Magazine Eyeballs Its Subscribers 301
No_Weak_Heart writes "Talk about 'know your customers' -- the NY Times has an interesting article about Reason Magazine's upcoming June issue. Each of the print magazine's 40,000 subscribers will receive a copy of the mag with their name and a satellite photo of their home on the cover!" Although described as a "cover stunt", the magazine's editor "said that the parlor trick could have profound implications as database and printing capabilities grow."
Wouldn't it be better... (Score:3, Funny)
Whizbang! (Score:5, Funny)
Now all I need is my cardboard mooning man cut out to put in my window. Hoo ha!
Re:YOU FAIL IT (Score:3, Funny)
-fren
slow news day? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is your rights online? I guess it must be a slow newsday. It might be useful for showing John Q. Public exactly how powerful these systems have become but somehow I doubt that will happen. The article even states this:
On the flipside I suppose this justifies my paranoia in continuing to use a P.O. Box for all my mail. And to think I only got the P.O. Box because I was worried about my neighbors stealing my mail. I wonder if my copy would have the Post Office circled?
Re:slow news day? (Score:5, Interesting)
As for showing John Q. Public how powerful these systems are... You should try reading some of the stuff on privacy at Reason's website [reason.com]. Often times, the stuff there is (believe it or not) more insightful than the stuff posted here!!!
I don't think the average Reason subscriber will be all that surprised that their house is on the cover. I'll even bet that a good portion DO have the post office or a PMB or other mail drop circled.
-bs
Re:slow news day? (Score:5, Informative)
Not my address but you can enter 10604 Bristow Road [pwcgov.org] as a good search example of what they offer.
The concept and amount of imformation they have does not really bother me.
I doubt they will stand the
Re:slow news day? (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh my God! A magazine has been able to successfully transform AN ADDRESS into a GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION.
Powerful indeed....
Yes, I know--they also showed they could link my address to a low-res satellite image. Good gravy, they know I live in...a light gray pixel.
It's a nice publicity stunt, but I'm not terribly concerned about my privacy being infringed by a mapping satellite. You could get *much* better pictures of my house from a private plane. Or by parking across the street with a camera. There are many real ways in which my privacy may be trampled by government or business; this just isn't one of them.
Re:slow news day? (Score:2, Troll)
Except it's only happening on the cover of Reason.
It's a libertarian magazine. Nobody of any significance to the American political process would be caught dead reading it. Sorry to be the troller of bad news, but there just isn't enough support between the donkeys and the elephants to make any difference at all.
Re:slow news day? (Score:5, Insightful)
A good point but all that needs to happen is for enough people to take notice. Then the mainstream press will pick up on it. This happens all the time for good or bad. The mainstream press ignores stories until the niche press (for lack of a better word) picks up on it and broadcasts it in everybody's face... then the mainstream is "forced" to follow it.
Fox News will break a story like this and "force" the more mainstream media outlets (CNN, CBS, etc) to carry a story. At least this time it would presumably be doing some good.
Re:slow news day? (Score:3, Funny)
It goes something like "Oh Canada, eh?", right?
Re:slow news day? (Score:4, Insightful)
In my opinion, you're better off learning the words to "Old New Hampshire" [50states.com]. After all, New Hampshire is the One Best shot at a Free State [freestateproject.org]!
Re:slow news day? (Score:5, Informative)
Most subscribers will receive an issue that features four cover pages of intensely personalized information, a demonstration of bleeding-edge technology that may one day allow for mass-customized and hyper-individualized print publications (btw, pace the Times' headline, our monthly print circulation totals about 55,000).
So it's not just the cover...
-bs
Keeping up with the dot-coms (Score:3, Insightful)
Having to compete with web portals that tailor themselves to the personal preferences of readers is likely to drive print publications this way, as will advertisers. What a lot of magazine subscribers don't realize is that there's already some customization going on. For example, DaimlerChrysler might buy a full-page ad in $MAGAZINE, which serves up different ads based on zip(+4) codes:
usually, I am paranoid, this though? no. (Score:3, Insightful)
How does this have far reaching implications? The information is freely and easily accessible. As databases grow? The information is out there now... It's not exactly as if magazines selling your name/address to others is a new/novel idea. It's been going on for ages.
Perhaps if they had your name and your CURRENT, exact, location on file I would be more concerned...
Re:usually, I am paranoid, this though? no. (Score:4, Insightful)
Plus its pretty damn cool they can demand print the magazine covers.
Obviously its a stunt, though... anyone who subscribes to a libertarian magazine probably understands those issues anyway... its a rallying call for them.
Re:usually, I am paranoid, this though? no. (Score:3, Interesting)
How much do you suppose that cost them?
Re:usually, I am paranoid, this though? no. (Score:2, Interesting)
Is "Current Location" down to a couple of meters considered exact enough?
Re:usually, I am paranoid, this though? no. (Score:5, Interesting)
I thought most printing press houses ran high-speed presses with no time to include a specific cover for each individual issue printed. I assume the specific cover will include the mailing address for mailing purposes. If not, associating the right issue with the right mailing label on a print line is even more of a feat. What's next? Totally individualized dead-tree magazines for every subscriber of every rag out there? This could get interesting.
Visual representation (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Visual representation (Score:3, Interesting)
Back in the mid 90s I used to get the MAKE MONEY FAST e-mails all the time with all the addresses to which I was supposed to send a dollar. I would reply to the e-mail with an attached mapquest map to the last address and a note saying that even if only 1 in a million internet users was a complete psycho, they had just given their home address to dozens of complete psychos. Never did get any replies thanking me for pointing out th
Re:Visual representation (Score:2)
Ok... so now instead of having a detached, intellectual knowledge th
Re:Visual representation (Score:3, Interesting)
I agree. As a demo to a new government GIS system I'm working on, I created a web service: enter any street address in New York, and you get spit back a 1 pixel/foot aerial photo of the property embedded with the parcel boundaries. The premise is to settle border disputes between neighbours without going to the planner's office for the plat blueprints. And some people are just shocked that we have the ability to do this...they'
newstand copies? (Score:5, Funny)
GF.
Re:newstand copies? (Score:2)
Re:newstand copies? (Score:4, Funny)
PO Box? (Score:2)
Can you get a magazine to a PO Box? Its not like its sent fedex. Whats it going to have on the cover, a top view of the post office maybe?
Re:newstand copies? (Score:2, Funny)
--
Re:newstand copies? (Score:2, Funny)
Newsie: That's next month's issue, just came in.
Guy: Uh-oh.
It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off... (Score:5, Insightful)
Modern printing technologies make it very easy for a 40,000-subscriber magazine to send out a different cover to each and every subscriber. It's just a matter of doing a 40,000 page run of each of the "customized" sets of pages with the image database available, and then the common pages can be wrapped around after printing them the typical way. Here's the homepage for VIPP [xerox.com], Xerox's technology for doign such "variable data" printing jobs on its industrial class printing products.
Re:It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off... (Score:3, Insightful)
The rest of the magazine cna be printed as normal, and just inserted into each cover sheet.
Re:It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off... (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, it's 'just' a matter of doing that. The magazine I edit has roughly a 40,000 print run, and if I proposed doing a different cover for every single copy, the production director would have a heart attack, the finance director would explode and the printers would be yelling "Ka-ching!"
Hell, it's hard enough trying to wring the money out of them for a split-run cover with just *tw
Re:It's a rather easy magic trick to pull off... (Score:3, Funny)
Of course now that I've looked at the image I have this huge feeling of guilt for all the trees that got knocked down to build my house. Oh well...
OMG (Score:5, Funny)
Re:OMG (Score:2)
A-ha! (Score:3, Funny)
Cusomized (Score:5, Informative)
They already have this. It's called the internet.
Personally, the fact that this is cheap enough to be feasible for a print medium is far more impressive to me than the fact that it is technically possible.
Re:Cusomized (Score:5, Funny)
You must not be using the same internet I'm using!
Streisand wouldn't approve (Score:3, Funny)
When will... (Score:3, Funny)
Hate to burst your bubble (Score:2)
However, yeah I'd want to know to if they're doing a fresh satellite pass, tho I'd probably do that with my arse in the air instead, go ahead and moon them (and ultimately myself)
Re:Hate to burst your bubble (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Hate to burst your bubble (Score:2)
Re:Hate to burst your bubble (Score:2)
-bs
What if... (Score:3, Funny)
Facilitation of voyeurism (Score:5, Funny)
Hopefully some of the subscribers live in neighborhoods with a lot of rooftop pools--and pool parties.
PO Box (Score:4, Funny)
Re:PO Box (Score:3, Insightful)
This will make it all the more impressive when your home's photo is on your cover anyhow.
I doubt it's that hard to cross your PO box with a dozen other databases. Do you use a different box for your Reason account than for other mail? Have you ever given anyone your current geographic address?
Face it, in this modern world it's only a few minutes for a determined adversary from any piece of identifying info to lat/long for the incoming ordinance.
I can see her house from here! (Score:3, Funny)
- Some Architect Dude
The slippery slope (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem with this stunt is that it is a harbinger of things to come. When marketers are able to fully customize each page of a magazine to appeal to a particular consumer, they will acquire a lot of personal information from tens or hundreds of different marketing databases in order to do so.
In essence, the improvements in printing technology that made this possible will contribute to the proliferation of your personal information.
The only way to solve this is to implement EU-style privacy protections at the Federal level. We need to ask ourselves - who's looking out for you? It's obviously not our government.
There is no Right to Privacy (Score:2, Insightful)
I think there should be a "right to privacy", but it just isn't there in the Constitution. Judges who conjure one out of thin air can just as easily make i
Easier than a zip code? (Score:3, Funny)
Printing? (Score:3, Interesting)
They are really quite amazing.
Check them here: HP.com [hp.com]
Re:Printing? (Score:4, Informative)
"Rodger Cosgrove, president of Entremedia, a direct marketing firm and a member of Reason's board, assisted in coming up with a program that allows the subscriber list to be integrated with satellite photographs. He also worked with Xeikon, the manufacturer of the printer that made the endless customization possible."
Do it yourself... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Do it yourself... (Score:3, Interesting)
An equivalent site (mirror?) though still made by MS is is http://terraserver-usa.com/.
I have the picture of your house from space (Score:2)
I hope (Score:2)
Dated photographs reduce the shock effect (Score:5, Funny)
Customized Home & Garden's Magazine (Score:5, Funny)
And they could even analyze your house & land for marketing opportunities. If the satellite veiw is oblique and the paint is peeling, they could forward your name to the local aluminum siding company or house painters.
Time to get a PO box!
1 Better than that! (Score:2)
There just aren't many big name magazines out htere that are independent. As in all mass media these days, a few players hold most of the marbles. It stands to reason that each large company could cherry pick from tehir different lines to make a su
Re:Customized Home & Garden's Magazine (Score:3, Funny)
"Look how nice and neat the Jones' yard is! [shuffles in front of the TV to block your view of the big game] Why doesn't ours look like that?!"
Costs somewhat offset... (Score:4, Funny)
And what if... (Score:2, Funny)
Are their intentions menat to be ironic or not? (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course, this attempt at pandering generally fails in my experience. My being interested in 'Gardening' or 'Outdoor Life' is lightyears away from wanting a subscription to Better Homes and Gardens or Sports Illustrated, personalization or no. This is due to the critical distinction between essence and product.
The phrase "Free Minds, Free Markets" also seems to me to be a contradiction in terms, although "Free Markets" leaves room for interpretation. I guess I'm reading this wrong, because to my mind, the notion of individuality resists the concept of demographic marketing, no matter how "free."
Re:Are their intentions menat to be ironic or not? (Score:2)
The phrase "Free Minds, Free Markets" also seems to me to be a contradiction in terms, although "Free Markets" leaves room for interpretation. I guess I'm reading this wrong, because to my mind, the notion of individuality resists the concept of demographic marketing, no matter how "free."
You must not know what a free market is then. If your interpretation was true, then nobody would be able to sell anything to anyone.
Re:Are their intentions menat to be ironic or not? (Score:2)
(Or at least think they do.)
Re:Are their intentions menat to be ironic or not? (Score:2)
My Mailman (Score:5, Funny)
Re:My Mailman (Score:5, Funny)
As he delivers the magazines, he notices that the red circle is moving with him.
They know where you are, Mailman!! Run! Run!
Indicator choice (Score:3, Funny)
Reason (Score:4, Interesting)
Ironically, for a magazine that runs so many good articles on privacy issues, they whored my address to anyone and everyone. I never got so much crap junkmail as after I started a subscription. And tenacious bulkmailers, sending thick wads every other month or so for years.
While I can understand the reasoning behind the stunt, they might want to take a long hard look in the mirror first before preaching.
Re:Reason (Score:4, Funny)
Perhaps this is their way of illustrating just how bad an idea it is to give anyone your address...Teaching by demonstration, if you will...
Glad I'm not a subscriber... (Score:5, Funny)
My magazine cover would feature the goatse guy.
Targeted ads (Score:2)
"narrowcasting" in print (Score:2, Interesting)
"What if you received a magazine that only had stories and ads that you were interested in and pertained to you?" he asked. "That would be a magazine that everyone would want to read."
wasn't this one of the promises of the web? is "narrowcasting" in print form really economically feasible?
CmdrTaco (Score:2)
For example, this is what I did:
(1) Find on Google. Look at first phonebook result [google.com]. Took 30 seconds.
(2) Find address on terraserver [terraserver-usa.com] Took a minute.
Now before you flame, all this is public information. It takes less than 2 minutes to obtain...so what's the big deal about the magazine's offer other than that they are printing it and mailing to you...
Prior to this, mapquest was providing free aerial views as well...
Oh I can see it now... (Score:3, Funny)
-looks closer- Hey hun is that you? What are doing with the neighbors wife? Why is she naked??
More scary (Score:5, Funny)
John.
This is your Life.... (Score:2, Funny)
This exists already (Score:3, Funny)
It's called Maxim [maximonline.com].
Know what would be really interesting? (Score:3, Interesting)
Quick someone mail a magazine to... (Score:2)
Naw never work. I can't get that jackass Postal puke to stop putting my mail in the next door neighbor's box so how is going to get it to the correct cave.
Even scarier (Score:2, Interesting)
Reason: Free Minds, Free Markets (Score:3, Insightful)
Wouldn't it suck if (Score:4, Funny)
LK
That's NOTHING, This Is WORSE.... (Score:4, Funny)
And that's not just my copy, that's *all of them*. I hear Hugh Hefner was pissed because I dissed him on Fark.
The Lesson? Don't mess with guys who buy ink by the barrel and can photoshop a tattoo of Fabio onto your butt.
Personalized Cover Story to Boot! (Score:3, Funny)
So when I pick this up on the newstand.... (Score:3, Funny)
this is actually the wave of the marketing future. (Score:3, Interesting)
I work for a small firm who develops software that is sold to companies that do specific mail marketing. a lot of people are looking for this.
Just plain cool (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't really see the problem with it. About the only thing that's roughly close to being up to date is the landsat 7 IR maps, and those will give you a headache if you look at em too long.
But for general viewing, I usually go though lostoutdoors.com or teraserver depending on what kind of map format I want. lostoutdoors has a pretty limited interface, but if you get your coordinates narrowed down from teraserver, you can get a nice big detailed map of the area, as well as the topo map. Usually you can get something within the last 5 years from airplane survey photos stitched together.
Was fun looking at old places I'd been and seeing what had changed. Was disapointed that the hardware store in marshalltown iowa had not kept the writing on their roof so I could see it on there. Was primarily something used by the local pilots back in the day. Would have been really cool to read it off of satellite, web server airplane photos, or even landsatt(unlikely on that though as the resolution is iffy).
Until you have cheap lifting vehicles for space, you can forget the enemy of the state nonsense. You'll get some interesting views, but the chance of it being more recent than a year ago if you live in the sticks is nil. It would simply take way way too many birds to get same day data on everyone, not to mention a lot of luck unless you were also in a very arid pollution free area. Being a several thousand feet about sea level helps too.
Also this will be a great personal collectors item to subscribers. But I suspect in time it'll be like the national geographic holographic skull pic. A neat gimick, soon to be copied by everyone and old news really fast.
I think the upside will be that interest will spike for a while, and people will want more up to date and higher rez photos, faster web servers for the data, etc.
For me though, there is no downside, I got most of what I want for the moment, so if all the USGS servers choke for weeks, its no big deal.
Incorrect Mail Leads to Privacy Breakdown? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:That's a great idea (Score:2, Funny)
Either:
a. Slashdot is wilfully defrauding NYT of their free registrations; or
b. Slashdot has been taken over by Google in a deal under which the existing VA Software shareholders each get one GMail account per previously held share.
Re:That's a great idea (Score:2, Interesting)
More likely then not the person who submitted the article submitted it with that URL and the editors didn't notice it.
Not cool because I really don't want the New York Times to take this feature away from us. I suppose it's only a matter of time and we can all blame /. when it happens. At least we'll have a scapegoat ;)
Re:Let down (Score:2)
Joke's on someone. At least it's not me.
Re:article text (NYTimes requires reg) (Score:2)
But seriously, stop posting copyrighted articles to the NY Times on Slashdot. You're begging for Slashdot to get sued.
Re:article text (NYTimes requires reg) (Score:2)
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster.
Slashdot's not going to get sued.