Magazines about computers represent the ultimate platypus in the evolution of media. This month, with the simultaneous digital-onlying of both Maximum PC and MacLife, ‘the computer magazine era has officially ended’, writes legendary Tech Writer, Harry McCracken. We’ll also take a look at Musk vs the BBC, the Universe vs AI, and an imminent, action-packed period of media events ahead… Engage! 🖖
The end of the computer magazine era
On Saturday, Fast Company and Technologizer’s Harry McCracken published an article titled ‘The End of Computer Magazines in America’. In it, he notes that the April issues of both Maximum PC and MacLife are set to be the last in-print incarnations of the publications, before both go digital-only. This, for McCracken, represents a seminal moment in the evolution of magazine media:
‘I’m not writing this article because the dead-tree versions of Maximum PC and MacLife are no more. I’m writing it because they were the last two extant US computer magazines that had managed to cling to life until now. With their abandonment of print, the computer magazine era has officially ended.’
It always seemed a strange evolutionary blip in the development of digital media – a whole spectrum of print magazines dedicated to the very machines that were busy replacing them. But that’s what happened, and it was big business for a period. I myself was still eagerly picking up my monthly copy of Retro Gamer from the newsstand until fairly recently. Although even that, as the title suggests, was largely an exercise in nostalgic charm, as opposed to a necessary jaunt down the information superhighway.
The heady days of print excess have longsince swept through the fields of gold, but now the web itself – or certainly the web as we know it – finds it has its own emerging media tech battle on its hands…
AI streaming
The FT reports that Universal Music Group (UMG) has told streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple, to block artificial intelligence services from scraping elements of their copyrighted songs. ‘We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists,’ UMG wrote to online platforms last month, in emails viewed by the publication.
Universal’s sudden appearance in the artificial intelligence saga is an interesting one, because the company has longsince raged against the dying of the analogue music light. Now it seems, it is taking similar steps to protect its more recently built digital empires against the threat of AI.
This represents an important mainstreaming of the ‘traditional’ (and new) media vs artificial intelligence debate, and one that has arguably occurred relatively early in the advancement of AI, which was itself not really mainstreamed until the advent of ChatGPT towards the end of last year.
Crazy reverberations around the space-time continuum, when print magazines about computers are only JUST dying out, as Universal Music leads the charge in protecting digital content from the eager hands of artificial intelligence.
Musk vs the BBC
And of course, if you like your intergenerational media battles like TikTok likes its videos – comin’ atcha liiiiive and FOR YOU! Then this one’s a must see…
One’s a traditional media outlet that is increasingly seeing its ability to protect free and fair speech called into question… the other’s the BBC. And last Wednesday, the two met in a media crossover akin to an industry-side incarnation of the intertextuality that fuels the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In a nutshell, fresh off the back of a recent feud that saw the BBC take offence to being labelled by Twitter as ‘government-funded media’, BBC North America Technology Reporter, James Clayton, secured a last-minute interview with the Birdman himself. Sure, I’ll do ya an interview, Musk told the BBC, so long as it’s broadcast live on Twitter Spaces.
And from that point… media civil war broke out! Clayton accused Twitter of increasing hate speech, with the introduction of its ‘For You’ timeline under Musk’s tutelage. However, when asked to name an example, the reporter couldn’t cite a single one, choosing instead to explain that, well, I don’t actually use the For You tab myself, Guv.
Like the platypus mac magazine moment mentioned above, the exchange at large represented an interesting dynamic in the media sphere. Both platforms have recently been accused of pandering to misinformation, and being unable to properly separate fact from opinion. What’s the solution to better filtering out misinformation in a Web3 world? Maybe greater artificial intelligence.
And finally…
If all of this digital kayfabe is swirling your head… then it’s time to get back in press… offline! The coming weeks bring with them a busy schedule of media events, particularly in Europe, with convenings such as the PPA Festival, Publisher Podcast Conference & Awards, and FIPP’s latest Insider in Prague, all taking place later this month. You can get all the latest on media tech events around the world for FREE via the inPress Global Media Events Tracker.