If consumer electronics is your thing, you might just have a little extra jump in your step this week. Yes, it’s the time of year where thousands of technology companies, executives, analysts, reporters, fanboys and fangirls descend on sunny Las Vegas, Nevada for the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow, the annual International CES hosted by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

Year after year, the event showcases the latest and greatest in consumer tech innovation, reaching across global markets with the ultimate goal of connecting and shaping the industry moving forward.

In full swing since Tuesday January 8^th, the 2013 edition hasn’t disappointed as many in attendance caught their first glimpse of Ultra HD TV (seems like we were just talking about 3D TV), self-driving cars and super-sized smartphones.

Just as in previous years, NewspaperDirect (ND) will have a strong presence at this year’s event. Attending are Alex Kroogman, ND’s CEO & CTO, Nikolay Malyarov, VP, Publishing & Legal Affairs and Igor Smirnoff, VP, Digital. While Alex, Nikolay and Igor will have the opportunity to soak up some of the amazing sights and sounds on display at CES until the event wraps up this Friday, they’re more importantly meeting with current and prospective publishing partners who also made the trip to Las Vegas.

The trio will also be on-hand supporting several of our device manufacturing partners launching new and exciting hardware. We’re extremely excited that many of these devices will include pre-installations of PressReader offering consumers instant access to thousands of full-content newspapers and magazines in just one app. Mum’s the word on who these partners are at this specific point in time but rest assured, 2013 will be an exciting year for ND and PressReader!

If you’re an existing partner or would like to learn more about what ND’s innovative digital publishing solutions while you’re at CES, please free to contact us at publishing@newspaperdirect.com. Alex, Nikolay and Igor would be very happy to meet up with you!

Cheers,

-Dedy

Wow! For the second year in a row, PressReader has been nominated for Best Newspaper App in the 5th Annual Best App Ever Awards!

Since winning the award in 2011 in the Best Newspaper App iOS category, we have made significant improvements to the PressReader App. A few of the notable improvements are:

• High performance rendering
• Optimization for the new “Retina Display” resolution of the next-generation iPad. Pages, text views and images are rendered at 264 pixels per inch, resulting in amazing clarity, even when zoomed in.
• Instant translation of full publications in up to 12 languages is now possible when a title is opened. Or, a reader can choose to auto-translate all publications into a specific language with the ability to specify language exceptions.
• Clipping App integration enabling any article to be captured and synced across devices. Articles can also be emailed or shared using Twitter or Facebook.
• Pages, text views, and image are rendered at 264 pixels per inch resulting in amazing clarity even when zoomed in
• Brand new page turning algorithm for a smooth and fluid reading experience
• Improved SmartFlow horizontal reading stream

PressReader provides access to thousands of titles from 100+ countries in just one app! If you haven’t tried it yet, download and try it for free and share it with your friends too !

Voting is open until January 31, 2012. All fans are eligible to vote!

Click the button below to vote!

NewspaperDirect (ND) is very excited to announce the addition of AS, Spain’s top national daily sport newspaper to our growing collection of digital newspapers and magazines available through our PressReader app for iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows.

The announcement also marks an important milestone for ND as this latest addition marks our 3,000th publication!

AS joins ND’s vast digital network of top press titles from around the world including newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, The Australian, The Globe and Mail, The Washington Post, Le Monde, The Irish Times, The New Zealand Herald, La Nacíon, Mundo Deportivo, and National Geographic.

“Spanish-speaking sports fans are going to be thrilled to see that AS is now live across all our digital channels,” said Alex Kroogman, CEO of NewspaperDirect. “Reaching sports fans on any tablet or mobile device is especially important for publishers, since these readers tend to be on-the-go consumers of news content. And with PressReader and PressDisplay.com’s instant translation capabilities, sports enthusiasts from other countries can now enjoy AS’s quality reporting in their own language, opening up AS to the world.”

AS takes advantage of the full range of advanced reading enhancements offered by ND’s PressReader application, giving readers useful features such as:

■ Presentation of the entire colour newspaper, page by page, in high resolution
■ Two modes of reading — high-definition replica and “SmartFlow” tablet-optimized presentation
■ Touch-based, interactive reading experience
■ Quick scanning of the edition by flipping pages, just like the print edition
■ Easy navigation to specific pages, using page thumbnails or a table of contents
■ Instant translation in up to 12 languages
■ On-demand narration of articles
■ Printing of articles or individual pages
■ Sharing stories through email and on Facebook and Twitter
■ Instant posting of articles to cloud-based clipping services Evernote and Instapaper

To read more, access the full press release here: NewspaperDirect Publishing Partnerships Surpass 3,000 Titles With Addition of Sports Newspaper AS to ND’s Digital Newspaper and Magazine Network.

We’re very pleased to announce that Malaysia’s largest tabloid, The Star, has officially launched its ePaper solution powered by NewspaperDirect’s SmartEdition Technology. The launch  kicks off an exciting 3 days for NewspaperDirect at this year’s WAN-IFRA Publish Asia Conference in Bali, Indonesia, providing Star readers with instant access to their favorite publication across a wide range of platforms and devices.

Expanding the distribution of Malaysia’s favorite English newspaper to reach readers across a complete range of channels and devices is the surest way to engage with tomorrow’s readers and provide today’s subscribers with a wide range of options, said Alex Kroogman, CEO of NewspaperDirect. “The Star is setting a benchmark to which other publishers should aspire.

The new, digital replica editions deliver 100 percent of the content from the printed publication, including the Main Paper, StarBiz, Star2, and Star Metro. The Star ePaper gives subscribers two new ways to read the paper: online via the Web or downloaded to a PC, smartphone (iPhone and Android), or tablet (iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab). Advanced digital features of the Star ePaper include:

•     Instant switching between Replica/Page View and Article View
•     Engaging, cover-to-cover reading by simply swiping from page to page
•     Share stories on Facebook and Twitter or via e-mail
•     A “Listen” option to hear articles read aloud
•     Convenient zooming of text and enlargement of articles and photos

Smartphones and tablets provide a fantastic growth opportunity for The Star by enabling us to give our readers the content they want, the way they want it, where they want it, said Wong Siah Ping, chief operating officer, digital business. We chose NewspaperDirect as our partner as they have the technology and worldwide distribution channels to reach our existing and new mobile subscribers, wherever they are.

Cheers,

Michael

Last week, David Owen, Senior Vice President of Publishing and Nikolay Malyarov, Director of Digital Media and Business Development from NewspaperDirect did a tour of 5 Asian countries meeting with key publishers and demonstrating PressDisplay.com on the new mobile and eReader devices.

Star TV in Malaysia was so intrigued by what David and Nikolay shared about NewspaperDirect, PressDisplay, PressReader and SmartEdition technology, they invited Nikolay to a TV interview where he could provide more background on the products and show off 1000+ publications on these latest handhelds. Check it out.

The new devices are pretty amazing and the content on them second to none, but after seeing Nikolay on TV, I almost asked him for his autograph when he arrived back to work today

Gayle

The good news never ends! 

At the Frankfurt Book Fair today, NewspaperDirect announced that Library PressDisplay.com is now available in more than 1,000 libraries worldwide. As libraries flock to the Web-based newsstand, millions of library patrons are enjoying instant access to more than 800 full-content newspapers and magazines — from 81 countries and in 38 languages. 

Congratulations to the Library of the University Carlos III in Madrid, Spain!  It became the 1,000th library to adopt Library PressDisplay as its international news source.

“After evaluating alternatives for accessing international press, our Journalism and Library Science departments recommended Library PressDisplay to us,” said Aurora de Mesa, librarian for the Library of the University of Carlos III. “And we’ve discovered that it is not only a great resource for research and teaching, it is the best source for international press for the whole University.”

Library PressDisplay is distributed by NewspaperDirect in co-operation with its global partners (EBSCO, ProQuest and Swets to name a few).  In fact, it was Swets that closed the 1,000 library deal for us. 

“Swets is committed to providing its customers with class-leading services that make the most relevant information available in the most efficient and convenient manner,” said Thomas Snyder, chief commercial officer for Swets. “Press Display ensures that same-day information is readily available for researchers around the world in a highly innovative and sophisticated manner. The response from our customer base has been highly enthusiastic and we look forward to continuing our fruitful and rewarding partnership with NewspaperDirect.”

It was only 7 months ago we announced 600 libraries adopting Library PressDisplay.  The growth we’re seeing is phenomenal – we’ll be at 2,000 before you know it!

Gayle

More exciting news from NewspaperDirect. Today, we announced the addition of a powerful new feature for professional subscribers on PressDisplay.com.  Called, Ad Value Map, it will help renew confidence in newspaper advertising by showing advertisers where and when to place ads in printed media and maximize exposure and ROI.

When advertisers place ads in newspapers today, they are concerned with two things beyond the quality of the ad itself:

    1. How many people will see the ad on the page
       (goal: maximize the audience)
    2. How much time will people spend reading that page
       (goal: maximize exposure of the ad to the audience)

NewspaperDirect measures both of these statistics daily for every issue of our 750 publications on PressDisplay.com, and for the hundreds of privately labelled digital editions it hosts for publishers. It calculates the number of people who looked at a page in a newspaper and combines this number with the aggregated amount of time spent on that page by all readers. Detailed data is collected and presented for every issue of every newspaper, which enables advertisers to make informed decisions on a daily basis.

For more information, read all “About Ad Value Map“ or contact us at digital@newspaperdirect.com.

Gayle

What a good way to end one week and start another!  On Friday, Sun Media announced that it is launching online e-editions of 32 newspapers today with NewspaperDirect today!  That’s right, 32 Sun Media publications are now available as individual electronic editions like the Toronto Sun shown here.

Sun Media Corporation, a member of the Quebecor family of companies, is Canada’s largest newspaper publisher.  With 43 paid-circulation and free dailies in Canada’s key urban markets and more than 200 community newspapers, shopping guides and other speciality publications, Sun Media’s English- and French-language papers are leaders in providing local news and information to an estimated 6.5 million readers every week.

“Readers can stay connected with their local Sun Media newspaper no matter where they are,” said Steve Angelevski, Corporate Vice-President, Reader Sales and Service at Sun Media. “For advertisers, the interactive e-edition allows readers to connect with them through website links, e-mail addresses and phone numbers, as they browse the e-edition.”

For a free 14-day trial, connect to the e-edition you want via the newspaper’s website and register. And for those of you who are on PressDisplay.com, a number of Sun Media’s e-editions are there as well for you to enjoy.

Gayle

Hello/Bonjour everyone:

More good news from one of NewspaperDirect’s 750+ publishers!  Transcontinental Media, one of Canada’s leading publishers of community newspapers, announced today that it is working with NewspaperDirect to migrate its newspapers to SmartEditions as part of its ongoing online strategy and the company’s commitment to implement technology that makes life easier for its customers.

La Nouvelle Union

Twelve Transcontinental publications have been released as full-featured digital editions, including The Journal-Pioneer, The Western Star, The Guardian, La Nouvelle Union and The Telegram, with plans to roll out the remaining titles over the next few months.

According to Senior Vice President of Transcontinental’s Newspaper Group, Marc-Noël Ouellette, “We researched a number of the available digital edition solutions in the market and NewspaperDirect’s technology demonstrated that it was most leading edge and fitting for our needs.  As part of Transcontinental’s online strategy, partnering with this niche company was very in line with our growth objectives.”

We’ve been hearing from our Canadian readers for a while now that they want more local, community and French-language publications on PressDisplay.com, so this is really great news.  With over 170 papers across Canada, including a dozen dailies and about 90 weeklies, Transcontinental reaches, on average, two million readers a week, making it a leading source of information and news in both English and French-speaking communities. 

12 down — only 258 more to go! 

Gayle

Have you checked out PressDisplay.com recently?  You should. Here’s why – it’s ‘gone social’…

PressDisplay Goes Social

Today, NewspaperDirect, launched a slew of community features on PressDisplay.com (the world’s largest online newspaper kiosk) and dozens of its SmartEdition e-papers. These features instantly turn any print edition into a virtual watercooler where readers can add their comments to any article, vote on stories, and interact with each other.

This means any newspaper publisher, even a local or regional newspaper, can roll out a modern online edition, complete with advanced reader interaction features, almost overnight. By doing so, a newspaper can transform itself into a vibrant online destination where readers can share their opinions, learn from others, spend more time — and come back for more. This boosts reader retention and ultimately represents a better proposition for advertisers.

Is it working?   You bet it is!  Readers have quickly caught on to the new reader interaction and community features: from Day 1, when reader comments were quietly enabled in a trial run of 11 papers, hundreds of readers posted their comments to newspaper articles in the first 24 hours. And these were thoughtful, analytical comments that showed readers immediately saw the value of being a part of the online conversation about news that matters to them.

So far, about 5,000 reader comments have been added. Looks like publisher skittishness about user-generated content might be unfounded, as the rules of the game already established on millions of blogs are at play here, too.

If you’d like to see how this works and see what happens when hundreds of quality newspapers are aggregated in a socially enabled setting, then why not give it a try?  New users can try PressDisplay.com for one month for free by registering with the offer code: social.

So what’s stopping you?  Give PressDisplay.com a try and then let me know what you think.

Gayle