Media Roundup: Americans Apathetic to Losing Newspapers, Best Life Folds and More

Americans apathetic to losing newspapers — According to a Pew Research report, many Americans would not miss their local newspaper if it disappeared. Only 33 percent of those polled said they would miss reading the newspaper and only 43 percent believe that their community would be worse without a newspaper. Those under 40 were particularly apathetic with only 23 percent responding that they would miss their local newspaper. [Source: Pew Research]

Best Life folds — Best Life, Rodale Publishing’s version of Men’s Health for older men, will publish its last issue in May. The company hopes to place 10 to 15 of the magazine’s 40 employees at other positions in the company. Best Life has seen strong growth up to the second half of last year, but was unable to weather the slowdown in luxury advertising that the magazine heavily depends on. [Source: MediaWeek]

Apple announces iPhone firmware update 3.0 — Apple has sent out invites to select members of the press announcing an event on March 17th where Apple will debut the next version of iPhone firmware. Despite its popularity, the device has limitation such as no cut and paste, no video recording, no background processes and the lack of theme customization. Some are speculating that Apple will also announce the next version of the iPhone. [Source: MobileCrunch]

SXSWi attracts tech industry to Texas — Despite the current economic climate, organizers are expecting record crowds to the South by Southwest Interactive conference this week. The five day conference held in Austin, Texas has been described as a “five-day geek bacchanalia.” The event has only increased in popularity over that past few years, thanks to the rise in social media. Aside from the Interactive portion, SXSW also has film and music festivals. [Source: CNET]

Hulu launches social networking feature — On its one year anniversary, streaming video site Hulu has announced a new “friends” feature. Hulu, a joint venture between Fox and NBC, will allow viewers to pull in contacts from Facebook, Google, MySpace, Yahoo and MSN. Users will be able to see what movies and TV shows that their friends are commenting on, subscribing to and watching. Hulu also announced that a new batch of shows will made available later this week. [Source: ReadWriteWeb]