Technology magazines are turning their attention to helping readers make the most of gadgets they already own as consumers' ability to splash out on the latest electronics is cramped by the downturn.
Get past the sleek new 42-inch Philips TV and the latest Apple iMac on the UK Website of classic girls-and-gadgets magazine "Stuff" (http://stuff.tv), and the list of most-read news tells a different story.
For example, Stuff's second most popular online story is "5 best Easter DIY gadgets", a roundup of home-improvement tools. That's a far cry from the cover of Stuff's print version, and its lead story: "How to date a supermodel". The home improvement items reviewed are a Ryobi rugged radio for listening to in the garden shed, which sells for 22 pounds, and a Stanley organiser toolbox at 40 pounds.
"The recession has obviously sharpened people's minds as to what they're buying," says Editor-in-Chief Tom Dunmore. "I do think that people are looking at how they can make more of their technology whereas once they might have bought something, played with it for three months and then left it in a drawer," he says.
Of course, the magazine sector itself faces its own problems: dwindling circulations and a steady migration of readers online, as well as advertisers slashing budgets. In Britain alone, the men's lifestyle market - which includes the softer end of technology publications - has seen top magazines Arena and Maxim folding their UK print editions in the last three weeks.
Against this unlikely background, iconic technology and culture magazine Wired re-launched in Britain this month with a marketing budget of two million pounds from owners Conde Nast.
"There's quite a strong economic case for launching in a downturn," Editor David Rowan told Reuters Television in an interview (http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=101470). "You don't get many opportunists launching against you." Wired is no typical technology magazine and does not cater for out-and-out geeks. Rowan describes it as a magazine focused on future trends - whether in neuroscience, architecture or green tech aimed at "people who want to make a difference".
When he spoke to us he was testing ultra-light luggage from Globe-Trotter - "the future of luggage" - along with breadmakers and home surround-sound systems. By contrast, IDG, the world's biggest technology media group, is all about tech.
IDG has more than 300 print magazines - including PC World, CIO Magazine and Macworld - 500 Websites, 750 trade events and the IDC research group. Privately held IDG says it reaches more than 200 million technology buyers globally. Chief Executive Bob Carrigan says its tech-savvy audience helped it make the leap online in time.
"The tech media audience - gamers, prosumers, the IT audience - they're among the first to experiment with digital media and they've been pushing us in that direction now for years, because they're very comfortable with technology."
He has also noticed readers taking more interest in getting the right tools and software to maximise the value of their buys. As Stuff magazine's Dunmore puts it: "People can forget about the bad things that are going on in the world and enjoy the things that make them happy. We're very unapologetic, we are very much about gadget joy."
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