Summary: MagCloud is an HP Labs research project evaluating new web services that will provide small independent magazine publishers, online content owners, and small businesses the ability to custom publish digitized magazines and economically print and fulfill on demand.

Story: Derek Powazek, one the founders of the innovative JPG Magazine, that got its start by first marketing the magazine as a short-run, print-on-demand publication, announced today he’s been working with HP Labs for the past year on today’s launch of a Print-on-Demand (POD) service called MagCloud.

The service will allow a publisher — or anyone who wants to publish a magazine — to upload a high-resolution PDF and then, sit back, and let the money roll in. According to the site, “We’ll take care of the rest: printing, mailing, subscription management and more.” (Note: I’m not sure what the “more” will entail.) The website offers a “store” — a digital newsstand, where readers can browse and, using PayPal, order publications.

According to the site, it will cost nothing to “create the magazine” (don’t tell writers, designers, etc. that) and the publisher will set up a “markup” to earn a profit above production cost. No word yet on what the “production cost” will be.

MagCloud uses HP Indigo technology to custom-print each issue when it’s ordered. According to MagCloud, “Printing on demand means no big print runs, which means no pre-publishing expense. Magazines are full color on 80lb paper with saddle-stitched covers.”

During the beta, publisher accounts are by invitation only.

My Observation: Is there a market for this? Absolutely. If the price-point is low enough, short run magazines can help create one amazing long-tail of magazine publishing.

Several services offer “digital magazine” production and hosting products, which convert print magazines into a digital form. MagCloud is taking things in the opposite direction. In other words, “content” that originates in a digital form — say blogs, for instance — can have the opportunity to see life on paper — perhaps even on a coffee table. While several services offer book POD products, including the Amazon-owned (and currently controversial) BookSurge, this is the first serious major-corporate step into the magazine print-on-demand market (with full-service “backend” services) that I’ve seen.

Even More Background: Longtime readers of this blog know I was an early fan of JPG Magazine and have written about its demonstration of the potential of print-on-demand magazines often. Later, the magazine’s founders broadened their focus with a venture called 8020 Publishing.

Last year, when I read about the split-up of the company’s founders, I lamented that happening, but I included in my post:

“I do know this: they are pioneers. Their work will lead to many great things. Whether or not it is with that specific company and that specific magazine, I have no idea. But I can say this with some degree of certainty: They all have a great deal of opportunity ahead of them. The quicker they move through the current crap, the better off they’ll all be.

Today, I’m thinking that’s one of my better calls.

(Thanks: Hugh Roper)

Yesterday, I pointed to the Nick Carr article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”* I think by “stupid,” he meant we can no longer read past a sentence or two anywhere without feeling the need to click away (on that we agree, so I haven’t read his entire article). Today, however, I’m reading that a Pew report indicates that the Internet is causing adults to get involved more in political conversation and to contribute to the politicians of their choice. So, in that way, perhaps the Internet is making us smarter. Of course, this is similar to a post I made earlier this month in which I pointed to a story about studies suggesting blogging is healthy for some people, while other studies suggest it’s harmful in certain ways.

Conclusion: The Internet is like red wine. Despite all the studies proving it’s good for you, drinking too much of it constantly can make you stupid and addicted.

*A recurring rant: Whenever an editor puts a “?” at the end of a headline, I wonder why I’m reading the article. Are they asking the reader for the answer? Are they hedging their bets? Hey, you sold me the magazine — you’re the writer. You tell me, don’t ask me.

[Photo credit: robsmith-qld via Flickr.]

The question: Can you link to an AP story and include a brief excerpt?

Why it’s news: Late last week, a portion of the blogosphere blew-up when the AP sent a takedown notice to the website Drudge ReTort (a Drudge Report parody site) asking it to remove some links to AP stories that included quotations from 39-79 words. After the near-universal lambast, the NYTimes reports today that the AP has backed down. The paper says AP hopes to come up with something that will accomodate bloggers (it is meeting with the Media Bloggers Association — I’m a member), but Jim Kennedy, vp and strategy director of the AP, told the NYT, “As content creators, we firmly believe that everything we create, from video footabe all the way down to a structured headline, is creative content that has value.”

The answer*: Yes you can link to an AP story. You CAN’T reproduce a story, but you can summarize it. Furthermore, linking to an AP story provides value too AP and the AP member’s site to which you are linking. I’m not a lawyer, but I know enough about this issue to question whether or not a “link” and brief excerpt from a story — especially one that you are, in essence, “enabling,” “reviewing,” or even “recommending” a visit to the article — is fair-use. More importantly, to win a lawsuirt, the AP would have to show your link harmed them or their members. Sending traffic to or providing an SEO-boosting link to their websites is a benefit to AP, not a harm.

What will happen? Jeff Jarvis is calling on bloggers to stop linking to AP. Michael Arrington agrees. It will be hard for me to avoid linking to some of their stories on some of the sites my company helps to manage, but we’ll give it a shot. In the future, perhaps media company lawyers will take time to consider the unintended consequences of rapid-fire take-down notices.

*I am not a lawyer. This is my opinion. Before you follow any advice you pick up on the blogosphere, check with you own lawyer.

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