The Important Part: Since May 14, you can click on the “More” link at the top of a Google Maps location to see photos (via Panoramio.com) and explanations (via Wikipedia) of points of interest. For example, here is a map of Nashville with the “More” features selected.

The Take Away: Users of Google Earth will recognize the “More” feature as a pathway to the “layer-fication” of Google Maps. It is also a great example of a “nonlinear” approach to presenting information (or, as the engineering-types say, “data points”). I predict that before long, the “More” tab will include a check-box that has the word “News” on it. It will provide a geographical mash-up view of stories indexed by Google News. That’s not much of a long-shot prediction, however, as the news-layer feature was added to Google Earth last week.

Update: A mere 24 hours later, and Google has another announcement - that Google Earth can be viewed via a new browser plug-in. This isn’t going to replace Google Maps, just make Google Earth a little more accessible and capable of being integrated with third-party applications. Unfortunately, I can’t give the plug-in a review since currently, it’s only available for Windows users.

The Important Part: Today, the Washington Post’s Peter Carlson says goodbye to his column, "The Magazine Reader." If you haven’t been keeping up with magazines for the past decade, Carlson’s column today is the equivalent of one of those 30-second introductions at the beginning of an episode of a TV drama series that starts, "Recently, on Lost…"

The Take-Away Quote:

"In the magazine business, as in nature, life is a Darwinian struggle that is frequently nasty, brutish and short. Every year, more than 500 magazines are born and nearly as many die. During the past 12 years, Life died. So did Civilization, My Generation, Spy, George, Talk, Brill’s Content, Punk Planet, Doubletake and Mademoiselle, plus Lingua Franca, a smart, funny magazine about academia, Gadfly, a lively pop culture magazine and recently, the music magazines Harp and No Depression. Replacing the dead on newsstands was a crop of newborns — Maxim, Portfolio, Real Simple, the Week, Blender, the American Conservative, Hallmark, Found, Mental Floss and a fine literary mag called the Believer. Meanwhile, the Oxford American, a magazine of Southern culture, died and was reborn. And Radar, a snarky pop culture mag, died, was reborn, died again and was reborn yet again. As of last night, it was still alive, but stay tuned."

Personal observation: Thanks, Peter. Start blogging.

• Mass Mag Exodus Continues as Brands Follow Men Online | Advertising Age
  Quote - A combination of forces led by the broad economic slump is delivering as challenging a year as ever for traditional publishers.
  (tags: magazines)