What's up online?

What's up online?
Glossy happenings in cyberspace.

- ELLE.com has a new look. Fashionista's flattering summary: "Along with a simplified home page, gallery images will be 33% bigger, and there will be a “buy the look” option on market stories. We’re particularly fond of the Breaking News module, which directs people to what they actually want to read online: news." The site's younger sister, ElleGirl.com, whose traffic feeds into the elle.com URL, also has a new, easy-to-navigate blog-style user interface.

- But this week in media-on-media (as apposed to media on world events*), it's all about The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's iPad newspaper, which is to be launched tomorrow.

"A Daily-watcher who thinks the thing is amazing compares it to the Daily Prophet, the magical newspaper read by Harry Potter and his wizard pals," writes Peter Kafka for The Wall Street Journal's Media Memo blog adding, "The Daily is almost defiantly anti-Web: It will have a free site, with a grudging sample of perhaps 10 percent of the newspaper’s stories, but that’s it."

Poynter has a list of The Daily staffers, while the app will cost readers 99 cents per week (thank you, parity) after a two-week free trial period. It will be sold exclusively in the iTunes store and with accessibility limited to iPad owners, quite obviously, one can assume The Daily's content will be skewed towards middle-income professionals. A survey by Nielsen (August 2010) found that users of iPad and iPhone devices are younger and wealthier than typical mobile subscribers with 40% of iPad users aged 25-36 and 50% of iPad and iPhone users earning $75k+ annually (more iPad users than iPhone users earn more than $100k).

- Veteran media executive Alan D. Mutter writes on the pros and cons of The Daily.

- Meanwhile, Sony has not been as fortunate as Rupert Murdoch in securing a deal with Apple: the company has had is iPhone app rejected by Apple as it fails to comply with Apple's system for the purchase of e-books (i.e. all purchases need to be directed through Apple – making Apple the new Google?). (New York Times) 

- Google has played its part in the dissemination of news from the ground in Egypt via a call-in Twitter service, reports The Daily Beast.

- The BBC has plans to launch a subscription-only TV service for Australian iPad users, reports SMH.

- SMH media editor Tim Dick writes on The New York Times' impending paywall.  

- The Interactive Advertising Bureau anticipates growth of 14.2% per annum until 2014 for the Australian online advertising market, reports AdNews. "The Australian market is growing at a phenomenal rate, and in this country we should see online advertising sitting alongside the other major players in the number one position by 2014, when advertising expenditure should sit at $3.8 billion," IAB chief executive Paul Fisher said, adding that growth will be driven by online video, social media and a rise in internet access via mobie phones.

- Harper's BAZAAR Australia editor Edwina McCann makes an appearance on Daily Imprint. this week. 

- Steve Smith of Min writes on Country Living's Treemail app, "The simple, one-purpose app is a virtual tree-carver aimed at Valentine’s Day lovebirds who want to share their love with the world."

- Three magazine app developers share their tips with Min.

- Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics, which recently recruited Grazia beauty and health director Lucinda Pitt to direct its communications division, is one beauty company with an impressive online brand strategy. The company will be on makeup duty at 10 New York Fashion Week shows (starting February 10) with Napoloen will giving behind-the-scenes access to fans via Twitter, Facebook and The Huffington Post as well as trend reports and how-to guides at NapoleonPerdis.com.

- Bobbi Brown Australia has a new Facebook page. 


- A new beauty website – BeNaturallyYou.com – aims to represent natural and organic brands and "naturally beautiful women from around the world". Site creator, holistic nutritionist Sam Sample, says, "I hope to clear a lot of the confusion by providing straight-forward, unbiased, factual information."

- Anna North writes "How to self-promote without being a jerk" for Jezebel. 

- Personal Branding online magazine February issue is out/up/online. Some great tips within.  

- Tina Wells, founder/CEO of Buzz Marketing, writes "Lessons from Justice, Lego and Diary of a Wimpy Kid" – a column on tween aspiration, security and acceptance – for MediaPost. "It's important to understand that even though tweens aspire to be older, psychologically they are more like children than they are teenagers. They still need and want their mom to play a major role not only in their buying decisions, but also in their lives."

- People StyleWatch, InStyle, Elle, Vogue and Allure make an appearance at Min Online's Top 5 Women's Fashion Magazines by March advertising page gains.

- Jezebel introduces The Woman Who's Explaining Egypt to the West.  

- *Media video of the week: Time's Abigal Hauslohner giving us the 411 from Cairo, Egypt...

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