It seems as if News International, the British newspaper publisher owned by News Corporation, has decided it doesn’t want the patronage of visitors to NewsNow, a UK-based content aggregator.

News International has told NewsNow that it is no longer to link to content on The Times website (no link, for obvious reasons) despite the fact that some two million visitors would have benefited from seeing the content.

They’ve done it purely by using the robots.txt file, and because NewsNow is a reputable service, it has honoured that block.

What’s interesting is that no other aggregators have yet been targeted. That includes Google, whose news service has been attacked by a number of European newspaper publishers.

News International has the right to determine how its content is served up, and who to, and I have no problem with a site seeking paid subscriptions, but it still seems incredibly short-sighted to block a high-traffic site from indexing and sending visitors.

Big deal, you might think. Any printed magazine these days publishes its web address and readers can visit online and interact. Sure, that’s true, but what if the magazine had a unique RFID (Radio frequency identification) chip attached to it, and even its own email address and mailbox?

Last week, the quarterly magazine went on sale in various stores across Europe and the US. The RFID tag is attached to page two, and as soon as the reader touches the tag to the scanner, a request is sent to a remote server (Violet, in fact, makers of the nabaztag rabbit) that triggers various unique online content.

In the first edition, for example, appeared a video game designed by the artist Messhof, an interactive multi-user device by Digital Shadow, an interactive installation by Factoid (Pierre Nouvel, Valere Terrier) and The Tone, a 3D video by Gkastere and wallpapers by Philippe Jarrigeon.

The magazine’s editor could even interact with individual readers thanks to their unique email addresses.

Just a paper magazine? Not any more it seems.

Scrye Magazine, the longest-running periodical reporting on the collectible card game hobby and the leading print resource for secondary-market prices on Magic: The Gathering, will cease publication in April 2009 as announced in an email to former editors and contributors.
The last issue will be #131. The magazine launched in 1993. The fate of GamingReport.com, the online presence of the magazine, is still open.

After Dragon and Dungeon ceased publication in September 2007, nationally distributed gaming magazines have disappeared.

Email after the jump

January 29, 2009

Dear Scrye Contributor:

We at F+W Media continuously analyze our publishing strategy to determine if we are meeting our readers’ needs and company goals. We take into consideration the marketplace we serve and the opportunities available for each of our magazine titles.

After much analysis and deliberation, we have determined to cease publication of Scrye magazine; the final issue will be the April 2009 edition, issue #131.

You have helped provide our readers with a consistent supply of information, instruction, and entertainment. On behalf of everyone at Scrye Magazine, I would like to thank you for your contributions to the magazine.

Best Regards,

Joyce Greenholdt, Editor

Via NYC Watchdog.