Dave brings word of the closing of Out of Town News in the heart of Harvard Square. While totally understandable, given the current shape newspapers are in, it still is pretty sad for me on a personal level.

When I lived in Cambridge, OoTN was a daily stop on my way to the T. I grabbed the Globe or the New York Times and headed into work. Once my daughter was born, we had a father-daughter walk each Sunday morning. She was in a stroller or a Baby Bjorn and we walked to get the Sunday New York Times. It allowed my wife to have a few minutes peace without a newborn in the house. I look back very, very fondly at that time especially with my daughter now being almost a decade old.

Though some are trying to keep it going, it doesn’t look good for Out Of Town News. I’m sure others have memories of it but these are mine.

Going along with this is Coolspotters, basically a database of celebrities and the products they use. Mike Davidson of Newsvine fame gives a good overview.

bub.blicio.us has additional information on it. This looks very interesting and a great way of keeping tabs on anything happening.

LiveNewsCameras.com started on Super Tuesday with only a couple of feeds focusing on the Republican and Democratic candidates. What started as a humble newsroom experiment has earned the participation of ABC, CBS and NBC stations.Using Mogulus, the site also features a livecasting moderator who helps us navigate through the available and upcoming content. And media isn’t truly social if it’s not portable. You can also embed “the moderator” on your site, blog or social network profile and also interact them them and other views in real time.

Random thinking while waiting for the coffee to work its magic
• The kids were very excited when Miley Cyrus walked down the Red Carpet and presented one of the Best Songs.
• I’m guessing that if people in the seats didn’t have kids, they had no idea where three of the Best Songs came from.
• I have a crush on Diablo Cody and it has nothing to do with the pin-up girl tattoo or the dress she wore. Honest! Really! Seriously!
• For the first time in years, I didn’t see any of the Best Picture nominees. Next week, I’ll take care of that.
• Nice shout-outs to the iPhone and the Wii.
• Overall, watching via Tivo is still the way to go.

The blog itself is a fun read because it is the epitome of someone not caring about the expected role they are supposed to play. Whenever you see the children of candidates, they are almost always in a safe environment away from questions from reporters. If reporters were to read the blog though, they wouldn’t find much in terms of thoughts on foreign policy or social issues, instead, they’d see behind-the-scenes photos of campaign stops and what Meghan’s latest playlist. And frankly, I think that’s a much better thing.

Readership will get another boost starting Tuesday, when TheAtlantic.com will abolish the fire wall that has allowed only subscribers to the print magazine to see most of its articles online. It will make its archive accessible, too.

I think they are on the right track in terms of moving the magazine beyond just print.

The Web site “functioned for too long as just a marketing arm for the print magazine, rather than publication in its own right,” said James Bennet, the editor in chief. For years, he said, “it was a very small number of people, working very hard, who kept it alive.”

Craig Stoltz gives some additional perspective to the move.

The Atlantic’s policy, while not entirely uncommon, is so dunderheaded it’s hard to know where to start.

* People who subscribe to the print edition don’t need to read the stories online–so they essentially receive nothing of value for their patronage.
* Potential new readers are punished and insulted when they go to read an article and get stopped by the dead-tree police. Subscribe or pay $2.95 to read any further, pal. You got a problem with that?

This kind of policy begins when someone in a corner office sputters, “But we can’t give it away for free, we’ll erode our subscriber base!” and turns into reality when others in the room lacking the courage or brains to explain why this is a terrible way to treat high quality content these days.