revolutionise personalised publishing with this mini newspaper that will fit right in with the Twitter age. How it works The Little Printer prints news from news sources, social networks and other subscriptions on a receipt like paper no longer than 10 inches. It uses a roll of thermal receipt paper, so there is no ink to replace. The user gets to select the type of content they want printed via an app on their smartphone. The mini newspaper is then printed/delivered either once or twice a day. It can also........ Be used as a mi...