Robot Magazine is Gone

I spoke with Jeffery Warner this morning (editor-in-chief) and learned that Maplegate Media has closed its doors and is out of business.
There were some rumors out there a couple of days ago but this is from the horse's mouth. Too bad, I will miss them both for the RC magazines
and for Robot. I enjoyed writing for them. Good news came later as Servo Magazine accepted my next article! Whoopee! I still get to write.
Carol Lynn Hazlett
carolhaz391@gmail.com

In the birthing of any machine there is that moment when it actually works. It is always fresh and astounding for me...............Red Whittaker

Comments

  • PublisonPublison Posts: 10,585
    edited 2017-02-09 - 20:47:18
    Say What?!?! So sad. :(
    Infernal Machine
  • It's so hard for printed publications to make it, anymore.

    Someone was saying the other day that some new IDE doesn't even have a 'Print' option under its 'File' menu.

    Screens are still used largely as paper analogs, but I'm thinking it would be neat to have new tools with which to write things like documentation, where the content is animated and interactive. Then, we really get away from paper thinking.
  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 6,378
    edited 2017-02-09 - 20:46:09
    Question: has anybody actually received issue #63 with the March/April cover from their web site?

    As I was signing Parallax checks today I came across one payable to Maplegate Media for an advertisement in March and April. If this magazine actually made it to print (I see the cover artwork) then I will go ahead and submit the check to them.

    But if there's no magazine. . .

    Ken Gracey
  • I have a copy of that issue. It did get printed, but Jeff said it was the last one, there will not be a May/June issue.
    Your advertisement is on page 9.
    Carol Lynn Hazlett
    carolhaz391@gmail.com

    In the birthing of any machine there is that moment when it actually works. It is always fresh and astounding for me...............Red Whittaker

  • It's a shame about the declining popularity of printed material, in the form of magazines. I pass by the magazine racks in the local WM, never anyone there.

    If you have articles in print that you want to reference later, you scan it into your computer. If you have a lot of material to read, you would rather have a printout, can't win.

    At some point the printed materials have to go. Just can't be stored efficiently, so the wife said.
  • Servo and Nuts & Volts have a great digital magazine. One of things I like best about their digital editions is you can print out individual articles. I use that feature all the time for the very reasons you mentioned. I am trying to break myself of the habit though and use my other monitors to display what I need while I work on the main monitor. Trying to drag myself into the digital world!
    Carol Lynn Hazlett
    carolhaz391@gmail.com

    In the birthing of any machine there is that moment when it actually works. It is always fresh and astounding for me...............Red Whittaker

  • MikeDYur,
    ...can't be stored efficiently, so the wife said.
    It's not just the wife. It's not about printed or electronic/digital storage.

    For decades now people like the BBC have been callously recording over material recorded on video tape. Tape is expensive and it takes up space. A whole generation of material has vanished as a result.

    Basically, nobody cares about preserving such things unless they think they can make money out of it. Even if it is digitally stored.

    For this reason I maintain that every human has a duty to record, store, and distribute anything and everything he/she finds interesting/educational/entertaining. Copyright be damned.







  • MikeDYur wrote:
    It's a shame about the declining popularity of printed material, in the form of magazines. I pass by the magazine racks in the local WM, never anyone there.
    That's partly because newsstand prices have gotten ridiculously high. For what one copy costs from the newsstand, you could get nearly a half-year's subscription. For example, Popular Mechanics costs $4.99/issue on the newsstand; $12.00/10 issues via subscription. The New Yorker is a whopping $8.99/issue on the newsstand!

    -Phil
    Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
  • Heater. wrote: »
    MikeDYur,
    ...can't be stored efficiently, so the wife said.
    It's not just the wife. It's not about printed or electronic/digital storage.

    For decades now people like the BBC have been callously recording over material recorded on video tape. Tape is expensive and it takes up space. A whole generation of material has vanished as a result.

    Basically, nobody cares about preserving such things unless they think they can make money out of it. Even if it is digitally stored.

    For this reason I maintain that every human has a duty to record, store, and distribute anything and everything he/she finds interesting/educational/entertaining. Copyright be damned.

    +100%
    In science there is no authority. There is only experiment.
    Life is unpredictable. Eat dessert first.
  • Heater. wrote: »

    For decades now people like the BBC have been callously recording over material recorded on video tape. Tape is expensive and it takes up space. A whole generation of material has vanished as a result.

    For this reason I maintain that every human has a duty to record, store, and distribute anything and everything he/she finds interesting/educational/entertaining. Copyright be damned.










    That is just pathetic.

    BBC News is a very honest and thorough news sorce. Why someone doesn't have the insight to preserve history as it happens. A mere" .mp4" file don't take up a lot of room.

    But your right, nobody is paying them to do that. Because there is no market for it, now.
  • That's partly because newsstand prices have gotten ridiculously high. For what one copy costs from the newsstand, you could get nearly a half-year's subscription. For example, Popular Mechanics costs $4.99/issue on the newsstand; $12.00/10 issues via subscription. The New Yorker is a whopping $8.99/issue on the newsstand!

    -Phil


    I know, that is why I steer clear or only brouse.

    But I have bought magazines before just for the advertisements, having all the products in one source is educational in itself.

    The average magazine is at least three quarters advertisements. You would think it would be to their benefit to keep the cover price low.
  • MikeDYur,
    A mere" .mp4" file don't take up a lot of room.
    Yes, but I think we have a generation gap here...

    I'm thinking about the 1960's. There were no mp4's then. Shows were recorded, in black and white, onto 2 inch (or whatever it was) video tape. Those tapes got broadcast then recycled.

    A classic case is "Dr Who". The BBC has had a big success selling that around the world recently. But for those wanting to know it's roots in the 1960's it was almost lost. Luckily copies could be found around the world at TV stations that had bought it.

    That is only the tip of the iceburg. Pretty much everything is lost from that era.

    Meanwhile, there are millions of old movies whose films are rotting in basements of media companies. We cannot see them because they are copyright. They are not going to take care of them because there is no money in it.

    There is about a hundred years of culture lost for ever.



  • Heater. wrote: »
    MikeDYur,
    A mere" .mp4" file don't take up a lot of room.
    Yes, but I think we have a generation gap here...

    I'm thinking about the 1960's. There were no mp4's then. Shows were recorded, in black and white, onto 2 inch (or whatever it was) video tape. Those tapes got broadcast then recycled.


    That is only the tip of the iceburg. Pretty much everything is lost from that era.

    There is about a hundred years of culture lost for ever.





    I see your point now, but you would think that the people in the news business should know the importance of keeping a library of their news stories. But when the basement is full, then what? World changing events should have had priority over someone's new recipe or an exercise video.
    Then there are the shows and commercials that nobody want's to see again.
  • Trying to drag myself into the digital world!

    Carol, sometimes I wonder if it's worth all the problems modern technology has created. I see my grand kids carrying cellphones around, like it is the most important thing in their life.
    We still need the people that haven't fully crossed over into the digital world, I think we can survive this technological onslaught depending on our roots.

    I still enjoy reading a paper newspaper, even though it is awkward at times.
  • There are many sides and arguments to be made either way. for me the pluses are daily conversations and contact with a large
    family that extends all over the USA. Contact with old friends who have moved on in life but are still close friends, the ability to
    find and buy any product I could possibly want, researching anything I want to know more about and the availability of recipes!
    "It is what it is" and each person has to take or leave what they want or need.
    Carol Lynn Hazlett
    carolhaz391@gmail.com

    In the birthing of any machine there is that moment when it actually works. It is always fresh and astounding for me...............Red Whittaker

  • There are many sides and arguments to be made either way. for me the pluses are daily conversations and contact with a large
    family that extends all over the USA. Contact with old friends who have moved on in life but are still close friends, the ability to
    find and buy any product I could possibly want, researching anything I want to know more about and the availability of recipes!
    "It is what it is" and each person has to take or leave what they want or need.




    I am guilty of all above.

    When I first started gathering information from BBS's, to using the Internet as a encyclopedia as I do now. The computing habit is instilled in me.

    Cell phones are an irreplaceable invention, probably half of it's usage is "Pick up a pound of bologna and a half gallon of milk".

    To sum up my thoughts: To many dependency's on these tools, that can be knocked out with a simple power outage.

    Homo-sapiens for the last twenty years will be depicted with a phone in are hand's.



  • And I've submitted this magazine to our faculty to subscribe for our students just last month. I'll have to find an alternate publisher now.

    Kenichi
  • Servo Magazine is a good alternative for robotics information.

    http://www.servomagazine.com/
    Carol Lynn Hazlett
    carolhaz391@gmail.com

    In the birthing of any machine there is that moment when it actually works. It is always fresh and astounding for me...............Red Whittaker

  • Servo Magazine is a good alternative for robotics information.

    http://www.servomagazine.com/

    Thanks. That was one of the company I've added to the list of magazine I submitted.

    Kenichi
  • Bummer, I liked Robot and had just sent them a check last month to renew my subscription this year too. Well, I hope Servo and Nuts & Volts will keep on, because I get those as well, and even if some articles are a bit over my head at the moment, I still enjoy learning what I can.
  • Look for my article on Blocklyprop in the next issue of Servo. I guaranty it is not over anybody's head!
    Carol Lynn Hazlett
    carolhaz391@gmail.com

    In the birthing of any machine there is that moment when it actually works. It is always fresh and astounding for me...............Red Whittaker

  • ercoerco Posts: 19,357
    Apparently the online portion of ROBOT is soldiering on under new management. From http://www.botmag.com/contact :

    Print/ Digital Magazine/ Subscription Questions: We’re sorry, this website is no longer associated with the print/ digital magazine. The website is under new ownership and is completely separate from the magazine. Any subscription payments mailed to Icon RC Media will be destroyed. We will not be able to help you with anything regarding the magazine. You may try to contact the print magazine media company here: www.maplegatemedia.com

    Who knows for how long though. I'm going to grab the online "bonus material" for my old articles to save: http://www.botmag.com/?s=Ostendorff and whatever else looks useful. Publison, you might want to archive Parallax articles.
    "When you make a thing, a thing that is new, it is so complicated making it that it is bound to be ugly. But those that make it after you, they don’t have to worry about making it. And they can make it pretty, and so everybody can like it when others make it after you."

    - Pablo Picasso
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,137
    edited 2017-06-23 - 17:29:49
    It’s sad to see so many magazines, web sites, published articles, and other sources of information disappearing from the web. I wonder if it would be possible to set up a network of distributed storage sites similar to that of the distributed computing projects ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_distributed_computing_projects ) to store multiple copies of this data.

    I for one would be willing to dedicate a Pi and a TB drive or similar hardware to such a project.
    In science there is no authority. There is only experiment.
    Life is unpredictable. Eat dessert first.
  • erco wrote: »
    Publison, you might want to archive Parallax articles.

    On my list.
    Infernal Machine
  • ercoerco Posts: 19,357
    Obviously the wayback machine can help, assuming you know what you're looking for.
    "When you make a thing, a thing that is new, it is so complicated making it that it is bound to be ugly. But those that make it after you, they don’t have to worry about making it. And they can make it pretty, and so everybody can like it when others make it after you."

    - Pablo Picasso
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