SMS Novel–(Mercury News) A novel told in about 1,000 text messages was released in Finland. “The Last Messages” tells the story of a fictitious information-technology executive in Finland who resigns from his job and travels throughout Europe and India, keeping in touch with his friends and relatives only through text messages. CIQ: We wish we could read Finnish. A shorter version of this would be great for teens. A Da Vinci-code-type narrative in text-messages.

Magazines Can’t Get Rate Hikes— (Media Life) With pressure from the internet, magazines are not in the bargaining position they used to be. Says one megazine executive, “We aren’t just a magazine company anymore. We’re a promotions company, an internet company, a lot of different things. We go beyond the platitude of being a marketing partner, with events, online, in-store promotions, custom publishing. We are bringing things to the table that help make the discussion of rates moot.” CIQ: This states the ideal vision. Can traditional print companies make this kind of shift fast enough.

More Marketers are Using Branded Games— (New York Times) A great solve to the much debated quesiton, “Should online content be free or by subscription?” Weatherbug has tried the model where you could pay, or choose your advertiser. Now game sites are doing the same thing. Choose your advertiser or pony up for the premium. CIQ: This works best if you can provide enough advertisers. I might be really excited to receive advertising from Dove or Jcrew. Cialis, not so much.