The International Journal of Media and Information Policy (MIPJ) (http://www.mipj.org) has announced that its Executive Editor, K.J. Wetherholt, will release The Illumination: A Novel of the Great War (2012) exclusively via Amazon Prime / Kindle until Memorial Day2012 to benefit the MIPJ’s war and veteran-related projects. Release will take place on February 24, 2012.

The MIPJ and its new publishing arm, MIPJ Publishing, acts as the nexus among media, information, and international and humanitarian affairs, focusing on international crisis, conflict, and disaster. The MIPJ has international distribution via its partnership with Ingram.

The Illumination: A Novel of the Great War focuses on war correspondents on the Western Front during and following the last days of WWI in 1918.

“My great-grandfather was a veteran of WWI, and since I can remember, I have regarded that time period with both reverence and fascination,” said Wetherholt. “It is one of those wars which has seemed to fade from memory, despite having been one of the most brutal wars ever fought, and the first truly modern war of the industrial age.

I wrote The Illumination in honor of those on the myriad fronts, focusing on both ‘total war’ and its personal impact on the men and women who lived through it. WWI was supposed to have been ‘the war to end all wars.’ The world from that point on would never be the same, and that was also true of those who fought in it.

“No matter what one has lived through, whether as a soldier or those who cover war on the front lines, he or she will always carry that experience, and is forced to deal with its aftermath,” Wetherholt continues. “The only thing one can do is to try to find a sense of peace any way he or she can. As Executive Editor of the MIPJ, it felt necessary to also mark the experience and aftermath of current wars in which the world is currently embroiled. If this book can help support such explorations, then I will feel as though some good has been done.”

Current MIPJ partners at launch include VII, MediaStorm, FotoEvidence, and Newsmotion, with Advisory Board members including Michael Ware (formerly of CNN, currently of Penance Films), Marcus Bleasdale(VII), Brian Storm (MediaStorm), and Christopher Mikkelsen and David Mikkelsen Troensegaard (Refugees United).

Special Editor of content for VII in the inaugural print / digital edition (June 1, 2012) is Gary Knight, VII Photographer, Founder, 2010 Nieman Fellow and Founder/Director of the Program for Narrative and Documentary Practice at Tufts University.

Further information may be found at the MIPJ website: http://www.mipj.org and the Humanitas Media website: http://www.humanitasmedia.com.

Amazon.com Kindle / Amazon Prime: The Illumination: A Novel of the Great War (Humanitas Media – 2012) (ISBN: 978-0-615-60591-3)

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Netflix announced it was planning to split its DVD/Blu-Ray rent by mail and online streaming services back in early September. The mail delivery service was branded as Qwikster and video games would be made available for rent as well. Since then the plan was called off and entry into the video game rental market was put on hold as many customers opposed the split.

Subscribers did not like the idea of having to visit a different website and mange a second account to rent movies or video games. Netflix’s stock price has been steadily dropping since the 60% price hike in July and loss of 800,000 subscribers in the last quarter despite the firm’s profits.

Shareholders were also not happy as Netflix would have to spend millions to launch Qwikster when consumers have already established Netflix as a rent by mail service under the Netflix brand. With Netflix’s missteps that leaves one begging the question, is there a legitimate alternative to Netflix?

Angry Netflix users have been on the lookout for something new and there might just be a replacement depending on their viewing habits. Online streaming services like iTunes and VUDU have no monthly fee but the bill will quickly add up from just a few purchases as each rental will cost around $0.99 to $5.99 depending on what it is.

The content per dollar ratio is probably not what Netflix users are looking for. Amazon Prime Instant video and Hulu Plus are much more viable alternatives as they allow unlimited streaming for a monthly fee.

Amazon Prime has the smallest selection but also has the lowest price at $79 a year, and offered a discounted price for college students that subscribed earlier this year, but Amazon has not stated if it will offer that deal year after year. Amazon Prime also has content for rental much like VUDU and iTunes.

Hulu concentrates more on what is current on television offering a free option that allows users to see five episodes of a show’s current season, movies, and in standard definition. Hulu Plus gives access to full seasons, a better selection of movies, and in high definition for $7.99 a month. Hulu uploads episodes a day after it airs on television giving it an edge over Netflix’s usual 28 day wait.

There really is no widely accepted alternative to Netflix at the moment. For $7.99 a month Netflix offers the biggest online streaming selection in movies and television. Hulu Plus is definitely better than Netflix for television fans but it is the other way around for movie buffs.

As much as people argue which is better to have Hulu Plus or Netflix (even though they have some of the same content available) at the moment they should be considered compliments and not substitutes of each other.

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When Netflix announced a price hike in July, almost 600,000 members cancelled their subscriptions. After the announcement, the company’s stock value plummeted by almost half in just a few days. Starz Entertainment, one of Netflix’s biggest source of new movies, decided not to continue its deal with Netflix.

Moreover, the decision by Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, to split the company angered even more subscribers. The company announced that it would separate into two companies on September 18, 2011. Netflix will continue online moving streaming, while the new company, Qwikster, will take care of DVD rentals.

The announcement was part of an apology letter from Hastings in response to the price increase for its services. Before, subscribers paid $10 a month for both DVD rental and online movie streaming. Netflix split the services, and subscribers would pay $7.99 a month for DVD rental and the same additional cost for movie streaming.

That would bring the total to $15.98 if subscribers wanted both, a price increase of almost 60 percent.In his letter, Hastings started with three words: “I messed up.” A video featuring Hastings and newly-named Qwikster CEO, Andy Rendich, soon followed. Hastings apologized again, and offered an explanation for the separation of services.

He addressed the strengths of streaming, and said that DVD and streaming would become more and more different in the future. “We think that the DVD service needs its own brand so that we can advertise it,” said Hastings. Rendich, who was the Chief Service and Operations Officer at Netflix, explained that Qwikster would be the same Netflix DVD rental service that is currently in place, just under a different name. Qwikster will also begin a video game rental service.

Even though Netflix has received mostly negative responses from members, there is some support for the decision. Marc Randolph, the other co-founder of Netflix, said the decision was a good one. “Not only am I completely in support of what Netflix is doing, but I think it is one of the smartest, most disciplined and bravest moves I’ve ever seen,” he wrote on his blog.

Things may be looking up for Netflix. On September 25, Netflix and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. announced that they had signed an agreement. The contract is estimated to be worth almost $30 million per movie, and does not state how many years the deal is effective. However, Netflix will not begin streaming movies until 2013, when it will stream DreamWorks titles released in 2013, as well as certain DreamWorks titles.

The agreement would add to Netflix’s library of movies, which currently stands at 20,000 titles. That is almost twice as much as its biggest competitor, Amazon Prime. Just after Netflix announced its deal with DreamWorks, Amazon and 20th Century Fox closed their own deal, which is estimated to be worth $100 million, and would add 2,000 titles to their library.

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Rumors regarding the creation of Amazon’s new tablet have been confirmed by invitations to members of the press. On Wednesday September 28, Amazon will unveil a new product to the market, and after much speculation, it has now been confirmed that it is the new Amazon Kindle that was under investigation for quite some time.

‘Amazon Kindle’ is the name of the new tablet by Amazon, a name that consumers will already be familiar with. What distinguishes this product from the e-reader is the new features installed. The new tablet has a 7-inch touch screen that displays its content in full color, and also runs the Android operating system.

What’s interesting about this tablet is that the interface was designed specifically for the Amazon tablet. The key colors displayed in the tablet are dark blue, black and orange, which are also the colors used to represent the notifications from apps at the top of the screen next to your Kindle’s name. The main screen resembles the cover flow in iTunes that users can easily recognize.

The tablet will have its own Amazon Android Appstore, and will include Google as the default search engine browser. The web browser looks like the typical web browser for other Android devices and includes tabs for different pages. It will also include the Kindle book reader app so customers can still have access to their Amazon eBook purchases.

The tablet only has 6 GB of memory, mainly reserved for apps and book storing. The reason for this may be that Amazon wants to focus on clouding, as it offers Amazon cloud player for music. The company also plans to give out a free subscription to Amazon Prime, which normally goes for $79 a year, and allows unlimited access to Amazon Instant video and their free 2-day shipping for Amazon purchases as well as no minimum for delivery.

This new device sells for half the iPad price, and the same price as the Barnes and Nobles Nook at $250. It is expected to be released in November before the holidays, which will make for a great holiday gift. Rumors also say that a 10-inch tablet is expected to debut early next year.

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