Instapaper developer launches 'The Magazine' as test
updated 12:09 am EDT, Fri October 12, 2012
Bi-weekly e-mag will focus on Internet, technology
Instapaper developer Marco Arment has launched a digital publication called, simply, The Magazine. It will run as a bi-weekly periodical-as-app for iOS devices and feature around four essays from notable writers (such as MacWorld editor Jason Snell in the debut issue) in a format that is easily resized for different devices, some of it taken from blogs and some exclusive content. Arment plans to run the publication as an "experiment" for two months to see if it will be profitable (at $2 per issue), continuing if it is successful.
From the introductory document that makes up both the front page of the publication's website and the beginning of the magazine itself, Arment positions the magazine as a thought-provoking set of bigger-picture analysis and editorial on the changing technology landscape rather than "news" or reviews of new devices or software. Articles are free to veer off into other obsessions that are likely to be related to technology, such as music and photography or lifestyle pieces. All would be aimed at the type of person whose primary interest is in technology generally, or as Arment puts it "geeks like us."
He eschews traditional magazine layout both in the sense that digital publications are different, but also in the sense of "magazine like" design principles. All articles appear in the same format, using HTML and clean-but-adjustable fonts and few images. The app is available free from the App Store.
