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Leading technical publisher, O'Reilly Media has launched an interactive online community around their upcoming title iPhone Hacks - Tips & Tools for Unlocking the Power of Your iPhone and iPod Touch . 

Launched on Near-Time Premium, this site offers iPhone enthusiasts an opportunity to gain advanced access to hacks, tips, and tricks to make their iPhone experience even better.  Members of this community site can make comments, participate in forum conversations, and help author the book by submitting their own hacks. 

A free 30-day trial is available on the site.  Subscriptions to the site are $5.99 per month or $24.99 per year. 

Cannot find Image Contentnation.com , an online community of social media enthusiasts focused on developing a new book on social media, was launched earlier this week at the annual Buying and Selling eContent conference [conference wiki ] in Scottsdale, Arizona by content industry expert John Blossom, President of Shore Communications, Inc., a leading consulting and research company servicing the electronic publishing industry. Mr. Blossom is the author of an upcoming book on social media to be published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. using materials developed on Contentnation.com by Mr. Blossom and its community members.

The book being developed on Contentnation.com, to be entitled Content Nation: Surviving and Thriving as Social Media Changes our Work, Our Lives and Our Future, focuses on the broadening impact of social media as its availability through online publishing technologies enables both individuals and major institutions such as corporations and governments to communicate more influentially without using traditional media outlets. By Mr. Blossom's calculations based on recent market research there are now 73 million people worldwide using social media to influence others, a number approaching the population of Egypt, the world's 15th largest nation.

Contentnation.com offers free membership for those would like to create content and makes the developing content of the Content Nation book available on a free basis in Web page format.

Contentnation.com is being hosted by Near-Time, Inc., a leading provider of social media publishing technologies. The Near-Time publishing platform combines the capabilities of wikis, weblogs, forums, tagging, bookmarking, embedding content and other key social media publishing technologies with easy-to-use features and sophisticated administrative features that enable the rapid development of highly valuable social media for enterprise, ad-supported and premium online communities. "The Contentnation.com Web site is an excellent example of how our integrated social media publishing technologies can enable the rapid construction of many forms of highly valuable content," said Reid Conrad, CEO of Near-Time, Inc. "Near-Time has worked closely with Mr. Blossom to help make the Content Nation project a success and has benefited from his insights into leading publishing technologies."

"Near-Time helped Wrox get a previously-published 1200-page book onto their wiki based community platform extremely quickly,” said Jim Minatel, Acquisitions Director for Wiley Technology Publishing/WROX Press. “This new online format for the book gives readers a completely new ability to comment on any section of the book and makes it easy for us to keep this content up-to-date as long as it is in demand. Working with the Near-Time platform has been simple, and provided us the fastest way to meet the continued demand for Wrox content from the developer community."

The Near-Time interactive publishing platform helps publishers maximize online revenues and provide a richer experience for their readers. Near-Time provides a variety of monetization options for publishers which support the complete life cycle of content products and bring currency to content that is not possible in print or other eBook formats. With Near-Time, publishers can quickly deploy and control content online in an environment that encourages participation and engages readers in forums, commenting, ratings and other ways that bring communities together.

“Near-Time’s interactive Wiki technology transcends what has been possible with digital publishing because of its rich, collaborative features,” said Joe Wikert, Vice President and Executive Publisher, Professional/Trade Division, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. “The Near-Time platform goes a step further – offering a catalyst for true community-building. We chose Near-Time because it allows us to provide a richer experience for our readers with content that is more relevant and valuable, rejuvenate old titles, expand market reach and inject new life into backlist titles.”

”We are thrilled to partner with Wiley and Wrox in the development of interactive communities for the publishing industry. Near-Time offers a flexible, interactive publishing platform that enables publishers and content providers the ability to create new business models,” said Reid Conrad, Near-Time’s CEO. ”With participation already in over 60 countries, the Near-Time based Wrox communities are becoming a strategic, global technology resource.”

Near-Time enables publishers and content owners to make available and sell directly to consumers and gain competitive advantage. Consumers can interact with authors and other readers who share their interests. Unlike the linear experience of traditional eBooks, Near-Time enables dynamic content organization based on reader interest. Near-Time extends the life cycle of content products and helps make each phase more profitable. During pre-press, content gets to market faster and enables a community of interest around a topic, giving technology and STM publishers a distinct first-to-market advantage. When a title reaches backlist, online distribution allows publishers to capitalize on the long tail of the topic.

Built on the Near-Time platform, Premium is the only turnkey Web 2.0 solution that makes it possible to create, publish and monetize content online. The platform includes everything necessary to create and publish content, build community and monetize access and interaction. Site owners can create multiple custom pricing plans based on monthly, annual or one-time fee structures and receive 80–90 percent of all membership and subscription fees.

About Near-Time

Near-Time is the leading Web 2.0 platform for cross organization collaboration. Business professionals can quickly create rich interaction with their prospects, customers, partners and suppliers. Near-Time integrates wikis and weblogs to enable groups to work together more effectively in a secure, hosted environment. Near-Time users can securely share information, files and create group calendars. Near-Time is in use in over forty nations by thousands of businesses, academic institutions, government agencies and nonprofit organizations, to maximize internal and external collaboration. Near-Time Premium leverages the Near-Time platform to enable organizations to monetize their communities and content. For more information, go to http://www.near-time.com/.

About Wrox Press

Written by actual programmers, Wrox books offer the benefits of real-world experience and road-tested examples that really work. "Beginning" books provide a complete working knowledge of the subject, using hands-on lessons and proven training techniques. "Professional" and "Expert One-On-One" books are loaded with practical, focused information from leading technology experts. "Programmer's Reference" books are invaluable for their detailed, on-the-job reference support. "Problem-Design-Solution" books analyze development problems programmers encounter and supply solutions that work. Wrox books help programmers get the job-then do the job better. For more information, visit http://www.wrox.com/. Wrox is an imprint of Wiley.