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Hardware Hacking The Media

Make Magazine Subscription Now Available 145

Posted by michael from the build-your-own dept.
Jac_no_k writes "O'Reilly's Make magazine is now taking subscription orders. They have an offer for one bonus 'mook' by using the offer code 'M5ZXML'. Their description: 'MAKE is a new hybrid magazine/book ("mook") published quarterly by O'Reilly. MAKE brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. MAKE is loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home. It follows in line with the Hacks books and Hardware Hacking Projects, but it takes a highly visual and personal approach.'" If the quality of the magazine is the same as their technical books, this should be a worthwhile subscription.
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Make Magazine Subscription Now Available More

Make Magazine Subscription Now Available

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  • OK, But... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Staos ( 700036 ) * on Friday January 14, 2005 @02:50PM (#11365113) Journal
    The problem here is its such a broad topic. People's interest diverge so far that it's really a much more suitable topic for a generalized search engine Google rather than a magazine format. While some people will tend to think that stuff in the kitchen is cool, others will think it should include coding. Others will want automotive and others will prefer architecture or explosives or metalwork or hide tanning or alternative energy. The Foxfire series tried to do something similar, but they also had a theme beyond just doing it yourself which was doing it the old fashioned way. That only appealed to a certain set. Coming at it from the opposite, doing it yourself and doing in the new way doesn't really seem to work as a theme.

    I think the real question is, do we still need magazines?

    • Re:OK, But... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Zphbeeblbrox ( 816582 )
      Some of us happen to have widely diverging interests in a broad range of areas. Me for instance. I like cooking, coding, reading, workin on my car, gaming and the list goes on. I'd sign up for the subscription just cause I like to learn new things in any subject. I don't think the topic is too broad at all. Now mayhap I am in the minority and they misjudged the size of the market but there is a market at least.
    • Parent:
      While some people will tend to think that stuff in the kitchen is cool, others will think it should include coding. Others will want automotive and others will prefer architecture or explosives or metalwork or hide tanning or alternative energy.

      Article:
      Make brings the do-it-yourself mindset to all the technology in your life. Make is loaded with exciting projects that help you make the most of your technology at home and away from home. This is a magazine that celebrates your right to tweak, hack
    • I think the real question is, do we still need magazines?

      After staring at computers all day at work, I don't want to spend more time staring at a computer screen in the bathroom or on the train commute home... a magazine is perfect for this purpose.

      Others will want automotive and others will prefer architecture or explosives or metalwork or hide tanning or alternative energy.

      But all that stuff is cool, and I want to do it all! I just don't have enough time ...

      I don't know if I would actually go about

    • Re:OK, But... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @03:00PM (#11365276) Homepage
      Yes and No.

      Example, I no longer subscribe to any american magazines, they all have been dumbed down to the lowest common denominator so they become worthless for someone looking for technical information.. so I replace them with European magazines in English format.

      Want an Example?

      linux journal I replaced with Linux format.. I regained the technical aspect that LJ had back in the 90's. I have done the same with web development magazines and programming magazines (ok, dobbs is still useful)

      unfortunately in the US magazine sucess are measured in net profits, and making a magazine that is 100% useless to the technical crowd is more profitable than making a magazine that is pretty dumbed down.

      I have tried online "electronic" subscriptions, but find them a PITA. I can not save issues in a format that would be searchable (Ok PDF can be searchable if unencrypted) and still useable by myself in 10 years. Yes I have issues of Circuit Cellar that are over 10 years old, and yes they are very useful.

      until they fix all that is wrong with e-texts and eliminate the paranoia that if someone has an unencrypted version of an issue than the world will be destroyed online magazines will continue to fail, and print magazines will continue to be accepted.

      • Re:OK, But... (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Jane_the_Great ( 778338 )
        Wow - all American magazines are dumbed down? You do realize that the word "all" has some meaning, right? Perhaps in the particular field of magazines you are talking about, there has been a dumbing down of the articles but does that mean that all American magazines have been dumbed down?

        Tell me, how has the New Yorker been significantly "dumbed down" from the version of the New Yorker produced in the 90s? Please cite specific articles. Thank you.

      • Wow. I agree. I've been buying European (mainly British) computer magazines for a while now. Seems like all the American ones want to do is review stuff. (In this issue: Top 1000 Printers!)
      • What about Dr. Dobb's Journal? Seems like a top-notch American computer magazine to me.
        • Even Dr. Dobbs has been dumbed down since its "Computer Calisthenics" era. Long gone are the days when I cut my teeth on complete listings for Pascal Compilers and the like.
          • Yes and no. Partially it has been dumbed down, but partially the place it used to fill has been taken by other things. If I want code listing, the first place I look is the internet. There didn't used to BE an internet!
      • While your statement is far too general, I do agree with you for the most part. For example, I have tried to find good magazines in the U.S. on photography and photographic equipment. There are none that I'm aware of that are anywhere near as good as the european ones. Read a review of a camera in a European magazine and it is FAR more detailed and informative than anything I've read in an American magazine. Hell, I can get far more detailed information on dpreview.com than I can get in any American mag
      • Take a look at Circuit Cellar [circuitcellar.com]. If you have any interest in electronics/microprocessors/microcontrollers this magazine is top notch.

      • Re:OK, But... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by samdu ( 114873 )
        unfortunately in the US magazine sucess are measured in net profits


        Not to sound like a dimwitted, capitalist, American pig or anything, but exactly what are magazines' successes based on in Europe?

    • Re:OK, But... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by WinBorg ( 195067 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @03:29PM (#11365697)
      If the Mook is cool enough with lots of ideas, then a reader with an adequate IQ should be able to adapt ideas given to applications he wants to do.
      i.e. there is a mention about kite-photography, what if you have a RC plane and dont want to build a kite? is it useless information now? no, it's an idea and you adapt it to your plane.
      come on, have some spunk.

      Before you think different, think.
      • It looks like a lot of the 'zine deals with building and hacking. I wonder how long before they get sued under DMCA for showing how to reverse engineer something. I also wonder if they'll avoid certain subjects just to avoid a suit....that'd suck.

  • Mook? (Score:5, Funny)

    by wackysootroom ( 243310 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @02:51PM (#11365119) Homepage
    I thought I was buying a Bagazine! WTF?

  • Animals (Score:3, Funny)

    by Admiral Ackbar 8 ( 848624 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @02:51PM (#11365120)
    I will only purchase a subscription if every "mook" has a different animal pictured on the cover.
  • I've been looking for something to replace my subscription to SA for a long time. Over the years, it has become wayyyy too much like popular science/mechanics for my taste.
  • What with all this talk of meeting makers and such...

    -Erwos

  • Price (Score:5, Informative)

    by chamilto0516 ( 675640 ) * <conrad.hamilton@ ... Dl.com minus bsd> on Friday January 14, 2005 @02:52PM (#11365152) Homepage Journal
    One Year - 4 Volumes $34.95
    Not bad, but not too good either. I dropped my subscriptions to Linux Journal and Linux Magazine when their prices went this high. I'll probably buy one or two off of the shelf before I decide to subscribe.
    • But the rub there of course is that if you buy two off the shelf...well, you could have had five issues (counting the bonus one) for only five bucks more!

      This is what stops me from purchasing magazines at the bookstore. I figure that if I really want to read one issue badly enough to buy it, I should just subscribe.

      By the time I get home, the impulse has passed, and I usually don't subscribe or spend the money.

      I might get Make though.
      • It works out for me that any given magazine (Linux Journal/Magazine/Format, Dr. Dobbs, etc.), 3 out of 12 issues are really awesome, 6 are just OK and I would read an article and put it down, and the other 3 just don't have anything for me. My price point is the cost of 3-4 issues I guess but everyone has their own price point.

        Note: the above math only works for monthly magazines. Do not apply to other subscription deliver frequencies.

    • The idea of a software developer paying for a software magazine is ludicrous.

      • The idea of a software developer paying for a software magazine is ludicrous.

        There are three classifications of magazines.

        1. Free: Well, not free. They require you to give up some information but that is almost free. You can even get these weekly but mostly the make for good BM reading.
        2. Cheap: These are special interest (Linux, Boating, Golf, etc.) that I suppose put the extra into the articles such that they can or need to charge something for it.
        3. Expensive: These are the periodicles that are basicall
        • To clarify what I meant - usually software magazines that are found on the news stands (your #2, Cheap) can usually be obtained through a free subscription if you are a software developer. This is not always the case but I've found that a lot of magazines simply want the eyeballs of the developers because that spells revenue for them.

          I'm not so cheap that I don't pick up a Dobbs every once in a while, but there are so many magazines on software development and administration that it would be impossible for
      • There are 3 magazine business models:

        1. The readers pay

        2. the advertisers pay

        3. hybrid of the first two

        I don't mind any of them because I understand that the business model affects the editorial content. Sometimes, I want to read the stuff the advertisers will pay for me to read and sometimes I am willing to pay for something else. Sometimes the ads themselves are quite informative and interesting.

  • Penthouse went bankrupt (Score:3, Funny)

    by ugmoe ( 776194 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @02:52PM (#11365157)
    If Penthouse magazine can go bankrupt even with naked boobies, what hope is there for a magazine without any boobies?
  • Makefile would've been a lot cooler IMHO. And quite relevant too, considering their target readership.

  • Does that mean... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I can finally put a REAL cupholder in my PC?
  • user@localhost>make o'reilly
    No rule to make target 'o'reilly'. Stop.

    Fuck. Not for me, I guess.

  • Miniature Claymore Mine? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Tibor the Hun ( 143056 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @02:53PM (#11365176)
    out of the office supplies? Hell yeah!!!

  • sudden urge of Dr.Seuss... (Score:3, Funny)

    by zwilliams07 ( 840650 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @02:55PM (#11365199)
    Make is a mook that is really like a book but took the...

    :: head explodes ::
  • Isn't "Mook" a slur?

    For example:

    "Tony, you are such a stupid mook."

    • As I understand it "mook" has been used as a slur to describe a foolish person of certain racial descent.

      Although a somewhat humorous attempt trying to combine magazine and book you would think O'Reilly would be smart enough to avoid a potential inflammatory word.

      Perhaps instead of Tony being a stupid mook it is O'Reilly marketing that is foolish?

      • My guess is that it's just taken from the Japanese word "mook" (same derivation: magazine/book) that's existed for years if not decades.
  • what was wrong with 'bagazine'? Or boogazine? Or mack?

    ...

    What? Wait, come back! ...doesn't anybody care?

  • /.ed ORA*? Wow. (Score:3, Informative)

    by ellem ( 147712 ) * <ellem52.gmail@com> on Friday January 14, 2005 @03:00PM (#11365274) Homepage Journal
    We are currently experiencing technical difficulties.

    An email has been sent to the webmaster.

    Click here to go back or try again later.

    *actually it's not ORA it's https://www.pubservice.com/

    • Re:/.ed ORA*? Wow. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by jdbear ( 607709 )
      I just tried to subscribe, got the same error. You'd think they would be ready for large volume for a subscription launch. If it was the Slashdot effect, that was really fast. I'd bet there's something else going on, such as a poor implementation of the subscription server. If they crash that soon, then they may not be able to handle a normal web traffic load, much less the /. crowd. jdbear
    • Odd. Not 2 minutes ago I just finished mine.
    • Our subscription fulfillment house has processed nearly 600 subscription orders since the original slashdot. But the truth is, we should have been able to handle the load. I have been told that they in fact did identify a problem within the past hour and have corrected it. Everything appears to be running smoothly. However, if you continue to experience difficulties subscribing, please contact me directly at dan@oreilly.com. Dan Woods Associate Publisher MAKE dan@oreilly.com

  • No mooks (Score:3, Funny)

    by TRS80NT ( 695421 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @03:01PM (#11365301)
    I've given up fighting the word "blog" -- I just don't care anymore. The word "Mook", however, I'm ready to come out of retirement against.

  • Big hairy thing. The Mook [www.yiya.de]
  • Hustler Boy or........PentJuggs

  • a subscription service (Score:3, Funny)

    by UID30 ( 176734 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @03:08PM (#11365417)
    me thinks they need to "Make" a subscription service that can handle a decent slashdotting...
  • ...is what you say to kids when you're trying to get them to use the toilet.

  • Mook, shmook (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AtariAmarok ( 451306 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @03:13PM (#11365473)
    "Their description: 'MAKE is a new hybrid magazine/book ("mook") published quarterly by O'Reilly"

    Not sure we need another dumb-sounding buzzword for something that has been around for more than 90 years. "Afred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, "Weird Tales", "Astounding"...all of those old anthology magazines so little different from anthology books. Especially the issues with a single novella.

  • But first (Score:5, Funny)

    by ch-chuck ( 9622 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @03:19PM (#11365542) Homepage
    Don't you have to have a subscription to "./configure" magazine first?

  • ... is 404 (running IIS). I wonder how much revenue they're losing after a Slashdot post?

  • Feh. Subscription website sucks. (Score:4, Informative)

    by .@. ( 21735 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @03:33PM (#11365738) Homepage
    It's outsourced.

    I tried to subscribe, submitting credit card immediately.

    I got an invoice instead.

    I called them. They won't have the data until Monday, because ORA has it (supposedly). They said, "sometimes that happens with websites."

    I threw up my hands and decided to submit payment for the invoice, using a credit card.

    I filled everything out. I checked all the appropriate boxes. I hit "Submit".

    The payment page simply reloaded. No confirmation, no email, no nothing.

    At this point, I've tried to pay twice. I thought I HAD paid. Twice. If this is how ORA wants to deal with their subscriptions, they just lost one. I have better things to do than help their outsourced subscription-handling company debug their craptacular approach to accepting money.

  • Buy the first, wait for the rest (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jj00 ( 599158 ) on Friday January 14, 2005 @03:36PM (#11365783)
    I'll probably buy the first issue, but wait on getting a subscription.

    The problem with reading about these kinds of hacks online is that there are so many of them. I never know which ones are the most useful or the coolest. I don't know how many times I have paid little attention to an article on Slashdot, only to find it was a really cool topic when I see it on the Screen Savers.

    I'm hoping this magazine can help provide some insight, and maybe I'll learn something.
  • Is Make Magazine supposed to turn into some kind of journal?, one that we keep on the shelf for reference year after year? At $15 a pop, one would hope so.

  • Inigo Montoya moment (Score:3, Informative)

    by jalefkowit ( 101585 ) <jasonNO@SPAMjasonlefkowitz.com> on Friday January 14, 2005 @05:53PM (#11367675) Homepage

    Someone needs to tell O'Reilly that "mook" is already a word [randomhouse.com]. And, um, a derogatory one at that.

    Another example of modern usage [pbs.org]:

    The Mook is what critics call the crude, loud, obnoxious, in-your-face character that can be found almost any hour of day or night somewhere on MTV. He's a teen frozen in permanent adolescence. There's MTV's Tom Green of the "Tom Green Show"

    And the daredevils on "Jackass" who indulge in dignity-defying feats like poo diving. The Mook is also found in the frat boys on MTV's ubiquitous "Spring Break" specials. And, the Mook has migrated to MTV's sister network, Comedy Central, where he's the cartoon cutouts of "South Park," or the lads on the "Man Show."

  • ...I might be tempted to try to scrape together the money to subscribe.
  • I've seen "mook" used quite a bit for some high-quality Japanese magazines. For instance, I own a limited-edition Hobby Japan mook-- it's thin, but has glossy paper and high-end-paperback quality covers (like those you'd find on a graphic novel).

    It seems that O'Reilly has borrowed the term from the Japanese publishing industry and have applied it to their own new magazine series. Funny thing is that I didn't make the "magazine + book" connection until now o_O;

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