Traditionally, access to content on wire services such as Reuters and the Associated Press has required that publishers foot a hefty bill for a subscription. Aiming to open up its content to a wider audience, however, CNN has launched a new à la carte service that sells CNN Wire stories for single use for USD 199.

After introducing a subscription model for its wire service earlier this year, CNN now hopes to provide an option for publishers that need content for single use and on demand. The self-service CNN Wire Store allows publishers around the globe to browse through CNN Wire articles, hold selected articles in a cart for review, check out easily with a credit card and then download story content on demand. Content available includes Christiane Amanpour's reports from around the world, medical reports from Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and the economic and financial reporting of CNNMoney.com.

Susan Grant, executive vice president of CNN News Services, explains: "CNN understands the changing business landscape of journalism and the marketplace. The expanded CNN Wire provides an opportunity for a new platform to make CNN Wire stories easily accessible, and for the first time, on a per-story basis to any publisher, anywhere on their own timetable. With the launch of the CNN Wire Store website, we've made our original journalism easily available to other publishers on demand."

While Reuters and AP reportedly offer single-story reprints through iCopyright for about USD 500 per story, CNN's lower pricing and easy access makes it more likely to appeal to bloggers and other smaller news outlets—which, by the looks of things, just may be the future of publishing. Don't look now, but the news landscape has changed again! ;-) (Related: Online marketplace for content — Royalty-free content.)

Website: www.cnnwirestore.com
Contact: cnnwirestore@cnn.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

With more and more aspects of daily life abandoning their physical form and appearing electronically, why should libraries be any different? That’s why Sony has partnered up with software firm OverDrive, offering bookworms an easier way to borrow e-books.

OverDrive works with over 9,000 libraries worldwide, letting lenders use their library card to get new, free digital content. To protect the rights of authors, the digital service works as closely to a normal library as possible. Only a certain amount of digital licences are bought by the libraries, and once these are all out on loan, users must wait for a ‘return’ before they can borrow it. Of course, borrowers don't really have to return books: once borrowed for a set period of time, the e-book is no longer accessible, and the user can delete the file. No more late fees ;-)

The partnership with Sony means that both companies will cross-market OverDrive's library network and Sony's Reader, which—unlike Amazon's Kindle—is compatible with industry standard e-book formats offered by libraries.

Website: www.overdrive.com

Spotted by: Jim Stewart

Last month, we wrote about Heathrow Airport installing Alain de Botton as its writer in residence for a week. As tweeted by de Botton a few hours ago, the book he wrote at Heathrow was launched today, in the airport's Terminal 5.

As described on the author's website: "Working with the renowned documentary photographer Richard Baker, he explores the magical and the mundane, and the stories that inhabit this strange 'non-place' that we are usually eager to leave. Taking the reader through the departures lounge, 'airside' and the arrivals hall, de Botton shows with his usual combination of wit and wisdom that spending time in an airport can be more useful and more revealing than we might think."

Heathrow doesn't seem to have started handing out 10,000 copies as announced last month, but we expect that will happen soon. Meanwhile, it's an admirable feat of speedy writing and publishing, and of innovative brand building.

Update 25 Sept 2009 | Passengers can get one of 10,000 exclusive copies distributed for free at Costa Coffee stores in all 5 terminals. (Thanks, @airlinetrends!)

Website: www.heathrowairport.com — www.alaindebotton.com/a_week_at_the_airport.asp

Spotted by: Raymond Kollau

Technology has already created myriad new ways for parents to interact with their children, whether by narrating their own storybook videos or by playing an iPhone game on a shared walk through the park. A new option is Story Something, a site that generates personalized e-stories in which the kids listening are the heroes.

Now in private beta, Story Something targets busy parents of kids aged three through eight with a collection of original stories that can be personalized and accessed online or via email. The company has commissioned a team of professional authors to write its stories, which currently number around 50 or so. Parents begin by choosing a theme, browsing by topic or age through choices such as dragons, pets or superheroes, according to a report in TechCrunch. Along with making their selection, they also enter their child's name and age. Story Something then generates a personalized story that can be viewed online or emailed to parents, enabling them to read it from their iPhone or Kindle. Parents can build a virtual bookshelf of their favourites, TechCrunch reported, and they can even get a new story emailed to them every day. Using the site will be free for occasional use or USD 3 per month otherwise, it said.

Currently a TechCrunch50 finalist, San Francisco-based Story Something is reportedly planning to include stories submitted by parents alongside those written by its contributing authors. We'd hope there will be some kind of a reward system for that, allowing contributing parents to share in any earnings their stories bring in, as well as community features that enable rating and sharing. And how about adding the ability to turn the best-loved stories into printed and bound books through a partnership with Blurb—or an option for grandparents, say, to narrate and record them? With fresh content that can't be found elsewhere, the opportunities abound! (Related: iPhone app narrates stories for young kids.)

Website: www.storysomething.com
Contact: info@storysomething.com

It couldn't have been long after the invention of the cell phone that parents discovered how useful the devices can be for distracting and entertaining young children. Aiming to provide a more enriching experience than simply playing with the buttons or watching movies, iStoryTime is a new iPhone application that's designed to bring stories to life.

Parents with an iPhone 3G, iPhone or iPod touch can now turn their handset into educational entertainment for kids aged two to seven while they're on the go. Six original narrated stories with illustrations are currently available for USD 1.99 each on the iPhone App Store, with many more in the works, including versions for Android. "Binky the Pink Elephant," for example, tells the story of a little elephant's discovery that being different can be good. iStoryTime's self-navigating and self-narrating book application is designed for use even by two-year-olds, flipping the pages automatically while the child follows along. Kids can choose between two narrators—an adult or a child's voice—or read the book on their own. In addition, the words to the story are included onscreen so beginning readers can make associations between what they hear and the words they see.

Graham Farrar, founder of California-based iStoryTime and parent company FrogDogMedia, explains: “iStoryTime provides mind-enriching entertainment for the kids while making life a little easier for mom or dad. Instead of having to resort to movies or video games to occupy your child when you need a few minutes to finish the grocery shopping, are out at a restaurant, or stuck in traffic, you can give them a story they'll will want to hear and see again and again."

Launched in April, iStoryTime's e-books are available globally, but only in English. One to partner with for regional translations...?

Website: www.istorytimeapp.com
Contact: info@frogdogmedia.com

Spotted by: Susanna Haynie