links for 2010-07-28

"It's the off-hand way that a creator from another branch of the publishing business dismisses the future of our industry that stands out to me - they think that newspapers are now so unimportant that the character doesn't carry the same weight as an editor as he once did..." *shudders*

"Time Inc. likes to show off its iPad apps as a symbol of the company’s future. But inside the publisher, the digital editions have become a source of hair-pulling frustration. That’s because the magazine giant has been unable to get Apple to let it sell and manage subscriptions for its iPad apps — much to Time Inc.’s surprise."

Fascinating post from Kristine that weaves together a lot of current strands about privacy, social media, journalists vs bloggers to suggest that we are currently in transition phase before we reach "a world where most everyone who is someone has said and done plenty of stupid things online, revealing their most awkward traits or most foolish decisions" and "it will be those who have no online history to speak of who will come across as suspicious."

In depth blogpost from John O'Donovan about the behind the scenes changes to the BBC News content production system, including screenshots.

"On the one hand, I love Google Trends. It’s fun seeing what the top terms are that are sparking interest. It’s also smart publishers that tap into this type of data. On the other hand, it’s clear how much garbage that Google has caused to be generated, simply by publishing the trends. But that garbage wouldn’t happen, if it didn’t know it was going to be rewarded. It is, both with traffic from Google and from revenue from Google for those carrying its ads."

"Not enough attention has been paid to a remarkable U-turn, and a piece of buck-passing, by the government over its broken pledge to give defendants in rape cases anonymity.....He [Justice minister Crispin Blunt] even suggested that the PCC guidance to editors in 2004 recommending that papers do not identify people before they are charged with rape should be strengthened. That took me by surprise because I couldn't recall the PCC ever issuing such guidance on rape. So I checked and discovered that no guidance exists, and nothing so specific has ever been issued."

Should be compulsory reading for any men or women in technology.