Universal Coverage. On July 4, Space.com will venture beyond its cyberspace orbit into the world of print with the launch of Space.com Illustrated. The new
title, a joint venture with Hearst, will appear three times in 2000, covering space exploration and its impact on life on earth. Anne Mollegan Smith, who previously served as
editor-in-chief at McCalls, Redbook and Working Woman (and helped launch Scientific American Explorations) will serve as editor. For now, pitch story ideas
to Toni Di Martino at [email protected].
Open Book. As Microsoft, king of operating systems, fights to stay in
one piece, Linux Web publisher Andover.Net is arming its nation of peon programmers
and techno- geek followers with a new tool in the fight for "open source" democracy.
Open magazine will debut in August as a monthly print complement to Andover.Net's
community-driven sites Slashdot.org and Freshmeat.net. (Open source operating
systems such as Linux are nonproprietary systems for which codes are shared
and continually upgraded by members of the IT community at large.) According
to Open Publisher Michael Lamattina, Andover.Net's Web portal will continue
to cover breaking news, while the print magazine will dig into the details of
open source programming. The print magazine will be available (free) by subscription
from http://www.openmagazine.net.
Lamattina can be reached at 978/635-5300.
Life's Work. This fall, Business 2.0 publisher Imagine Media will boot up a consumer title targeting new economy denizens whose work and personal lives have
become inextricably intertwined. The as-yet-unnamed magazine - touted as "a marriage of business and style" - is slated to kick off Oct. 24. Issues one and two will be bundled
with Business 2.0, after which the magazine will boast nine standalone issues in 2001with a rate base of 125,000. The announcement of the new title comes two months after
Business 2.0 made a similar move in broadcast, partnering with San Francisco's BayTV to introduce "Next Step," a TV program covering the human side of life and business in
the Internet Age (PRN, Feb. 14). Former InStyle senior editor Lisa Gabor will serve as editor-in-chief of the new book. She can be reached at 415/468-4684.
Cycle of Life. Hachette Filipacchi will pull the plug on Mirabella after the June/July issue, due to faltering ad sales. Remaining budget dollars will likely be
used to breathe new life into George magazine, following the death of its founder, JFK Jr., last summer, Media Central reports.
Pitch Black. Last Friday brought the introduction of a new weekend newspaper
targeting Detroit's black community. The Michigan FrontPage hit newsstands as
a 60-pager with an initial run of 35,000. Although the paper targets African-American
adults from 18-54, coverage is especially tailored to the 30-45 set, with "featuresque,
magazine-style" front-page stories tackling politics, education and entrepreneurial
ventures. Cover stories in the inaugural issue included a local woman celebrating
her 107th birthday, and the legal battle over charter schools. Pitch story ideas
for the paper and its Web site (http://www.thefrontpage-news.com)
to senior editor Ken Coleman at 313/967-1940.