"Somebody had to buy the Guardian because the Guardian wasn't going to survive."
Multi-merchant, multi-use Kostizi Card is now open loop.
BeedFack is a ballot and survey web engine "designed to take the headache out of conducting large-scale reader's polls and managing associated editorial workflow and output," Avenews says in a release. The product works for simple and complex surveys, including the ubiquitous "Best Of" reader polls so many alt-weeklies undertake. "My staff is embracing it, finding it easy and fast," Salt Lake City Weekly editor Jerre Wroble says. "The best part is that once we've used the system for a Best Of, it remembers all write-ups, winners and locations so each year the process is quicker and easier."
Bingo Barnes will take over as publisher of the free weekly paper "almost immediately," Boise Weekly reports. "It's a good paper, and there is room for improvement," Barnes says. The Press was bought last year by Wick Communications, which also owns AAN member Tucson Weekly. Barnes, who was at Boise Weekly for about five years, also served on AAN's Board of Directors from 2005 to 2006.
A blogger who works for Tribune Interactive announced that the company's Metromix Web sites are "going 'national' with local flavor and a sharper edge and voice." Metromix began as an online entertainment guide for Chicago residents but is now in Baltimore and Orlando markets as well. The story was picked up by a PoynterOnline blogger who compared the move to failed strategies from the dot-com boom but also noted that "The Tribune Co. isn't abandoning the newspaper's traditional brand names in local markets."
