QR Codes Emerging in the U.S.
QR Code technology has been in use in Japan for more than 2 years and is widely used. I believe the technology will explode very soon in the US and will go from 0 to 60 just like Twitter. It’s quick, easy and can be used in many ways (text message, video, audio, phone number, email, url). You can also read a QR Code from my phone with your phone. I believe social networking will work it’s magic in that regard – I meet you and ask for your phone number or email address. You take out your phone, show me your QR Code with that information and I scan it with my phone. Connection is made!
For more information on QR Codes and their application, visit: http://www.acegroupnyc.com/qr_codes.html
Locate a reader for your mobile phone or try our code generator to create your own QR code!
Mine Magazine – Me, Me, Me, Mine, All Mine!
April 8, 2009
By GAIL NICKEL-KAILING
Download PDF
For years we’ve talked about how VDP (Variable Data Printing) cuts waste by zeroing in with content that people WANT to get. Now we see VDP (Variable Data Publishing) take the concept of personalized production further with a “news aggregation” model more like that offered by online news sites.
Early Wednesday morning, March 18, I received a Tweet from a friend that said;
“Time Inc customized magazine tries to mimic Internet in printed form with personalized news feeds http://tinyurl.com/cmr3n3.“
OK, so I didn’t read it at 3:30AM Pacific time when it was sent from Boston; but within hours, I had already subscribed to mine magazine.
Two weeks later, at On Demand Expo, in Philadelphia, I sat down with Val DiGiacinto, VP Sales, from The Ace Group, the company that is handling the production of mine magazine. He filled me in on the project and its progress. Clearly he’s excited about being part of something new and different!
Get Mine: Could a personalized magazine help save print media?
Full article: Get Mine: Could a personalized magazine help save print media?
By Farhad Manjoo
Slate Magazine
When I signed up for Mine a couple of months ago, I was mainly looking for a laugh. The new magazine from Time Inc. seemed like a gimmicky, goofy effort to save a beleaguered industry: Time wanted to print a magazine just for me! First, I had to choose several popular Time publications and answer a few odd questions about my interests. (“Which do you crave more—sushi, or pizza?”) Then, every two weeks, I would get an issue, curated just for me, filled with articles from different magazines. The process seemed hopelessly anachronistic, like if the horse-and-buggy industry decided to compete with cars by letting me pick my buggy driver. Doesn’t Time know that I already have a way to get a magazine tailored to my interests? The Web isn’t just faster and cheaper than print; it also doesn’t need to know what I ate for dinner in order to let me read exactly what I want to at any time…
Full article: Get Mine: Could a personalized magazine help save print media?
The Ace Group is awarded 3rd Prize in the 2008 HP Indigo Progressive Printing Competition.
DÜSSELDORF, Germany, July 1, 2008 – HP today announced the winners of the first HP Indigo Progressive Printing Competition that recognises excellence and innovation in digital printing.
Prizes were presented at a gala dinner on Tuesday 3rd June in Düsseldorf, to coincide with the international trade show for the graphic arts, drupa. The awards were presented by Alon Bar-Shany, vice president and general manager, Indigo Digital Press Division, HP, at a ceremony held at The Rheinterrasse Dusseldorf.
The competition which attracted 482 entries from 31 countries, was divided into five categories: photo-specialty; direct marketing and transpromotional printing; publications, including books, user manuals and magazines; marketing collateral, and an open, “other,” category for innovative, inspirational or creative submissions.
Associated Press release, March 19, 2009, Personalized “Mine” Magazine
Associated Press release forwarded by The Ace Group, Inc.
The Ace Group, Inc. is excited to forward to you the following Associated Press release regarding the new and unique “Mine” Magazine Personalized project.
“The Ace Group has been contracted and will be responsible for the entire “Print Version” of Mine, by Time, Inc.”, said Val DiGiacinto, V.P. Sales and Partner of The Ace Group, Inc. “This process includes all the programming and data processing required to create each “Unique” Mine Magazine, on-the-fly. We are also responsible for all bindery and mailing.”
“The 2-week schedule for each of the 5 editions of Mine to each subscriber has propelled us into a completely new production environment”, said Ace Group owners Tony and Vincent Gagliardi. “Our “Mine Team” is utilizing every piece of our technology and a lot of very unique programming to make this happen. Our 3, HP Indigo 7/C Digital printing presses are the backbone of this capability.”
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