What Magazines Do You Read? 1165
Osgyth asks: "Everyone is quick to complain about a magazine when the author makes a mistake or a stupid comment. Wired and PC Magazine are only some that have fallen to this attack. Which 'PC related' magazines does the Slashdot crowd read? Are they informative and accurate? Or merely read for their entertainment value?" Why limit the topic to just PC Magazines? What other periodicals do you all read that you find interesting?
EXTRA! The magazine of FAIR (Score:5, Interesting)
FAIR analyzes how the media reports, what they report, what they don't report, and calls out their biases.
They've done a lot of work around telecommunications policy [fair.org], looking at what the governement is saying, what business is saying, and how it will affect you and me.
They don't speculate--I love them because they are so analytical. They are data heads who use the LexisNexis database to stastistically evaluate how the media does. Is there a conservative bias in media? They'll give you the numbers and let you decide.
Subscription is $21/year.
Hot Girls (Score:2, Interesting)
The ones that I do like to read are most of the men's fitness/health magazines. My all-time favorite is Mens Health though. They seem to be very accurate on alot of things and I still haven't seen it matched by the myriad of other ones that are out there.
Maxim! (Score:2, Interesting)
The best part of Maxim is that my gf enjoys reading it as well and doesn't complain about the half-naked hotties that dot its pages.
It's inexpensive (generally under $17.00/year), it's funny, it's well put together, the articles are worth reading, and the women are plentiful and gorgeous. The only thing that I wish it had that it does not are the 1000+ line BASIC programs for me to type in that Byte used to. Now *THAT* was HOT!
No, I don't work for Maxim but I wish I did.
PC Magazine = shit (Score:5, Interesting)
While Wired can still be interesting (I read it since I started getting a free subscription somehow) it has steadily turned into the "shiny things" computer magazine. Anything stupidly expensive instantly gets coverage. PC Magazine went from being a reasonable source of information to a huge glut of advertisements with worthless content sprinkled in here an there.
2600 is entertaining still and I buy it regularly (don't want to be on that subscription list though *GASP*!) although some of the articles list tech information that's just nowhere near correct. A little too heavy on the lame windows exploits/security information too.
Non tech: Maxim and Stuff really do have pretty interesting/funny articles (and other things too)
Mental Floss (Score:4, Interesting)
I do subsribe to National Geographic but I've found myself not reading it that much but just looking at the pictures.
None really (Score:5, Interesting)
Other than that, the only ones I buy are related to mountain bikes, or occasionally hi-fi kit.
PCPro and The Financial Times... (Score:2, Interesting)
The Financial Times offers analysis as well as news and rarely makes the thicko comments inferences found in other papers (including The Times I'm afraid to say - I mean 'Loosers' was clearly a reference to Wayne Rooney - not to Rebecca Loos...)
As an aside - none of the newspapers have decent IT columns///
Stopped reading paper magazines (Score:5, Interesting)
Only magazine I buy periodically is the Reader's Digest - usually at airports.
And yes, ACM CrossRoads [acm.org] too, though I find it has very little useful content nowadays - they need volunteers btw.
Simthsonian (Score:5, Interesting)
Consumer Reports (Score:5, Interesting)
Oh, and PC Mag occasionally, although the writting has gone down hill.
Wired has great articles, but who has time to read them.
"Club" - if you don't know what this mag is, don't ask.
Mac Addict (Score:5, Interesting)
I also read whatever magazines the previous occupants of our house subscribed to. This usually amounts to Latina and Stuff. I wouldn't recommend Stuff. It's like Playboy without the softcore porn and competent writers.
slashdot! (Score:4, Interesting)
The two things I do subscribe too are national / international news magazine called The Week it's great for the stuff that you don't think about till the weekend.
And a literary magazine called The sun, that does mostly personal essays, fiction, interviews, poetry, and photographs.
No whitty comment here (Score:2, Interesting)
But i do keep my car and photography magazines around.
The Economist (Score:5, Interesting)
A densely packed periodical with a ton of well thought out opinion pieces that cover the whole world. Their articles contain a lot of fact but are - ultimately - opinion pieces. I don't always agree with them, but when I don't I have to sit down and think about my reasons.
Although, if you read their technology quarterly you realise that they aren't delving that deep into each issue they research.
IMHO, as per.
J:)
None: Fight Club Quote (Score:5, Interesting)
Reminds me of the Fight Club quote:
We're consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don't concern me. What concerns me are celebrity magazines, television with 500 channels, some guy's name on my underwear.
Re:The Economist. (Score:3, Interesting)
They do tend to see free-market capitalism as the cure for everything. I don't really have a problem with this (in fact, market-based solutions often work in places you might not expect them to), but it's something to keep in mind when you read the magazine.
Re:Maxim! (Score:5, Interesting)
Minerva (Score:3, Interesting)
What, my username didn't tip you off?
I'm not sure what this will achieve... (Score:5, Interesting)
The Economist - intelligent political and economic coverage with a distinct UK/European background. Smart enough to make you think even if you disagree with its editorial slant, as I often do.
The New Yorker - good writing, often thought provoking and cartoons.
Atlantic Monthly - more intelligent current affairs writing.
Granta - excellent if sometimes inconsistent modern fiction.
GQ - decent men's magazine, although the US edition is noticebly dumbed down in comparison with the UK edition.
Premiere - movie reviews and in-depth articles on the entertainment industry; think Entertainment Weekly with brains and a staff of almost journalists
Of the computer-related magazines, I used to subscribe to Wired, but it has descended into mediocrity in the last few years. At least it had verve during the dotcom years. I also enjoyed Byte and have issues going back to the early 80's. It was beginning to head towards just another PC review magazine before it folded, but in its heyday it really was a hobbyist's delight.
very few... (Score:2, Interesting)
"TapeOp" - home recording
but that's it, it's all on the Internet these days, no?
CVB
Re:Mac Addict (Score:3, Interesting)
Before broadband I would live for that cd of software
Re:EXTRA! The magazine of FAIR (Score:5, Interesting)
If they would just admit that they are using their "statistical analysis of LexisNexis" and such to support their biases, then they would be have much better marketplace utility.
If you want impartial, look at StratFor [stratfor.com], which fancies itself an "intelligence" oultet rather than "news." The difference being that people make decisions about their present and future actions based on intelligence, whereas news is simply to inform your opinion. Therefore intelligence must be impartial to be worth anything.
Re:Hot Girls (Score:3, Interesting)
Chicago Tribune's 50 Best (Score:5, Interesting)
Notably, Wired took the #1 spot:
Myself, I read Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, The New Republic, Aperture, Harpers and Scientific American. I'm thinking of picking up Reason, Foreign Affairs, The Economist and The Weekly Standard.
Re:Simthsonian (Score:3, Interesting)
Smithsonian is a great, great magazine. As you said, there's pretty much guaranteed to be at least one good article in every issue--for example, the little blurb on urban exploration a few months ago. And the column on the last page (I forget what it's called) is pretty reliably funny. I've even enjoyed reading articles that I thought I would have no interest in, like that one a while back about collecting bugs in--Central Park, was it?
My only real problem of late with Smithsonian is that it's been used several times to shill for Hollywood movies like "Master and Commander" and "The Alamo," and I'm always disappointed when that happens. Still, Smithsonian is well, well worth the subscription cost. (Unlike Premiere, which is the other magazine I subscribe to.)
Read Something Different Every Month. (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't remember when, where, who or how, but I once received a piece of advice I've never forgotten, which seemed wise at the time, and which I've since found invaluable.
There are magazines devoted to everything -- sports cars, handguns, knitting, ferrets, Italian cooking, Civil War reenactments, log cabins, etc. Magazines are a terrific (and cheap) way to expand your horizons.
crib
My reads (Score:3, Interesting)
American Iron Magazine [americanironmagazine.com] because AIM has a good balance of tech, reviews, and custom bikes.
Backpacker [backpacker.com] provides not only reviews of equipment and hikes, they're now including GPS waypoints with the maps.
Re:I "Read"... (Score:5, Interesting)
liberty, gun rags (Score:2, Interesting)
Computer trade rags get skimmed briefly then tossed, or just tossed.
Re:CPU (Score:3, Interesting)
A friend still has a subscription to it, and finds it worthwhile to continue. I occasionally grab a copy from him for interesting articles, such as the one they had a couple of years ago about ripping audio.
Re:I "Read"... (Score:5, Interesting)
I love the heck out of older Playboys. Did you know that OJ Simpsons was once the spokesman for a line of Hunting Knives? I get a kick out of the tone of some of the then current-events articles and the little blurbs about the high-tech (e.g. Videodiscs in the late 70s) of the day.
Nowadays Playboy has moved closer to Maxim/FHM-style content, which I consider a sad state of affairs, but it's one general interest magazine I do generally read in its entirety.
One thing that REALLY SUPREMELY pisses me off is how much worse the content is in Cosmopolitan than Playboy. Open a Playboy, and the first 120 or so pages are largely political or general interest (the forum, the interview etc), then a 3 - 7 page pictorial, then 20 more pages of general-interest material or fiction, then the PMOM (3 - 7 pages), 50 more pages - fashion, sports etc., the last pictorial, then more general interest stuff. There might be an article about sex - history of contraception or somesuch, and there's the Advisor, which is a two page column that's about half sex questions in a given month, but... it's not generally bad or explicit.
Open a Cosmo: Fashion, fashion, celebrity news, DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS RELATED TO PROSTATE MASSAGE, general interest, fashion, diet tips, six pages on "Spit or Swallow"... basically, other than the ~15 pages of artistic nudes in Playboy, something like Cosmo is a FAR worse Smut Rag.
But, er, I like the pictures in Playboy, too.
Periodicals, not necessarily mags (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to get Harper's [harpers.org] but I really don't have time to finish a Harpers and they usually just end up in the bathroom after I've read the main story. A fine magazine with some very intelligent writing. The Harper's index [harpers.org] is worth the admission price alone.
I subscribe to salon.com too. I never understood the allure of Lumpen and the other 'hip' liberal weeklies.
Thanks to the web and tivo I watch almost no televised news and get my AP/Reuters and NYTimes, Wash Post, etc for free.
New York Review of Books (Score:5, Interesting)
The reviewers in the New York Book Review usually bring up challenges to the argument/methodology used in the books reviewed. Most of the reviews also cover 2 or 3 books on the same topic, comparing the strengths/weaknesses of each.
Just a warning though, there is an obvious liberal bias to the review. It isn't of the Michael Moore/Al Franken variety that "all republicans suck" but is more reasoned and researched arguments against specific policies. And even though I'm liberal it would be nice to have some intalligent consevative views printed more often just for variety's sake.
About the only critcism I have of the magazine is that nearly every issue for over a year now has had an article (usually an editorial as opposed to an actual book review) on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (almost uniformily critical of the Israelis). Which is fine, Israel is certainly open to some criticism, but after ten articles it becomes a little tiresome.
I used to subscribe to Men's Health and found the health and fitness articles informative and well written, but after 2 years the articles became a bit repetitive. Other than medical updates there is only so much you can really write about doing arm curls.
C'mon guys (Score:5, Interesting)
Maxim? Wired? gee, maybe I should check them out next time I pick up my new American Idol CD at the walmart.
Here's what I like, when I can find them:
Artsy-Farty (Score:2, Interesting)
And when my budget allows for it, the Dungeon and Dragon monthlies. cause I'm a geek like that.
Media are now just entertainment (Score:2, Interesting)
There was a time when some journalists were driven by the ideals of their profession, to inform the public. As our society has become more materialistic, however, that has become much rarer. Nowadays, journalism is driven by the profit motive. And the way to make money in a mass market is to entertain, not to inform.
There are a few exceptions - some people are also driven by the wish to convince others of some agenda. But, of course, this also leads to bad journalism. Our media have degenerated into a mixture of entertainment and propaganda.
I used to read The Economist. Now I don't read periodicals at all. I get raw news from the Internet, and I'm old enough to be able to make some sense of it. But we rarely get the full story about anything.
Here's a old man's observation: the only time you can be pretty sure you're getting the truth, is when the government tries to ban or suppress a story, but it comes out anyway.
Circuit Cellar (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:PC Magazine = shit (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Simthsonian (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:PC Magazine = shit (Score:3, Interesting)
Can anybody recommend a good balanced PC magazine???
It seems like most PC magazines have their noses jammed up Bill Gates' butt. Every piece of Microsoft software wins an editor's choice award and five stars. The rest of the PC mags are focused on Linux and think that Billy G. is the son of satan. I suspect that the truth is somewhere between the two extremes.
What I want is something in the middle. I would like an impartial review of PC stuff. And if it is hardware, would it hurt soooo much to throw in a sentance or two about Linux compatibility? Can I use that shiny new scanner under SANE using Mandrake? And when discussing options for office software, I would like to think that OpenOffice should at least deserve a mention. I guess that I need to get a Linux mag and a general PC (read "Windows") mag.
Re:Hot Girls (Score:5, Interesting)
What I read (Score:3, Interesting)
Foodies, report in! (Score:1, Interesting)
Cook's Illustrated rocks. =D
Re:Consumer Reports (Score:3, Interesting)
I read this mag every month cover to cover. With the money I save on their best buy picks, I can buy that much more gear! And occasionally, we overlap: GPS, cell phone, monitors, etc.
Grassroots Motorsports (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I'm not sure what this will achieve... (Score:5, Interesting)
The picture on the front of the magazine was a photo of two camels in the heat of the moment, and the one on the bottom looked decidedly unhappy about it...
Jane is a good read. Really! (Score:3, Interesting)
CACM && DDJ (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, actually my subscription of DDJ lapsed a while back, and a rarely read CACM anymore.
But if I were going to read a magazine, those would be the ones.
Dead Trees Society (Score:3, Interesting)
I only get two magazines at work, "EE Times" and "Embedded Systems Programming". I'd ditch EET except then I'd have to check "none of the above" on the ESP renewal form. Sounds silly, but ESP is one of the few that's actually selective with their free subs (ie. you have to lie a little better than the average joe
At home the only thing I get is the never-ending subscription to "Popular Science" that I got suckered into a few years back; it barely even rates as bathroom reading...
Re:Lets see... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I "Read"... (Score:3, Interesting)
I always said that the worst sort of perverts were the ones who read the articles instead of looking at the pictures.
From what I've heard of the articles, I was probably right. Since Playboy stopped publishing the works of Kilgore Trout [duke.edu], it's all been downhill.
Re:PC Magazine = shit (Score:5, Interesting)
I also read DDJ and C/C++ users journal. But I've found DDJ hasn't had any meaty articles in ages. Mainly bought it for the cdrom full of backissues. What I'd really like is a mag with good algorithms and practices/approaches to solving problems. Either original code or analysis of existing GPL/free/etc code, what they are doing that works well, etc. There is a LOT of very advanced methods of problem solving out there but all I seem to see in these magazines are articles on things such as "string concatentation", a review of Windows XP SP2, and a lame "history" of jargon and acronyms (to cite a few sleepers). Anyone know any good magazines that fill this void?
I used to enjoy Boot which I think is now Maximum PC. Haven't read it in a long time. Is it still any good? I remember they started a Maximum Linux or something and made a handful of issues before canning it.
We also have (Portland, OR area) a free magazine that's been around for ages that rocks called Computer Bits [computerbits.com]. Mainly just good for finding good deals on computers and related equipment/services from local companies. BUT back in the day they had a large list of local BBS's which was a good reference! They also sometimes have good articles.
New Scientist and Fortean Times (Score:3, Interesting)
Fortean Times sort of a brainy "Ripley's Believe it or Not". It manages to cover the weird and bizzare without falling into either smug skeptical dismissal or empty-headed conspiracy. Their recent coverage of H. P. Lovecraft's connection with the occult was excellent. (verdict: Lovecraft was a life long atheist who did just enough background research to fill his stories) In some cases they are willing to step in and declare a myth to be bullshit. For example, with the WWI angels legend, the creator is both still alive, and explicitly honest as to having created that little bit of propaganda.
Bingo (Score:3, Interesting)
The Atlantic features in-depth stories on topics that are relevant, yet one seldom finds the same kind of information that any story in the Atlantic features. For example, as the Iraq situation heated but before the rest of media seriously used the word "invasion," the May issue featured Tales of the Tyrant [theatlantic.com], a piece about Saddam.
Earlier than that, the April 2001 issue gave us culture closer to home in The Organization Kid [theatlantic.com], which anyone who has been involved in the education process as a student, parent or teacher should be forced to read. The article adopts a skeptical tone of today's do-it-all culture without being didactic or heavy handed.
The former NYT Editor who left after the Jayson Blair scandal aired his opinions concerning the Times, the importance of the Times and the direction of news in America in a piece so long and thoughtful that I planned to read the lead before a run, and instead spent 1.5 hours reading and digesting the article before running even crossed my mind again.
And then there's the "Primary Sources" sections, which I'll leave for another rave. Fact is that The Atlantic is a consistantly great read.
Re:I "Read"... (Score:4, Interesting)
My wife reads it as well. Often before I do, since she usually gets to the mail first.
I've had any number of friend's girlfriends who are shocked that my wife "allows me" to get the magazine. When I press the issue, asking if they've ever actually read one (or even opened one), the answer is always no.
I like your comparison to Cosmo. I'll have to remember the next time one of them gets holier-than-thou and implies that Playboy is in the same category as cheap pornography.
Re:Read Something Different Every Month. (Score:4, Interesting)
I have to disagree. Why not buy a BOOK on a subject with which you are unfamiliar? It has been my experience that magazines are only about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of a book, and the content is ridiculous compared to one.
That, and the endless advertisements makes me find magazines nearly useless. Have you seen the price of magazines lately? I was browsing some of the less popular magazines (in this case Skeptic), it was like $8 or something like that. PC Magazine is like $5+..
the onion (Score:1, Interesting)
For real, new scientist (Score:4, Interesting)
They publish good computer related articles as well, from social issues like privacy and security to physics issues of fabrication techniques.
Most importantly though, they still have a concept of journalism, unlike WIRED's mornoic McLuhian "there is no objectivity" "geeks are our heroes" "all technology is perfect and wonderful" breathlessness that overwhelms any actual intellectual value that might lurk accidently unexpunged from their articles. Unfortunately their worse-than-useless meme has infected most of the US technical press to a greater or lesser extent.
Technology Review used to be good, but took a huge dive into pathetic pandering and breathless sensationalism under the train wreck that was John Benditt. They started to recover a tiny bit under Robert Buderi, but alas, they've just replaced him with somone from that other "long boom" loosers magazine, Red Herring, though I don't know anything else about Jason Pontin and he may turn out to be smart - perhaps he left Red Herring out of disgust?
Why is it that random placement of irrelevant paragraphs and illegible typography has become central to any US magazine's technology identity? If there was one thing more stupid and ill-concieved than WIREDs self professed end of objectivity, it was the illegibility they passed off as cutting edge design, after stealing it from Mondo 2000 and cleaning it up a bit.
Even that centuries old bastion of reason and depth, Scientific American, has succumbed to the "expanded readership" afforded shallow, mindless optimism and has scaled back their thinking articles for more content that would be at home in WIRED's pages, and seems to have cut back on opposing views, letting corporate flacks define the market impact of their inventions without any critical review - the very heart of WIRED's journalistic abdication.
As far as I've found, aside from professional journals, that leaves New Scientist as the best source of real news about technology, and the only source I've found with any critical analysis of the consequences of an invention or discoverty.
The reason why I rant so is that, particularly since the advent of the internet, WIRED style breathless but glossy reprints of corporate press releases are irrelevant. When I want to know what Microsoft thinks is their greatest innovation, I'll go to their website and save my money. What I'm willing to pay for is a journalist who takes the time to read MSFT's latest boast, then finds the people who can meaningfully and authoritatively comment on the veracity of the release and integrates the answers, all properly attributed. Only New Scientist still does this.
what I read. (Score:2, Interesting)
Linux Magazine
Wax Poetics [waxpoetics.com] (subscription)
2600 [2600.com] meaning to get subscription
sysadmin [sanmag.com] (subscription)
Ready Made (subscription) [readymade.com]
Wired (only purchased in airports)
Mother Jones [motherjones.com] (off the rack, when the cover grabs me)
Stay Free! [stayfreemagazine.org] (subscription)
Future Music [futuremusic.co.uk] almost every month
And I buy about a dozen random magazines a month, news, music making
Re:Scientific American (Score:4, Interesting)
They used to have real live science; now it seems like it's politically biased in favor of the accepted dogma. Sad really.
Like anyone CARES, but I read... (Score:2, Interesting)
I am currently subscribed to Cook's Ilustrated and Cuisine at Home. I occasionally will buy Saveur, Gourmet and Good Food (a UK mag-I love Borders). If it's around I'll paw through the latest National Geographic and laugh when they blither on about global warming and evolution as if they're established, proven facts. If someone I like is on the cover, I'll pick up Maxim or FHM, but generally those magazines seem like they're made for guys who never matured beyond the fourth grade.
I also like Macworld OK, MacAddict more and Mac Design most of all. PC Magazines are all the same: how to make your PC faster, defend against viruses/trojans/worms, how to tweak windows to make it faster/crash less/take out the garbage/satisfy your woman better than you could ever hope to/whatever. So I read them for comic relief.
Told you you didn't care.
Thanks for sharing the advice. (Score:2, Interesting)
While I'm on the topic of public libraries, I'd like to suggest to everybody to go to the public library, & borrow some children's music to learn a foreign language. I tried that with French, & picked up some catchy tunes & new words.
Re:Maxim! (Score:3, Interesting)
Linux Journal (Score:3, Interesting)
Other than those two, I sporadically get Linux Format(expensive, but comes with nice DVDs), Linux World(little too focused on enterprise for my tastes), 2600(compact, sometimes useful, often entertaining in its un-usefulness), C/C++ Programming(had a subscription but only read half of them), Men's Fitness(another subscription that rarely got put to much use...), and every now and then its fun to read Heavy Metal(adult-oriented cartoons if you've never read it).
btw, thanks to whoever mentioned free subs. to stuff like Wired...I just extended mine a year for free!
Re:I'm not sure what this will achieve... (Score:4, Interesting)
Other good covers:
Greatest danger, or greatest hope? [economist.com]
Will the real Al Gore please stand up [economist.com]
Can it fly? [economist.com]
Mr Bush goes to Europe [economist.com]
Remember [economist.com]
Here's [economist.com] an archive of their covers going back to 2000.
Re:Read Something Different Every Month. (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem with books is that if you're dealing with a field that is rapidly changing very often they are months or years behind the times. Magazines are usually only a month or two behind. Books are great for indepth analysis and historical information but magazines are better for up to date information and zeitgeist. The web tends to be even better for up to the minute information but there can be problems with signal to noise ratio due to the vast number of personal sites and issues around Googlebombing.
Stephen
Magazines Read on a Regular Basis-47 of Them! (Score:2, Interesting)
2. Application Development Trends
3. BtoB
4. Baseline
5. Business 2.0
6. Business Integration
7. Cargill News
8. CIO
9. Computerworld
10. CRM
11. DB2 Magazine
12. DM Review
13. Business Integration Journal
14. e-business advisor
15. Electronic Commerce World
16. Enterprise Architect
17. Enterprise Development
18. Executive Edge
19. eWeek
20. Forbes
21. Fortune
22. InformationWeek
23. InfoWorld
24. Intelligent Enterprise
25. Internet Week
26. Java Developer's Journal
27. Java Pro
28. Line 56
29. Linux World
30. Lotus Advisor
31. Manufacturing Systems
32. Mobile Business Adviser
33. Mobile Enterprise
34. Oracle Magazine
35. PC Magazine
36. Portals
37. R&D
38. Software Development
39. SD Times
40. Software Test & Performance
41. Technology Review - MIT
42. Transform
43. Wall Street Journal
44. WebSphere Developer's Journal
45. WebServices Journal
46. XML Journal
47. XML Magazine