Popular Airsoft Magazine have a new issue out:

Welcome to the Gadget Show…ooopsss.. the Popular Airsoft Magazine Volume 2 Issue 6. You may just be wondering why on earth our magazine for this issue has a cover story that resembles a gadgets magazine. Indeed we are actually discussing about gadgets, and not airsoft stuff for the main story. We decided on this (actually it was Optimus Prime who rammed it down our throats), to show our excitement on developments in digital publishing, as Popular Airsoft is, well, a digital publication.

While e-Readers and tablet computers are not so new, new developments in this area have brought some excitement in the digital world, as PCs take a backseat, and mobility takes precedence. With new releases of e-readers and tablet computers comes great potential for publishers, who are under pressure to move to the digital realm. In London, our favourite free evening papers that we read while on the Tube, London Lite and London Paper, have shuttered, with the Evening Standard remaining. In the US, the print newspapers and magazines are fighting rear guard actions. So what’s happening? The internet has become too ubiquitous, that most people in the developed world get their news online and most of it for free. Coupled with a new generation of start up digital publishers who are now taking advantage of e-readers, smart phones, and tablet computers, and not bogged down by printing and distribution costs, the readership of print media is fast eroding.

image From the very beginning, we have staked our publishing in digital, since it kept our costs down, and gives us a global reach on the first minute of launching the magazine. We have taken the opportunities that digital publishing allows us, making us the only interactive multimedia airsoft magazine. But will we co-exist with print publications? Even given the pressures on print media, we still hope they do survive, as the more publications promoting airsoft, whether print or digital, the more audience that airsoft can reach.

Digital publishing is starting to take the limelight from print media. Thus, our cover story is about digital publishing and reading while being mobile. We present to you what possible gadgets that you can use while reading the Popular Airsoft Magazine, and other digital publications while on the train, the bus, plane, at the skirmish site, or even while in bed.

But the debate rages on, whether print should now be considered a “has been” by its digital detractors, and that print media advocates say that it will live on and stronger, albeit on shaky grounds. For us at Popular Airsoft, we’ll just continue doing our digital publication and let those who have enough time to discuss the pros and cons of both media realms.

We hope you like our new format, now optimised to hug the most of real estate of your screens without scrolling up and down, or zooming in or out to read the stories. Digital Publishing should make our reading experience better, not harder, and that’s what we aim for.

The Writers, (Popular Airsoft Magazine)