Naomi Reiter

Google Promises no Changes to Picnik—Yet

I'm a big fan of open-source image editing service Picnik. I like it so much, I even shelled out around $25 to become a premium user this year. Not only is it the only well-oiled cloud-based image editor I've found, its freemium model is generous—all essential editing features are included in the basic service. Photoshop may still be king, but for small netbooks like mine, three-year-old Picnik is the way to go.

When I received an ominous email from Picnik (ominous not in design—Picnik is notoriously upbeat—but for the fact that no news is good news) March 4, I naturally became apprehensive. Was the service discontinued? Did they decide that their fair premium price was a little too fair?

It turns out the big news is that Picnik was purchased by Google (the deal was announced March 1). The service will remain the same, for now, and Picnik users will not be required to set up a Gmail account—yet. (But, really, who doesn't have one of those?)

Let's just hope that, as Google slowly but surely takes over every facet of our lives, it remains a kind and generous leader.

B&N Nook: What Goes Around Comes Around?

I've been reading up on e-readers lately and it appears that one of the most interesting features of Barnes & Noble's Nook is its "LendMe" technology, as described on the company website:

Share favorite eBooks with your friends or family. Most eBooks can be lent for up to 14 days at a time. Just choose the eBook you want to share and send it to your friend's nook – or to any PC or Mac OS® or any iPhone™ or iPod touch® with the free Barnes & Noble eReader software downloaded on it. *BlackBerry® & other smartphones will be coming in early 2010.

The tagline for LendMe is "What goes around comes around." So, if I buy a B&N Nook ($259, back-ordered until February 2010), and pay around $10 to read a copy of The Time Traveler's Wife, then "lend" my copy to my friend who bought a Nook ($259), B&N makes $528—instead of $538, had my friend bought her own copy of The Time Traveler's Wife to read on her Nook. (However, B&N probably only has to pay one licensing fee for the copy of The Time Traveler's Wife that I bought, rather than two fees had each of us bought a copy.) 

Further, B&N has tapped into a tried-and-true psychological phenomenon that has worked for everyone from the airport beggars of the 70s to the neo-hippy kids of the 90s: Give a person something—no matter how small—and that person will feel compelled to pay you back in some way. For example, my friend and I are in B&N and see that if we both buy a Nook, we can share books, so one of us gets free books, or we both get them for half the price if we work together. We each buy a Nook and B&N has already made $518 off of the two of us, and will continue to make money off of us, either incrementally as we purchase one book to share, or in upgrades as we become accustomed to using our devices and will need the latest models.

Of course, if I share the content to my friend's PC, Mac, iPhone or iPhone Touch, my friend will have had to register with B&N and download its e-reader software, with the added bonus that any content I share will act as a personalized advertisement for B&N's Nook. Apparently, what goes around does come around—right back to B&N.

Shiny New Ad Models

I posted this poll nearly a year ago when the sky was falling. In the end, the majority of respondents (46 percent) thought that magazine ad revenue would have bounced back by now. Maybe it has--People Stylewatch gained more than 87 ad pages in December (year-over-year), according to min editor-in-chief Steve Cohn. 

Twenty-three percent of my poll respondents thought that print and online magazine ad sales would come around in 2010, but I see exciting new platforms, apps, blogs and other hybrid new media innovations that will at once make our lives ever more interesting, and kill off legacy media ad sales for good. 

When I first posted this poll, my vote was for 2010, but that's right around the corner and I can't wait to see the new ad models that will emerge with each shiny new toy.

Future of Networking: Toss Your Business Cards

The Poken device is my latest obsession. After hearing about Poken at a recent media conference, I researched the device for this story and immediately knew I had to have one. And so did my P.I.C. 

The time saved in the networking process will be priceless—once New Yorkers catch on and Poken use becomes as wide-spread on the East Coast as it is in Japan and Europe (or so I hear).

Guess what I'll be giving out this holiday season, friends and colleagues!

'Golden Age of Publishing' Means Users Do Work

It's been a while since anything's been posted here because I've been doing a lot of writing for eMedia Vitals, which has involved participation in this year's tentative media conference season. From what I've seen, folks seem to be getting serious about their brands' digital components and the exciting possibilities emerging as more and more in what's been called the Golden Age of Publishing, the future is now. 

One of the themes buzzing around these events like a tenacious bumble bee in the Carnegie House garden is user-generated content (UGC). Collecting and curating it, finding trusted sources and generating engagement are the topics of conversation as publishers dream of the time quality UGC could buy them.

I reached out to iStockphoto—the entire inventory is user-submitted—to chat about how the iStock community came to be. Check it out here.

First LEED Gold Certified Winery on Best Coast

Skyscrapers, sports facilities, and now wineries--there is no end to the hipness of LEED certification. HALL's St. Helena Winery in Napa has gone green in a big way by being named a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification recipient for outstanding chutzpah in the environmental department. 

Village Eatery Spots Targeted Brooklyn Cafe a Liberty Statue

Apparently, there's trouble in my old Brooklyn 'hood. Somewhere in Kensington, someone has done unspeakable things to a Lady Liberty statue belonging to cafe and neighborhood soapbox Vox Pop.

Intriguingly traumatized by the situation, den mother Debi Ryan announced yesterday that notable Manhattan restaurant One If By Land, Two If By Sea extended a secondhand Liberty from its 17 Barrow Street location and Vox Pop accepted.

eMedia Vitals Offers Effective Solutions to Publishing Woes

Vital Business Media CEO Prescott Shibles wowed publishing execs at the American Business Media Annual Conference in May (his session was voted most valuable by attendees) and left them clamoring for more information about how to implement and monetize digital platforms. Thankfully, Vital's eMedia Vitals is swooping in to save the day with a superhero-sized version of the session in the form of an innovative B2B virtual workshop.

Sharing the Wealth

Most recently VP of Penton Media, Shibles has served as VP of New Media for Prism Business Media, Primedia Business, and Intertec Publishing. The e-marketing superstar decided to share the wealth of his knowledge last year with more than just Penton—much to Penton's chagrin, we're sure—and launch Vital. After all, the publishing world needs to get on the same page sooner rather than later if we're going to survive this digital revolution. The eMedia Vitals B2B Digital Revenue Workshop is the first step in Shibles' master plan to bring us all up to speed.

Hooray for Hudson City!

We all know that bad kids get all the attention, and good, reliable kids are often overlooked. The same seems to be true for financial institutions these days. While President Obama has put the kibosh on feckless big bank habits, not much attention is being paid to main street banks that have been conservative and responsible with their customers' money.

I recently wrote about my decision to drop the big bank with which I was doing business and give a little guy a chance. I was pleased at that time with a form letter I received from Hudson City Savings Bank the day after opening my account welcoming me as a customer and saying all the things I wanted to hear--essentially, that I could trust them.

A few days ago I received this from the good kid, and I'm sharing it to give props where props are due.

Civilization of Beer President Named New York's First Beer Sommelier

Not just for frat boys and football, beer is coming into its own and being recognized as part of the fine culinary landscape by an increasingly savvy America. A steward in bridging the gap between wine studies and beer studies in the professional culinary community and returning beer to its proper place at the American table, The Civilization of Beer president Samuel Merritt will be named New York's first certified Cicerone™ beer sommelier tomorrow during a brief ceremony and open house for area beer importers, brewers, distributors and retailers.

The brainchild of former Brewers Association board member Ray Daniels—author of The Brewers Association's Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery and Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles—the program is the first of its kind to be based on objective, independent skills assessment, including tasting skill, knowledge of proper service and storage, and demonstrated expertise in beer culture—including its historic and cultural aspects.

Merritt's nationwide beer tasting events are legend in the craft beer community, and as a “Cicerone,” Merritt is designated a beer expert certified to guide consumers in high-quality experiences with craft beer.

“An educated beer seller is a better beer seller,” he says, which is a mantra of The Civilization of Beer. The company has been featured on The Martha Stewart Show and Martha Stewart Living Radio on Sirius XM, helped Chef Daniel Boulud launch his new East Village craft beer-focused DBGB Kitchen & Bar, as well as regularly contributing to CHOW.com's CHOW Tips video program.

Follow Civ of Beer on Twitter: @CivofBeer and ping Mr. Merritt at samuel@civilizationofbeer.com.