COLE'S NEWSWIRE, Sept. 25, 2002

Sept. 25, 2002
Vol. 8, No. 31

COLE'S NEWSWIRE is a weekly distribution of information about the sales and installations of publishing technology and the latest news on new products developed by suppliers to the industry.

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CustomWIRE, a continually updated multimedia news service for AP members, has been announced by the New York City-based news cooperative. The service replicates the design, structure and branding of individual member web sites.

The AP-hosted service is a turnkey system for AP member newspapers and broadcasters that want to retain the look-and-feel of their own site, but want AP to handle the selection, presentation and updating of on-line news, sports, business and entertainment. The service is available for member trials.

CustomWIRE will deliver the same content as The WIRE, AP's original Internet news service, currently used by more than 400 members. Content will include top news stories, flash animations, news databases and video segments. The new service uses Java servlet technology to insert multimedia content into member-provided page templates.

Existing WIRE members who want to upgrade to this service may test it at no additional charge until the end of 2002.

The AP CustomWIRE information is on the Web at http://wire.ap.org/APpackages/demo/customwire.html.

ATEX MEDIA COMMAND
PcM Uitgevers NV, the largest daily newspaper publisher in the Netherlands, has signed a contract to install AMC's Sales Command advertising system throughout its eight daily and a large number of weekly titles.

The system will include client software for 280 Sales Command and CRM workstations connected over a wide area network to a single Oracle database running on a Sun V880 server housed in Rotterdam.

PcM will be using AMC's Sales Command software in order to sell and place advertisements for all its titles. Ultimately, ads will be sold through a full-featured web module. In addition, electronic workflow will be implemented with AMC's pagination system.

Atex Media Command was created by last summer's merger of Atex Media Solutions and Media Command; this agreement involved Media Command and preceded the merger.

The new company has U.S. headquarters in Bedford, Mass., and is on the Web at http://www.atexmediacommand.com/.

BASEVIEW PRODUCTS INC.
Reporters and editors at the NORTHWEST HERALD (36k) in Crystal Lake, Ill., are now using Baseview's IQueWeb, a WebObjects application that integrates with Baseview's IQue editorial system. It lets users create stories or edit existing text from any Javascript 4.x-enabled browser.

Headlines can be written and edited, photos can be paired with text, which can be marked-up in bold, italics or notes-style formatting. IQueWeb displays photos complete with thumbnails and large-scale previews.

Baseview, a subsidiary of MediaSpan Group Inc. of Research Triangle, N.C., is on the Web at http://www.baseview.com/.

CREO INC.
The SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS (70k) has purchased two Creo Trendsetter NEWS 100 platesetters; the paper installed one system last summer and will install the second early next year, when the paper opens its new production facility.

Creo is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, with U.S. offices in Bedford, Mass. It is on the Web at http://www.creo.com/.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
Alaska's ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS (70k) is installing a 128-seat NewsSpeed editorial publishing system that replaces an SII system and Quark XPress.

The NewsSpeed editorial system includes an open SQL database for content and workflow management and client applications for text editing, page design, managing incoming wires, pagination and remote reporting.

For text editing, 78 SpeedWriter workstations and 50 PageSpeed workstations will be installed. Other components being installed include WireSpeed, PhotoWireSpeed, PlanSpeed and the eWriter remote story submission software.

The company also said that LISTIN DIARIO (90k), ULTIMA HORA (110k) and EL EXPRESO (160k) of Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, have selected NewsSpeed to replace the Atex J-11 editorial system that published the three papers. DTI's archive system SpeedLibrarian will also be installed, along with PageSpeed Web Publisher.

Both Macintosh and Windows workstations will be used at LISTIN DIARIO. The 103 SpeedWriter workstations to be used by reporters will be installed on Windows-based machines, while the editors and page designers using 55 PageSpeed seats will work on Macs.

Lastly, MARKISCHE ODERZEITUNG (120k) in Germany's Frankfurt-on-Oder has interfaced NewsSpeed with PPI Media's newspaper planning and page assembly system.

The existing PPI PlanPag planning system supplies 145 NewsSpeed clients with production orders, while the NewsSpeed system feeds back page production information to the PlanPag system. The two companies called the interface between their systems "transparent."

PPI Media of Germany has U.S. offices in Aurora, Ill., and is on the Web at http://www.ppimedia-us.com/, while Digital Technology International, based in Springville, Utah, is at http://www.dtint.com/.

ENFOCUS SOFTWARE INC.
The Belgium-based supplier of Portable Document Format (PDF)-related software has released a free digital book, "The Ultimate Guide to PDF/X." The book, conceived by Enfocus and co-edited by industry consultant and writer David Zwang and Enfocus' Vicki Blake, is a comprehensive guidebook explaining the PDF/X standard and certified PDF/X workflows.

The book, which offers the basics of PDF/X, how-to techniques for creating, receiving and checking PDF/X files and information on PDF/X Plus, was in collaboration with industry suppliers of PDF/X systems to serve the print publishing industry with accurate information on issues surrounding the ISO standard.

In addition to primary co-sponsors Enfocus and the International Prepress Association (IPA), the "Guide" is also being sponsored by TIME Inc. and the industry associations Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publication, Digital Magazines Advertising Canadian Specifications, the Australian Graphic Design Association and other industry vendors and organizations.

A printed version of "The Ultimate Guide to PDF/X" is also planned. The free digital version is on IPA's web site at http://www.ipa.org/. Enfocus, which has U.S. offices in San Mateo, Calif., is also hosting the book on its site at http://www.enfocus.com/.

KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE INFORMATION SERVICES
Missouri's ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH (290k) has become a contributing newspaper to the KRT service.

The POST-DISPATCH will provide coverage of major league sports, including the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Rams and the St. Louis Blues, and the Big 12 Conference, specifically the University of Missouri for football and basketball, and some regional schools such as St. Louis University and Southern Illinois University.

In addition, graphics and illustrations from the POST-DISPATCH's art department will supplement stories and add to KRT's coverage of the Midwest.

KRT is a news and features content service partnership between Tribune Co. and Knight Ridder. Based in Chicago, the service is on the Web at http://www.krtdirect.com/.

KODAK POLYCHROME GRAPHICS
KPG and ECRM Imaging Systems have announced an agreement making KPG's United States and Canada Region a primary sales and marketing channel for ECRM's line of DesertCat computer-to-plate (CTP) systems.

ECRM's DesertCat CTP system is an eight-page digital halftone proofer and thermal platesetter and comes in two models: DesertCat 88, a digital halftone proofer and thermal platesetter offering both four-page and eight-page proof and plate output, and the DesertCat 44, a digital halftone proofer and thermal platesetter capable of four-page proof and plate output.

KPG also said that its Approval XP Digital Color Proofing System had recently received re-certification as a Specifications for Web Offset Publications (SWOP) Certified Proofing System.

SWOP certification signifies a reliable prediction of final printed color in the web offset environment.

Headquartered in Tewksbury, Mass., ECRM is on the Web at http://www.ecrm.com/, while KPG, based in Norwalk, Conn., is at http://www.kpgraphics.com/.

NSTEIN TECHNOLOGIES INC.
This Montreal-based provider of software for the e-publishing industry, has announced the launch of News Nserver, which automates the tagging of news information.

Tailored specifically to newspapers, newswires and news e-publishers, the automated Nserver uses the taxonomy of the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC). Using Nstein's proprietary Linguistic DNATM technology, documents can be indexed based on IPTC terms, but additionally the server will tag documents based on concepts, concept clusters and proper names.

Currently News NServer runs in English, French and Spanish. By the end of the year it will be available in Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Czech, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Turkish.

The IPTC, based in the United Kingdom is on the Web at http://www.iptc.org/. Nstein is at http://www.nstein.com/.

PROTEC S.A.
The Portuguese group COFINA has agreed to install Protec's AD-on-LINE advertising system in two of its titles. The system will not only be installed in a variety of remote offices, it will also be deployed at public places in Lisbon such as subway stations and malls. Ads ordered by any means will be integrated into the centralized database.

The company said it will also install CICLON Classifieds at the titles.

Protec, of Madrid, Spain, is on the Web at http://www.protec.es/.

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