raf@PRC.Unisys.COM (Ralph A. Foy) (03/14/90)
Has anyone heard anything about AmigoTimes, a rather nice magazine which is/was published in Canada? I had subscribed a while ago (check was cashed) and when I called today to see where my mags have been going, their numbers have been disconnected... sigh... Ralph Foy raf@prc.unisys.com
stefan@hercule.cs.concordia.ca (BUCHHOLZ stefan) (03/16/90)
>Has anyone heard anything about AmigoTimes, a rather nice magazine...
AmigoTimes has merged with INFO. Let's hope INFO doesn't pull the quality
of the mag down. BTW: My picture was to be in next issue of A-Times!!!
*******************************************************************************
Stefan Buchholz * Concordia University Computer Science * a.k.a Stefy LePew
stefan@doyle.cs.concordia.ca > MITE AVsita Multimedia lab system support <<
******************************************************************************hrlaser@crash.cts.com (Harv Laser) (03/16/90)
In article <13155@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM> raf@PRC.Unisys.COM (Ralph A. Foy) writes: >Has anyone heard anything about AmigoTimes, a rather nice magazine >which is/was published in Canada? I had subscribed a while ago (check >was cashed) and when I called today to see where my mags have been >going, their numbers have been disconnected... > >sigh... > >Ralph Foy >raf@prc.unisys.com Yes, Ralph... heave a big SIGH because most likely you will never see your money again and you will never get subscription fulfillment. I wrote for every issue of AmigoTimes that was published... nine issues total, over the course of two years. (It was supposed to be a monthy magazine..another sigh). I was not employed by them.. I never stepped foot in their offices... I live in Calif. and they were in a suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I met their owner/publisher Eyo Sama on a couple occasions, the most recent of which was at the SF DevCon last July. He seemed like a nice, personable, knowledgable fellow and he was paying me for my writing fairly well, as Amiga magazines go.. (a couple others paid me a little better, a couple o thers paid me a little less). His payments to me as an author were not what I would call "timely" but up through issue #1.8 there was really no problem, other than having to make l/d calls to Canada to find out where the check was :-/ Issue #1.9 was the last issue he spewed forth, sometime in November '89 I believe. Shortly after it was published I began making my usual phone calls to find out when I'd be paid. (I live off this stuff, you see). The payment I was owed for that issue's writing was around US$400.00, not a fortune, but not an insignificant sum either. On three separate occasions I was given the promise of "check is in the mail" and yet, after weeks of waiting, no check arrived. Finally, towards the end of January 1990 I had had it, and I phoned ATimes' offices, and spoke with Lisa Sama, Eyo's wife and "keeper of the books." I politely but strongly told her that if I was not paid within one week I would report to the world, via People/Link and via Usenet that they were not paying their authors and surely they did not want that kind of information spread about so it would be in their best interests to pay me. A check arrived a few days later by overnight courier. It was drawn on their usual Canadian bank but was payable in US dollars and I deposited it in my bank account immediately. Last week, some six weeks after cashing that check, it was returned to me by my bank with rubberstamps in French all over it which translate tothe dreaded "insufficient funds." My bank had withdrawn the $400 from my account and charged me $5 for the pleasure. So, I'm out $400 plus $5 plus numerous phone calls plus my time to collect the money plus plus etc. etc. Magazines which are in good finiancial health do not bounce author payment checks. AmigoTimes is, as far as I am concerned, KAPUT. GONERS. HISTORY. Yes their phones are disconnected. I have made MANY attempts to reach Eyo Sama, by researching home phone numbers of some of his co-works err workers and employees, all to no avail. I have attempted to pass messages to him through these people and he has not called me back. Basically, I'm screwed. Screwed too are all the other authors of issue #1.9 not to mention issue #1.10 which was sent to the printers ready to roll but was never published and for all I know probably never will be. I've already sent a registered letter to AmigoTimes' published office address revoking their rights to my writing for #1.10 and I've resold the article to another magazine. (It was a review of ASDG's Dual Serial Board). This is a real sad situation, not only for the staff and authors of AmigoTimes who have been shafted, but for the Amiga community as well. During the course of the last few months, AmigoTimes, Amiga Transactor, Amiga Sentry, Ahoy's AmigaUser, and AMnews have all bitten the dust. (The Amigan, too, but that one due to the publisher's poor health, not due to financial ineptitude). Talk about a publishing shakeout! In about six months we lost HALF of our dedicated-magazine base! As for who's left... I see Amiga World, Compute's Amiga Resource, Antic's AmigaPlus, Amazing Computing and JumpDisk as the survivors. (I'm counting Amiga-specific magazines here, not general interest computer mags which happen to also have an Amiga columnist, such as Computer Shopper and Compute). Oh, and INFO, which hopefully is still going monthly in a few months. What's happening with INFO's planned merger with AmigoTimes at this point, I don't know. I'd sure like to find out, though.
hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu (Adam Hill/Wintermute) (03/16/90)
To any and all out there who have paid money to Amigo Times. It seems
that they are out of money. Harv Laser posted a msg to FidoNet yesterday
and said that his check bounced ($400.00 US)
Now IF they join up with INFO they may honor their subscibers. But
untill they do "Cavear Emporium :-) " Beware of slick home grown mags
I LOVED Amigo Times and I hope we get them back with or without INFO.
adam hill ...
"Live long and Phosphor..."dales@teksce.SCE.TEK.COM (Dale Snell) (03/16/90)
[woof!]
In message <some_weird_number> Ralph Foy asks if AmigoTimes has
gone under.
AmigoTimes and Info magazines have merged, and will be published
together. The tentative title for the new magazine is "Amiga
Professional". I don't know when the first issue will be out,
hopefully RSN.
I hope they make it. I liked AT a lot, too. (This information is
from one of the editors of Info, while on CompuServe, so it should be
pretty accurate.)
--dds
Dale D. Snell dales@teksce.SCE.TEK.COM 74756.666@compuserve.COM
"Who is Mavis Beacon, and why is she teaching typing?"xrtnt@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Nigel Tzeng) (03/16/90)
In article <1841@crash.cts.com>, hrlaser@crash.cts.com (Harv Laser) writes... [AmigoTimes death story deleted] ^This is a real sad situation, not only for the staff and authors of ^AmigoTimes who have been shafted, but for the Amiga community as well. ^During the course of the last few months, AmigoTimes, Amiga Transactor, ^Amiga Sentry, Ahoy's AmigaUser, and AMnews have all bitten the dust. ^(The Amigan, too, but that one due to the publisher's poor health, not ^due to financial ineptitude). Talk about a publishing shakeout! In ^about six months we lost HALF of our dedicated-magazine base! ^ ^As for who's left... I see Amiga World, Compute's Amiga Resource, ^Antic's AmigaPlus, Amazing Computing and JumpDisk as the survivors. ^(I'm counting Amiga-specific magazines here, not general interest ^computer mags which happen to also have an Amiga columnist, such as ^Computer Shopper and Compute). Oh, and INFO, which hopefully is still ^going monthly in a few months. What's happening with INFO's planned ^merger with AmigoTimes at this point, I don't know. I'd sure like ^to find out, though. There are two magazines that I've seen recently...A.X. Magazine's Amiga Software & Information and Graf/X. I think they are owned by the same people. Some of their articles are good but they seem to have a big problem with page numbering and article placement. They are located in Beltsville (or Greenbelt) Md. If anyone wants more information send me mail. I haven't decided if I want to subscribe yet or not... NT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A| Nigel Tzeng xrtnt@csdr.gsfc.nasa.gov // m| STX Inc. xrtnt@csdr.span.nasa.gov // i| \\ // g| Standard Disclaimer Applies: The opinions expressed are my own. \X/ a| | "Hmmmm." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
schweige@cs.nps.navy.mil (Jeffrey M. Schweiger) (03/16/90)
In article <1841@crash.cts.com> hrlaser@crash.cts.com (Harv Laser) writes: [some material deleted...] |This is a real sad situation, not only for the staff and authors of |AmigoTimes who have been shafted, but for the Amiga community as well. |During the course of the last few months, AmigoTimes, Amiga Transactor, |Amiga Sentry, Ahoy's AmigaUser, and AMnews have all bitten the dust. |(The Amigan, too, but that one due to the publisher's poor health, not |due to financial ineptitude). Talk about a publishing shakeout! In |about six months we lost HALF of our dedicated-magazine base! | |As for who's left... I see Amiga World, Compute's Amiga Resource, |Antic's AmigaPlus, Amazing Computing and JumpDisk as the survivors. |(I'm counting Amiga-specific magazines here, not general interest |computer mags which happen to also have an Amiga columnist, such as |Computer Shopper and Compute). Oh, and INFO, which hopefully is still |going monthly in a few months. What's happening with INFO's planned |merger with AmigoTimes at this point, I don't know. I'd sure like |to find out, though. There seems to be a new player in the Amiga magazine arena. I recently picked up a copy of the premier issue of Amiga GRAF/x, published by Hahn-Wallace Publishing Group (listed as a bimonthly publication. I see that Harv Laser is one of the authors for this premier issue with a discussion of a Canon Xap Shot/ Progressive Peripherals FrameGrabber combination. IMHO, it's a pretty slick, professional looking publication. Has anyone else looked at it ? (BTW, I picked it up at a Software, Etc. outlet). Jeff Schweiger -- ******************************************************************************* Jeff Schweiger CompuServe: 74236,1645 Standard Disclaimer ARPAnet (Defense Data Network): schweige@cs.nps.navy.mil *******************************************************************************
consp11@bingsune.cc.binghamton.edu (Brett Kessler) (03/16/90)
> AmigoTimes and Info magazines have merged, and will be published > together. The tentative title for the new magazine is "Amiga > Professional". I don't know when the first issue will be out, > hopefully RSN. Can anybody confirm this? I had been wondering why my latest issue of Info was so late and why I couldn't find AmigoTimes on the 'stands anymore! I hope my subscription is still valid.... And I wonder if they'll be including one of those disks inside like AT did. I loved 'em both, but if the price is gonna be jacked up, I'd rather get the magazine without the diskette. +------///-+------------------| BRETT KESSLER |------------------+-\\\------+ | /// | consp11@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu | \\\ | | \\\/// | consp11@bingvaxa.BITNET | \\\/// | | \XX/ | (PeopleLink) B.KESSLER | \XX/ | +----------+-----------------------------------------------------+----------+
GWO110%URIACC.BITNET@brownvm.brown.edu (F. Michael Theilig) (03/17/90)
Harv's account of Amigo Times stirs up some memories. Not fond
memories, but potent ones. I worked for a small-time disk based magazine
for the Commodore 64. It couldn't have had half of Amigo Times circulation.
It was arguably the best disk magazine for the platforms they ran on
(C64, Mac, IBM, and Apple II). We didn't have an Amiga version, which
was good because AM News made us look like dirt, but they're not around
to talk about it either.
People who were familiar with the company, and our called us the best.
Everybody thought we'd survive. I was the assistant editor for most of my
one and a half years, and editor for the last few months.
I won't mince words. Due to pig-headed management, we went chapter 11.
That was about the same time I took on editor status. We were having a little
trouble paying our contributors. Actually, we wern't. We simply didn't have
the cash. The editors threatened to walk if they weren't paid. Checks got
written DAMN quick. We all had a strong concern for our writers.
I left a few months later. The magazine miraculously lied on another
year. September 1988, they went belly-up. They stranded around 35 thousand
subscribers (for all four magazines) and stiffed our programmers and writers
(hi, R'ykandar.)
I know how you feel, Harv and others, but the blame probably doesn't
rest on the editor. It's a shame the mag went down.
Our company, and probably Amigo Times, went on the assumption that things
would get better, and didn't think about who else would get stepped on
if they went belly-up. That's not their concern. Business is business.
Yell at management (I did).
/* "Come see the violence inherent in the system!"
F. Michael Theilig - The University of Rhode Island at Little Rest
GWO110 at URIACC.Bitnet
"Help! Help! I'm being Repressed!" */hrlaser@crash.cts.com (Harv Laser) (03/17/90)
In article <941@cs.nps.navy.mil> schweige@cs.nps.navy.mil (Jeffrey M. Schweiger) writes: >In article <1841@crash.cts.com> hrlaser@crash.cts.com (Harv Laser) writes: > >[some material deleted...] >|This is a real sad situation, not only for the staff and authors of >|AmigoTimes who have been shafted, but for the Amiga community as well. >|During the course of the last few months, AmigoTimes, Amiga Transactor, >|Amiga Sentry, Ahoy's AmigaUser, and AMnews have all bitten the dust. >|(The Amigan, too, but that one due to the publisher's poor health, not >|due to financial ineptitude). Talk about a publishing shakeout! In >|about six months we lost HALF of our dedicated-magazine base! >| >|As for who's left... I see Amiga World, Compute's Amiga Resource, >|Antic's AmigaPlus, Amazing Computing and JumpDisk as the survivors. >|(I'm counting Amiga-specific magazines here, not general interest >|computer mags which happen to also have an Amiga columnist, such as >|Computer Shopper and Compute). Oh, and INFO, which hopefully is still >|going monthly in a few months. What's happening with INFO's planned >|merger with AmigoTimes at this point, I don't know. I'd sure like >|to find out, though. > >There seems to be a new player in the Amiga magazine arena. I recently picked >up a copy of the premier issue of Amiga GRAF/x, published by Hahn-Wallace >Publishing Group (listed as a bimonthly publication. I see that Harv Laser is >one of the authors for this premier issue with a discussion of a Canon Xap Shot/ >Progressive Peripherals FrameGrabber combination. IMHO, it's a pretty slick, >professional looking publication. Has anyone else looked at it ? (BTW, I >picked it up at a Software, Etc. outlet). > >Jeff Schweiger > >-- >******************************************************************************* >Jeff Schweiger CompuServe: 74236,1645 Standard Disclaimer >ARPAnet (Defense Data Network): schweige@cs.nps.navy.mil >******************************************************************************* Boy, is my face ever red! {blush blush}. Well when I was composing my little tale of woe yesterday (partially quoted above) I completely forgot about Hahn-Wallace Publishing and their AX, Graf/X, etc. etc. magazines. Yes, my Xapshot/Framegrabber articles is in Graf/X. Interestingly enough this relates back to my "magazine shakeout" story since that article was originally written last summer to appear in AMnews but that magazine went down the toilet before the issue with the article came out! :-/ so it became another mad rush to resell it to someone else for publication and some $$$. I've done some additional work for H-W Pub. which will appear in future issues of AX but the previous poster who mentioned AX's rather unconventional page layout scheme (such as an article being continued on pages EARLIER in the magazine when they have to break it up) is strange.. they don't have very much advertising either, and that's reflected in the lower-than-average compensation for freelance authors like me.
akcs.clemon@wcbcs (Craig Lemon) (03/20/90)
>AmigoTimes has merged with INFO. Let's hope INFO doesn't pull the quality >of the mag down. BTW: My picture was to be in next issue of A-Times!!! Will they still come out as two separate mags or will all of the AmigoTimes staff simply be writing for INFO now? When I heard about the merger I heard that everything would stay normal and no issues would be delayed but that it would be simply a change of ownership. -- _ Craig Lemon // |_| Kitchener, Ontario \X/ | | M I G A Amiga 2000 -- 2400 bps -- AmigaUUCP 1.03D ..!watmath!xenitec!wcbcs!lemsys!clemon ..!watmath!xenitec!wcbcs!{AKCS.clemon,_clemon} ^^ Not Reliable Yet
seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) (03/20/90)
In-Reply-To: message from dales@teksce.SCE.TEK.COM So it appears that the INFO part of the magazine will be dropping 8-bit coverage...it had to happen sometime, that stuffs just too old, and TOO slow. Sean p.s...With regards to Mavis Beacon: Those who CAN do, those who CAN'T teach...hehe :^)
bbaker@cbmvax.commodore.com (Bob Baker) (03/22/90)
In article <[26055e4e:3301.2]comp.sys.amiga;1@wcbcs> akcs.clemon@wcbcs (Craig Lemon) writes: > >AmigoTimes has merged with INFO. Let's hope INFO doesn't pull the quality > >of the mag down. BTW: My picture was to be in next issue of A-Times!!! > > > Will they still come out as two separate mags or will all of the AmigoTimes > staff simply be writing for INFO now? When I heard about the merger I heard > that everything would stay normal and no issues would be delayed but that it > would be simply a change of ownership. I talked with Mark Brown at INFO magazine earlier this week and he has indicated that the merger between INFO and AmigoTimes has not hap They were investigating the possibilities but have decided against it for now. INFO is currently seeking additional investors to support going to a monthly format. AmigoTimes supposedly has moved to new offices and is seeking investors to keep the magazine going. Since I have not been able to talk with the folks at AmigoTimes I do not know the details of their current state... Sorry!
hrlaser@crash.cts.com (Harv Laser) (03/23/90)
In article <[26055e4e:3301.2]comp.sys.amiga;1@wcbcs> akcs.clemon@wcbcs (Craig Lemon) writes: >>AmigoTimes has merged with INFO. Let's hope INFO doesn't pull the quality >>of the mag down. BTW: My picture was to be in next issue of A-Times!!! > > >Will they still come out as two separate mags or will all of the AmigoTimes >staff simply be writing for INFO now? When I heard about the merger I heard >that everything would stay normal and no issues would be delayed but that it >would be simply a change of ownership. >-- _ > Craig Lemon // |_| > Kitchener, Ontario \X/ | | M I G A > > Amiga 2000 -- 2400 bps -- AmigaUUCP 1.03D > ..!watmath!xenitec!wcbcs!lemsys!clemon > ..!watmath!xenitec!wcbcs!{AKCS.clemon,_clemon} > ^^ Not Reliable Yet Today I spoke with Mark R. Brown, Senior Editor of INFO magazine. The merger with AmigoTimes is OFF, repeat, cancelled. INFO magazine is dropping all 8-bit Commodore coverage and will in all likelihood be renamed "Amiga.info magazine" They expect the next issue (which should have come out the second week of March) to begin shipping in approximately one month to six weeks from now, or, rougly at the end of April 1990. From then on the intention is for INFO (or Amiga.info) to be a monthly publication. What the current status is of Sama software, publisher of AmigoTimes, I do not know. Their telephones are disconnected. Messages I have had passed to Eyo Sama have not been returned. But the merger/deal with INFO is no longer going to happen. INFO magazine's offices are functional and their phone number(s) are listed in their magazine on the masthead page. I'm just a freelance writer for them and have no more information than the above. I was given permission to post this information about the merger cancellation by Mr. Brown. .