2012 TASTE AWARDS Winners Announced in Hollywood

Food, Fashion, TV, Radio and Web celebrities gathered on Thursday, January 12th at the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood to celebrate the 3rd Annual TASTE AWARDS.

The event featured an exciting lineup of celebrity presenters including the Food Network's Carrie McCully, Tanya Holland, Manouschka Guerrier, and Candice Kumai, Bravo TV's Fabio Viviani, Nyesha Arrington, and Danielle Keene, Public Television's Joanne Weir and Nathan Lyon, ION TV's Michelle Harris, food broadcast gurus Bobby Bognar, Zuzy Martin Lynch, and Susan Irby, plus food and drink humorists Zane Lamprey and Jolene Sugarbaker.


Special Achievement Honoree Awards presented during the evening went to Kung Fu Panda 2 (The Seiji Horibuchi Award for Outstanding Animation) and Debi Mazar (Outstanding Passion). Mad Fashion (Bravo), Kaitlyn's Beauty Journal (KTSF), and Nail Files (TV Guide) were given the Breakout Fashionistas of the Year Award, and Cuisine Culture (Public Television), Ludo Bites America (Sundance Channel), and Restaurant Impossible (Food Network) were given the Kikkoman Award for Breakout Foodies of the Year.

Among the evening's Award Winners were television programs such as the Travel Channel's "No Reservations" for Best Food Program and for Best Food Travel Series, Zane Lamprey's HDNet series "Drinking Made Easy" for Best Drink or Beverage Program, Cooking Channel's "Originals with Emeril" for Best New Series and "Extra Virgin" for Best Home Chef in a Series, Lifetime's "Project Runway" for Best Fashion or Design Program, Bravo's "Top Chef: Just Desserts" for Best Single Topic Series and "Top Chef" for the Kikkoman Award for Best Reality Series - Food or Drink, the Food Network's "Aarti Party" for Best Green or Organic Program, and ABC's "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" for Best Chef in a Series.

Public Television series "Check Please, Bay Area" picked up Best City or Regional Program, and "Mexico - One Plate at a Time" received the award for Best Ethnic Program.

Web winners included "My Drunk Kitchen" for Best Comedy Series, "Without Borders" for Best Food Travel Program, "Style.com" for Best Fashion or Design Programs on the Web, "Average Betty" for the Best Critic or Review Series (on TV or Web), "Raising the Bar with Jamie Boudreau" for Best Drink or Beverage Program, and "Food Wishes", which was presented by Austin Lau of YouTube and which won the award for Best Food Program on the Web, along with a foodie trip to Estonia. "Bon Appetit" magazine won for Best Newspaper or Magazine Program.

In the film category, "Magnum Ice Cream Original Short Film Series by Karl Lagerfeld" picked up the award for Best Film or Documentary, and in the new Radio category, "Good Food on KCRW" got the win, along with "Come Dine With Me" (BBC America) for Best International Program.

A full list of Award Winners, Honorees, and Nominees, plus event photos and coverage, can be seen on the site, www.TheTasteAwards.com.

The TASTE AWARDS celebrate the year's best in Food, Fashion, and Home lifestyle programs on Television, in Film, Online, and on Radio.


See:
The TASTE Awards
The New Media Tastemakers Summit

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ION's Michelle Harris joins as a TASTE AWARDS Presenter

ION Life television host Michelle Harris joins the TASTE AWARDS as a presenter.

Television personality and actress Michelle Harris is the host and co-creator of the television program "Alive & Well with Michelle Harris," which airs on the Ion Life network.

Michelle helps viewers to reach their goals and look and feel their best. Her knowledge on living well helps to educate audiences in an entertaining way and create positive change.

She has been featured on shows such as Hollywood Green with Maria Menounos, Showbiz Tonight, and CNN. Michelle has also been seen in magazines such as In Touch, Women's World, Natural Beauty and Health, Celeb Life, and People Pets.


See:
The TASTE Awards
The New Media Tastemakers Summit

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Viewers Choice Voting Begins

3rd Annual TASTE AWARDS Viewers Choice Voting for radio, film, and selected web categories is now open and continues through December 8th.

Viewer's Choice Nominees are: Average Betty, Beer Sessions Radio, Beneath the Surface: Gulf Seafood's Fight for Survival, Bikini Lifestyles, Bitchin' Kitchen, Chiara Marandellas - FashionPaparazzis.com, Come Dine With Me - BBC America (UK), Daily Front Row Chic Report, Deconstructing Dinner, Dining Around with Gene Burns, Dressed, Drinking Made Easy, Drinks with Alie & Georgia, Eat Yourself Sexy Australia, EatDrink on Sirius XM, Euromaxx (Germany), Extra Virgin, Fashion Network, Fashion TV , Fashion's Night Out (CBS), Food Wishes, FoodCrafters, Fridays with Fabio!, GastroLab, Globe Cooker (France), God Save My Shoes, Good Food, Hungry Girl, ILoveFlavor, iWineRadio.com, Jolene Sugarbaker the Trailer Park Queen, Kitchen Boss, Maangchi (Korea), Magnum Ice Cream Original Short Film Series by Karl Lagerfeld, My Drunk Kitchen, My Life as a Foodie, Quickies In My Kitchen (Australia), Slow Living Radio, Style.com , The Fire House Chef, The Food Maven Arthur Schwartz, The Handy Goddess Show, The Tasting Room with Tom Leykis, The Trip, Toast, Tokyo Fashion Express (Japan), Vogue TV , What would Brian Boitano Make?, Without Borders, and WTF (What's This Food).
To vote for Viewers Choice categories go here

3rd Annual TASTE AWARDS Juried nominees are: A Taste of New York, Aarti Party, Al sabor del chef, America's Next Top Model, Andrea Wine, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, Average Betty, B.Y.O.B. TV, Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten, Food Network), Beneath the Surface: Gulf Seafood's Fight for Survival, Bitchin Kitchen, Bizarre Foods (Travel Channel), Bon Appetit, Cake Boss (Buddy Valastro, TLC), Carson Nation, Check Please, Bay Area, Check Please, Chicago, Chef Tips with Jason Hill, Chefs A'Field, Cook's Country, Cooking.com, Cuisinart, Cupcake Wars (Food Network), Delicioso, dineLA, Divine Design, Drinking Made Easy with Zane Lamprey (HDNet), Drinks with Alie & Georgia, Easy Chinese San Francisco, Eat Street, En La Cocina Para Mi Amor, Extra Virgin, Fashion Police, Food and Wine Magazine, Food Wishes, Foodcrafters (Cooking Channel), Foodies: California, GastroLab, Good Eats (Food Network), Grape Notes, Hell's Kitchen, HGTV Design Star, HGTV Green Home 2011, Home Made Simple, Home Takeover, How Do I Look?, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, Jolene Sugarbaker The Trailer Park Queen, Kaitlyn's Beauty Journal, Kitchen Nightmares, Kraft Cooking School, LA Times, Lanvin Fall 2011 Campaign Movie, Ludo Bites America, Magnum Ice Cream Original Short Film Series by Karl Lagerfeld, Man v. Food, Mexico - One Plate at a Time, Mutineer Magazine's Cognac Conversations, Naked Wine Show, New York Magazine Food, No Reservations, Nylon Magazine TV, Off the Beaten Palate, Off The Beaten Path, Originals with Emeril, Passport Hawaii, PlumTV, Project Runway, Raising the Bar with Jamie Boudreau, Reservations Required, Restaurant Impossible, RV Cooking Show, SAY YES TO THE DRESS: ATLANTA, Simply Ming, Spice Goddess, The Cooking Odyssey, The Fire House Chef, The Great Food Truck Race, The Next Food Network Star, The Rachel Zoe Project, The Science & Art of Cheese, The Winemakers, Thirsty Girl TV, Throwdown With Bobby Flay, Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back, Top Chef, Top Chef: Just Desserts, What Not To Wear, Wine & Dine with Mastro, Wine Spectactor Magazine, Without Borders, and WTF (What's This Food).
The categories for all nominations can be seen here



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Estonia Foodie Trip for Winner of Best Food Travel Program - Web

Breaking News: For the TASTE Awards Winner of the "Best Food Travel Program on the Web" category, The Estonian Consulate is sponsoring a Foodie Travel Trip to Estonia.

The package includes:

1. Two roundtrip tickets from LAX to TLL
2. Hotel accommodations for 5 nights in Tallinn
3. Dinner at a renowned Estonian restaurant in Tallinn

More information soon. Visit Estonia

See:
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The New Media Tastemakers Summit

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The TASTY Awards are now the TASTE AWARDS

The Awards Committee has announced that the TASTY Awards are now called The TASTE AWARDS.

The 3rd Annual TASTE AWARDS celebrate the year's best in food, fashion, and home lifestyle programs on Television, in Film, Online, and on Radio.

NOMINATIONS are being accepted through August 25th for the 3rd Annual TASTE AWARDS (aka the Tasty Awards). To submit a nomination for any category, go to www.TastyAwards.com or www.TheTasteAwards.com.

Nominations for 3rd Annual TASTY Awards Open July 17, 2011

Nominations for the 3rd Annual TASTY Awards Open July 17, 2011

Nominations can be made at www.TastyAwards.com

Two new media award categories will be announced this year!

Winners for the TASTY Awards will be announced in January 2012.

See:
The TASTY Awards
The New Media Tastemakers Summit

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Nominees Announced for 2nd Annual TASTY Awards

SAN FRANCISCO and LOS ANGELES, Calif., Nov. 9 --The 2nd Annual TASTY AWARDS, the premier awards show celebrating the year’s best in Food, Fashion, and Home Lifestyle programs on Television, in Film, and Online, is pleased to announce the Nominees for the upcoming awards show in Hollywood.

Jamie Oliver, Tyler Florence, Average Betty, Anthony Bourdain, Top Chef, Project Runway, Style.com and Guy Fieri lead the awards finalists with several nominations each. Hosted by food and travel television star Zane Lamprey of Travel Channel and HD Net fame, the two-hour red carpet event takes place at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on January 13th, as well as filmed for later broadcast.

The show features a star-studded lineup of food and fashion TV celebrities, including Tanya Holland (Cooking Channel, Food Nework), Leslie Sbrocco (PBS), Nathan Lyon (Fit TV, Discovery Health, PBS, Food Network), and Bobby Bognar (History Channel), along with newcomers such as Candice Kumai (Lifetime, Bravo's Top Chef), Brian Boitano (Food Network), Daniel Green (ShopNBC), Luciene Salomone (WE tv), Amy Paffrath (E! Entertainment Television), Jeannie Mai (Style Network), Kevin Roberts (TLC), Peter Ishkhans (Style Network), Aida Mollenkamp (Food Nework, Cooking Channel), and more.

Special Achievement Awards have been announced for Niecy Nash, Gordon Ramsay, Mario Batali, Joan Rivers, Tyra Banks, Ryan Seacrest, Cat Cora, Heidi Klum, Martha Stewart, and Gail Simmons, among others.

The viewer appetite and response to food and style programs has surged over the last decade, making them some of the highest watched and sponsored video content. The TASTY AWARDS spotlight the year's best achievements in food, fashion, and home lifestyle programs on television, in film, and on the web.

The following are several of the nominees and categories for the 2011 TASTY Awards. To participate in the Viewers Choice voting starting November 15th, or for a full list of nominees, please go to www.TastyAwards.com, as well as get updates on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TastyAwards


Best Drink or Beverage Program: Television

Drink Up with Darryl Robinson
The Winemakers
Drinking Made Easy with Zane Lamprey
Wine & Dine with Mastro


Best Drink or Beverage Program: Web

12 Second Cocktails
Art of the Drink
Raising the Bar with Jamie Boudreau
Mixology
Thirsty Girl TV
Wine Library TV


Best Food Program: Television

America's Test Kitchen
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives
Good Eats
No Reservations
Top Chef
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution


Best Food Program: Web

Average Betty
CHOW.com
Aarti Parti
The Culinary Institute of America
Working Class Foodies
Jamie Oliver Recipes


Best Food Travel Series: Television

Avec Eric (Eric Ripert)
Bizarre Foods
Diners, Drive-ins and Dives
The Great Food Truck Race
No Reservations
Throwdown With Bobby Flay


Best Food Travel Series: Web

CMN Travels-Culinary Media Network
Working Class Foodies
The Hungry Pedaler
Vegan Hotspot
Without Borders
Savoring the Best of World Flavors: World Culinary Arts Series


Best Reality Series: Food or Drink

The Great Food Truck Race
The Next Food Network Star
Top Chef
Iron Chef America
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
Top Chef Masters


Best Food or Drink Video Podcast

Avec Eric (Eric Ripert)
Average Betty
Epicurious
Farmers' Market Gourmet
Simply Ming
Working Class Foodies


Best Home Chef in a Series

Average Betty
Working Class Foodies
What Would Brian Boitano Make?
Food Wishes
Barefoot Contessa
Down Home with the Neelys


Best Chef in a Series

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
Throwdown With Bobby Flay
Mexico - One Plate at a Time
Good Eats
Barefoot Contessa
Hubert Keller: Secrets of a Chef


Best Fashion or Design Program : Television

America's Next Top Model
Kimora, Life in the Fab Lane
Project Runway
The Rachel Zoe Project
What Not To Wear


Best Fashion or Design Program : Web

Cool Hunting
Fashion TV
Ford Models TV
Style.com
Vogue TV
Fashion Network


Best Reality Series: Fashion or Design

America's Next Top Model
What Not to Wear
Kimora, Life in the Fab Lane
Project Runway
The Rachel Zoe Project
Say Yes to the Dress


Best Fashion or Design Video Podcast

Ford Models TV
Style.com
ThreadBanger, D.I.Y. Fashion & Style
Vogue TV
Gucci
The Fashion Network


Best Home Decor and Design Program : Television

Home Made Simple
Curb Appeal: The Block
HGTV Green Home 2010
HGTV Design Star
Divine Design


Best Mobile / Apps / Out of Home Series

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
Working Class Foodies
Top Chef
Food Network Nighttime iPad App
Gourmet Live iPad App
New York Times iPad App


Best City or Regional Program

A Taste of New York
About.com
Check Please, Bay Area
Check Please, Chicago
dineLA
Savory Cities


Best Branded Program

Cooking.com
Cuisinart
H&M Fashion Video
Kraft Cooking School
Luxury Explorer TV
Target Frugalista


Best Newspaper or Magazine Program

Bon Appetit
Cook's Country
Food and Wine Magazine
LA Times
New York Times Food
New York Times the Minimalist with Mark Bittman


Best New Series

MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay
Top Chef: Just Desserts
FoodCrafters
The Great Food Truck Race
Cupcake Wars
Private Chefs of Beverly Hills


Best Single Topic Series

Cake Boss
Simply Ming
Mexico - One Plate at a Time
Cupcake Wars
Vegan a go-go
Top Chef: Just Desserts


Best Comedy Series

Bizarre Foods
The Dish
Jolene Sugarbaker: The Trailer Park Cooking Show
Tiki Bar TV
Drinking Made Easy
Average Betty


Best Critic or Review Series

Check Please, Bay Area
Savory Cities
The Naked Wine Show
The Cooks Plate
Average Betty
Wine Library TV


Best Green or Organic Program

Vegan Hotspot
Cooking Up a Story
HGTV Green Home 2010
Vegan a go-go
Chefs A'Field
Fresh Food Fast with Emeril Lagasse


Best Film or Documentary - Food or Fashion

Eat Pray Love
Soul Kitchen
Kings of Pastry
Beer Wars
Haute Couture: A Fashion Documentary
Fresh the Movie

A limited quantity of TASTY Awards event tickets are now available on a first come basis. For details, go to www.TastyAwards.com

See:
The TASTY Awards
The New Media Tastemakers Summit

TasteTV.com, TasteTV

The 2nd Annual TASTY AWARDS go HOLLYWOOD

The Tasty Awards Committee is proud to announce that the 2nd Annual TASTY Awards event on January 13, 2011 will take place in HOLLYWOOD.

The decision to hold the next event in Los Angeles represents an industry-wide acknowledgement of the importance and prestige of the TASTY Awards.

Says A.K. Crump, Chairman of the Tasty Awards, "The Committee, Advisory Board, and Sponsors are all excited. The first year the event was in San Francisco, a city known for food, wine, technology and the Internet. The second year it will be in Los Angeles, a city known for food, fashion, entertainment and media. It fits."

Events leading up to the Awards Show in Hollywood are planned across the country, including in San Francisco and New York, and include Nominee receptions, announcements, gifting suites, and more.


NOMINATIONS OPEN JULY 19, 2010

As a reminder, NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2011 TASTY AWARDS Open on July 19th.

Nominations can be submitted through August at www.TastyAwards.com. Food, beverage, fashion and design programs or films that air original broadcasts during 2010 are eligible


ABOUT THE TASTIES

The Annual TASTY AWARDS is the premier broadcast awards show to celebrate the best in food and fashion programs on TV, in Film, and Online. The 2010 Awards included appearances by Anthony Bourdain, Zane Lamprey, Joanne Weir, Leslie Sbrocco, Philip Gum, Debi Mazar, Nathan Lyon, Marisa Churchill, and more. More information atwww.TastyAwards.com. (Broadband video of the 2010 Awards can be seen on Hulu.com at Hulu.com/tasty-awards)

See:
The TASTY Awards
The New Media Tastemakers Summit

TasteTV.com, TasteTV

Ellen Degeneres custom iPhone Commercial takes heat

As much as she loves the iPod, TV star, comedian, and talk show host Ellen Degeneres learned one thing about Apple: Don't make fun of the iPhone, even if you're just kidding.

See the video:

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Applie-Gizmodo-iPhone "Scandal" a la Jon Steward

John Steward comments on the Applie-Gizmodo-iPhone "Scandal. " He accuses Apple of being the Big Brother in the Apple 1984 ad

Regardless, we all know that in the future, it will be all Apple on every channel.... at least until HP finishes incorporating Palm

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Appholes
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

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The TASTY Awards
The New Media Tastemakers Summit

TasteTV.com, TasteTV

The iPad, and the Staggering Work of Obviousness

A fantastic historical review of what lead up to the iPad, and why it will succeed BIG by Cheerful Software Manifesto. We'll just give you the big points:


On Thursday, I set my iPad up for the first time with the fold-out case and Bluetooth keyboard. And I got walloped but good by Nostalgia. Nostalgia that was chunky and green.

The heartbreaking fate of the lovable Newton is exemplar of everything that is wrong at an Apple without Steve Jobs, and why a customer reaction of “Is that it?” can be a product designer’s best friend.

TAKE A LITTLE TRIP IN MY TIME MACHINE
We can’t pretend to understand the present without first understanding the past. In this case, Apple’s past:

1998: A revolutionary, lovable Apple PDA with little squareish icons, on-screen keyboard, common icons across the bottom, single-tasking, and the best compact keyboard of the decade, complete with an ungainly but functional fold-out case. The Newton.

2010: A revolutionary, lovable Apple PDA with little squareish icons, on-screen keyboard, common icons across the bottom, single-tasking, and the best compact keyboard of the decade, complete with an ungainly but functional fold-out case. The iPad.

One an unmitigated, iconic flop, the other destined to be a success of Biblical proportions.

What a difference a decade makes.

What a difference a Steve makes.
......
.....
The problem with the Newton wasn’t any physical or technical problem. Those are easy to surmount. The problem that broke the Newton was that nobody was prepared for it.

There was no mental slot in people’s heads that the Newton could glide into.

Nothing like it had ever existed before. It was revolutionary. It was a total surprise.

THE IPAD HAS TECHNICAL PROBLEMS TOO, BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER
Today, of course, it’s an entirely different story: we’re all intimately familiar with the concept of the little computer in our pocket. We fell repeatedly for watered-down Palm handhelds which, in reality, we used rarely; we replaced them with iPhones, which we use too much.

Now the same critics who shit-canned the Newton for the wrong reasons are shit-canning the iPad for the wrong reasons.

The iPad, though, unlike the Newton, is going to win, and win on an epic scale.

Nevertheless, the shortsightedness of punditry is evergreen. Instead of praising the iPad, critics express their disappointment, because they expected more. They expected a genre buster. They expected something they’d never seen before, something beyond their imagination. Something revolutionary.

They’re disappointed that the iPad is so… well… unsurprising.

Therein, of course, lies the genius.

THE IPAD IS BARELY A SURPRISE AT ALL
The design, delivery, and timing of the iPad couldn’t be more different than the Newton. The iPad wasn’t a surprise at all. It’s the capstone in a family of devices.

There’s a cozy, pre-existing slot in people’s brains that the iPad fills quite nicely.

“Oh,” they say. “It’s a big iPhone.”

It doesn’t matter if they utter that phrase in distaste. That little sand grain of dismissal becomes the core around which will form a pearl of understanding.

“Trying to deal with email on the iPhone is tough. The screen’s too small.”

“I wish we could both work on this at the same time.”

“I’d like to sketch concepts with touch, but I keep running off the borders.”

Ding ding ding.

Steve knows, better maybe than anyone else, that you don’t just slap a product out there and hope it will succeed. You have to prepare people for it, first.

And it’s better that people misunderstand a product, at first, than not understand it at all.


THE “OF COURSE” MODEL OF INNOVATION DIFFUSION
People won’t buy a product if they can’t understand it immediately. They can’t understand it immediately if their worldview doesn’t already have a readymade place for it. And their worldview won’t have a readymade place for it, if they’ve never seen anything like it before....

Read the rest on Cheerful

See:
The TASTY Awards
The New Media Tastemakers Summit

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The Wrap.com raises more investment

See video interview about their new funding. Taped by paidContent.org

Per paidContent:

TheWrap.com, the Hollywood business focused blog started by former NYT Hollywood correspondent Sharon Waxman, has closed a $2 million second round of funding, she tells us. The round was led by Maveron, the VC firm co-founded by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and other first round investors. The site raised $500K in seed round and then undisclosed, though above a million, in first round

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The New Media Tastemakers Summit

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The iPad as story boutique plus other New York City musings

Apple iPad analysis from Garcia Media, and how it will effect print and new media:

TAKEAWAY: The iPad is everywhere one turns in New York City, and, although it is likely to become the story boutique of the future, we still do not see that level of storytelling by the newspaper editions that are taking their first baby steps into the new platform PLUS: A surprise in print that was not in the iPad AND: The INMA Congress is on here in New York City, and digital publishing plays a key role in the program. PLUS: A look at the Wall Street Journal’s Greater New York edition
Some early lessons from the iPad

The publishing world has now had some time to examine Apple’s iPad, the tablet that is likely to be the game changer for how we receive information and, hopefully for the newspaper and magazine industry, how we get our credit cards out to pay for subscriptions, or simply to download that favorite column that we just can’t survive without reading.

It is too early to tell if the iPad, or another of the several tablets looming in the horizon, will , in fact, fulfill the expectations. Surely, there is a tablet in your future, whether you are a journalist or a media consumer. So I am fascinated by what we have learned so far, especially as it applies to how a newspaper or magazine tabletizes:

1.Nobody wants the entire page content as it appears in print to land on the screen.

2.A special tablet edition is in order, with a superbly edited version of the editor’s choice of the best content, with special emphasis on multimedia. What are the stories from print that have received tablet enhancements?

3. The iPad is like a pop up book, it must surprise, and there is nothing linear or flat about it.

4. This is why the role of storytelling is key to a successful tablet edition, especially photography, which will become ever more important, each photo a huge canvas full of ministories.

Hollywood has often been described as a dream factory. The iPad can be the ultimate story boutique, as long as the creative people recognize its potential as a unique medium and not a mere dumping ground for the printed edition.

But the story boutique is not open yet. Newspapers and magazines are going into iPad territory cautiously one step at a time (as it should be), and not even crawling yet, allowing us who tinker with our iPads to dream of all the possibilities. The demos we saw in anticipation of the iPad’s arrivals have not quite materialized fully yet. Print still casts a large shadow. But we know that good things come with time for those who wait.

Read more on Garcia Media

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Hyping Books at the 140 Confab

From Publishers Weekly:

Social media impresario Jeff Pulver returned to New York City with his140 character conference, a now annual 2-day event celebrating and propagating the pervasive cultural influence of social media and Twitter in particular. Named after the maximum number of characters in a tweet, the 140 Character Conference has mutated into a series of franchised evangelically driven technology events that Pulver has mounted in Los Angeles, London, Tel Aviv and Atlanta. This year the event was held at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

Set up to mimic a Twitter feed's endless stream of short fragments of solid information, chatty irreverence and direct communication—no presentation at the 140 Character Conference lasts longer than15 minutes—the conference's tongue in cheek format features a ever-moving line of presenters offering observations, manifestoes, exhortations, panel discussions and even impromtu performances that march on and off the stage one after another. Indeed when a presenter runs over their allotted time the theme song from Exodus rises to drown them out and usher them off the stage.

Although this reporter visited the conference on Wednesday to see the book publishing presentations—public relations manager Imal Wagner (twitter handle: @imalwagner) hosted a panel with author Tim Ferriss (@tferriss) and Internet marketers John Kremer (@JohnKremer) and Michael Tasner (@tazsolutions)—much like the actual Twitter, a lot of quirkily useful or just downright entertaining stuff popped up to distract our attention. Think of this article as an elaborate retweet.

The book marketing panel focused on Ferriss (a powerhouse lifestyle guru/self-help author) and his use of Twitter and other social media to promote his bestselling book, The 4-hour Work Week, offering a superfocused strategy using social media essentially to flood relevant blogs, forums, websites and Twitter feeds with the name of your book. Ferriss focused on using "single-blogger blogs rather than multiple-blogger blogs" to target a core of readers interested in your topic before "moving out to a broader audience of readers."

Kremer, a book marketing consultant, kept things simple: "I saw that my blog attracted more traffic when I tweeted and less when I didn't. Twitter drives traffic without much effort." Kremer says tweeting 10 or more times a day is the trick. Essentially the panel concluded (this reporter agrees), regular thoughtful tweeting will drive traffic and attract a range of "tweeps" (that's peeps for the non-Twitter user) that can help promote, support or befriend your efforts to hype a book or pretty much anything.

While the book panel offered useful, targeted information for the hard driving self-marketing book crowd, the rest of the afternoon offered some interesting (and engagingly humane) presentations and illustrated why Twitter is called a "social" media and not a "marketing" media. In separate presentations, digital strategist Oz Sultan (@ozsultan) and gay community organizer Chris Bartlett (@harveymilk) both offered very moving online projects on death and memorializing the dead using Facebook and wikis. And former prison inmate Andy Dixon (@andydixn), who spent more than 20 years in prison, discussed using social media to fight "generational incarceration" and his work as part of a national movement to keep kids out of the prison systems.

But it was the use of Twitter and other social media as educational tools that carried the day. While a panel of educators on the panel, "Real Time Web and Education," urged teachers to change how they teach and use social media to bring real-world expertise and resources right into the classroom to engage students, a presentation by an adorable group of 8th grade students from the Saints Philip and James School in St. James N.Y. absolutely stole the show.

Read more on Publishers Weekly:

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TASTY AWARDS Show Television Broadcasts

The first broadcast television airing of the 2010 TASTY AWARDS Show will be on March 13th at 10pm on KOFY-TV in the San Francisco Bay Area, followed by national broadcasts later in March on the America One Network and on Hulu.com.

The Tasty Awards for the best food and fashion programs on TV, in Film, and Online. www.TastyAwards.com

See:
The New Media Tastemakers Summit

TasteTV.com, TasteTV