WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kodak announced the sale of three of its new Generation News platesetters to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to be installed at the paper’s Gwinnett County plant. Installation in slated for August, Richard Hawes, director of operations, told Newspapers & Technology. The deal comes on the heels of Kodak’s announcement that it would beta test the machine at the Los Angeles Times’ Olympic plant.

The new high-speed thermal computer-to-plate unit is capable of producing 300 plates per hour.

Nela will supply the plate-handling equipment, including an Evolution high-speed vision punch bender verification and distribution system for the plateroom and tool-less lock-ups for the paper’s four TKS Jupiter presses.

Meantime, Nela said the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune purchased two additional VCP vision benders and a 26-station automated sortation system to provide flexible plate sorting for the publisher’s five presses. The plate handling equipment will be integrated with three lines of Agfa Advantage CTP devices and an existing Nela vision punch bender. This installation will allow the Star Tribune to process more than 600 plates per hour.

Finally, Kodak announced the sale of a Trendsetter News and its PF-N non-process plates to the Mount Vernon (Ohio) News.

Editor’s note: You can listen to the complete exclusive interview with Jack Knadjian about the new platesetter on News & Tech Radio via www.newsandtech.com.

In other Nexpo developments:

Postpress sale: The Naples (Fla.) Daily News tapped Muller Martini Mailroom Systems Inc. for two SLS-3000 inserters to be installed in its new plant now under construction. The contract also calls for MMMS to supply its SAMS Plans software for mailroom management. The inserters, one 32: 2; the other 22:2, will be in operation in the third quarter of 2009. MMMS is also installing two conveyor systems, two press-to-hopper systems and 18 hopper loaders.

First 20-inch cutoff presses planned: The (New York) Daily News’ new Commander CT presses from Koenig & Bauer AG will be engineered with a 20-inch cutoff, KBA said. The 6-by-2 presses will have a web width of 75 inches, which means the tab will have a format of 12.5 inches by 10 inches. The Naples (Fla.) Daily News, meantime, is also configuring its forthcoming WIFAG press with a cutoff of 20 inches, bringing to two the number of U.S. papers embracing that cutoff.

Morning News upgrading controls: The Dallas Morning News selected ABB to replace the controls on one of its six TKS (USA) presses and upgrade the controls on its WIFAG press. ABB will install its MPS production software on two consoles on the TKS press and five consoles serving the WIFAG press in a project to be completed later this year. The project is being done in conjunction with a web-width reduction plan that will see The Morning News compress its web width from 50 inches to 48 inches. Meantime, ABB will also install its MPS system on the WIFAG press being placed at the Naples (Fla.) Daily News.

Heatset for Transcon Calif. plant: Transcontinental Inc. will equip its three MAN Roland ColorMAN XXL presses to be installed at its Fremont, Calif., newspaper production plant with heatset drying. Megtec is supplying three Dual-Dry TNV dryers, one for each press. The plant is scheduled to be in operation next year. Meantime, Transcontinental picked HK Systems to supply it with an ASRS to manage newsprint storage and transport at the facility.

New edit software: MAN Roland’s ppi Media unit said its Felix editorial software will be introduced in Germany this year and into the United states in the first quarter of 2009. Felix will fill in a missing link in ppi’s portfolio and enable the vendor to migrate into a full service provider, officials said.

Pa. paper replacing controls: Rockwell Automation is upgrading press controls at The Times-Tribune in Scranton, Pa. The vendor is installing its PrintLogix QE control software on two consoles managing the paper’s Goss International Corp. Headliner Offset press. The new system will replace the press’ DEC-based controls. The project will finish up this summer, Rockwell said.

Postpress upgrade: Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. tapped Seidel Enterprises for floor equipment and a feeder exchange for its newspaper in London, Ky. Meantime, Seidel said it has placed a palletizer from Danish postpress vendor DAN Palletiser A/S at a U.S. paper for evaluation. Seidel represents DAN in the United States.

New return system introduced: Schur Packaging Systems Inc. introduced a system aimed at helping newspapers better manage returned copies. The Returned Product System has a throughput of up to 20,000 copies per hour and uses a barcode reader and digital camera to record the materials being processed.

Press sold to Ariz. printer: Goss International Corp. said it sold a Magnum 4 press to contract printer Valley Newspapers in Phoenix. The press, configured as four four-high towers, two two-high towers and two folders, will be installed later this year. Meantime, Ecuadorian newspaper publisher Grup Granasa added a Universal four-high tower and made other modifications to its existing Universal press to increase paging and color capacity. And Artes Graficas del Litoral in Argentina ordered a Uniliner press, configured as 12 units, a jaw folder and three pasters. The publisher also is equipping the press with changeable web width, allowing it to print the 60-inch-wide national daily, Clarin, the 50-inch El Litoral and commercial jobs. A heatset dryer will be added later, Goss said. The Uniliner will go into production next year.

Outsourcing firm gets 1^st U.S. client: CCI Sourcing Inc. signed its first U.S. newspaper for its advertising production outsourcing service, the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail.

SLP goes violet: Southern Lithoplate Inc. is adding a digital violet plate to its newspaper product portfolio.

The Tiger V plate, available now, according to Steve Mattingly, SLP’s vice president of marketing, joins SLP’s flagship Viper thermal plate as products the vendor now offers to newspapers.

SLP tapped ECRM Imaging Systems as its primary partner promoting the violet plate, although Mattingly said the plate will work with other vendors’ violet platesetters as well.

The Tiger V is engineered with a run length of up to 150,000 impressions and can support a 175-line-per-inch or 2,450-dot-per-inch resolution.

”The introduction of the Tiger V plate won't change SLP's current CTP Alliance, which is built around the Viper plate and features platesetters from Screen USA.

Calif. daily upgrades workflow: The Visalia (Calif.) Times-Delta selected ProImage NewsWay software to drive the publisher’s existing Screen USA-based computer-to-plate workflow.

The newspaper chose NewsWay based on the app’s ability to integrate digital files coming in from a variety of sources, ProImage said.

Meantime, ProImage rolled out NewsWay 5.1.

N.C. paper picks edit app: The Wilson (N.C.) Daily Times signed a contract to purchase MediaSpan Software’s iQue editorial app.

CNI tweaks AdDesk: CNI Corp. announced updated features of its AdDesk software designed to help publishers manage outsourced ad production and improve order entry.

New features include a Creative Request form, which CNI said enables sales staff to submit ad layouts to the creative staff, matched to the correct insertion order, from any location with Internet access; new routing and tracking of ad production; and e-proofing enhancements designed to give advertising and production staff ultimate control over the proofing process. CNI said proofs can be routed through an internal quality assurance process before being viewed by advertisers.

Fujifilm unveils chem-free plate: Fujifilm debuted its Ecomaxx-V violet plate, slated to be available in the first quarter 2009. Fuji said the plate — rated for runs up to 200,000 — is chemistry free and suitable for newspapers of all sizes.

The plate uses less effluent, requires no pH control during processing and offer easier maintenance of the finishing unit, Fuji said.

Fuji also launched XMF C-Fit, intelligent image optimization software designed to automate the process of analyzing and improving RGB images that arrive from various sources, the vendor said. XMF C-Fit includes face recognition and skin smoothing, light source recognition, exposure and white balance adjustment, and sharpness enhancement, to create an RGB digital master.

Washington Times picks DTI: Digital Technology International said The Washington Times selected its Audience Database app to underpin the paper’s marketing efforts. The app will support functions ranging from subscription campaigns and ad upsells to implementation of new products and services. The Audience Database integrates third-party systems spanning e-mail marketing, Web site analytics, user behavior tracking, data analytics and lifestyle analytics.

Saxotech, Pluck team up: Saxotech and Pluck Corp. teamed up to integrate Pluck’s SiteLife social media platform with Saxotech’s Mediaware Center to allow publishers to manage the presentation and distribution of newsroom and user-generated content.

Gannett will be the first publisher to use the combined app, rolling it out through properties now using Saxotech Online. Users will be able to post comments, set up their own pages, write blogs and post photos.

Sports service launched: CommunitySportsDesk launched a Web-based service for newspapers that allows participants to post game scores, summaries, highlights, photos and other features for community youth and recreation sports leagues.

Olive snares contracts: Olive Software said three more California McClatchy Co. newspapers — The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee and The Modesto Bee — chose its ActivePaper Daily app to manage their digital editions, bringing the total number of McClatchy papers using the app to 11.

Olive also unveiled the latest version of the app, 4.1, which includes better navigation and translation capabilities among other features.

Pruitt named NAA chairman: McClatchy Co. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt was named chairman of the Newspaper Association of America. Other officers selected were Michael E. Reed, president and CEO of GateHouse Media Inc; George B. Irish, president of Hearst Newspapers and Mark G. Contreras, senior vice president of newspapers for E.W. Scripps.

AP contracts with iCopyright: The Associated Press said it will use copyright licensing from iCopyright, allowing online users of AP content with a Web-based method to license and share AP stories.

Meantime, AP said the more than 1,900 media affiliates participating in its Online Video Network will now be able to share their local video content with other members within the network.

VoicePort upgrades app: VoicePort released an upgrade to its CircPort software, providing additional speech recognition and transactional support.

BluMunKee releases upgrade: BluMunKee unveiled 3.0 of its imaging process software, which lets users better manage their photos and includes support for Apple’s Leopard OS.

In Brief

MediaSpan Software named Ken Freedman vice president of sales.

The New York Times partnered with Google to offer a geographic-based news layer in the Google Earth 3-D browser. Google said this is the first time it partnered with a news organization to display real-time news content in Google Earth. Users can click on The New York Times placemarks and see the latest news by sections or regions that is updated every 15 minutes.

www.google.com

Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive and Tribune Media Services partnered with NewsGator Technologies Inc. to release two news widgets. WPNI released a mobile application called Candidate Tracker and TMS is offering another widget showing the Major League Baseball telecast schedule.

www.newsgator.com

USA Today launched a new instant message-based application available initially to users of America Online’s AIM service. Users will be able to search current and archived usatoday.com headlines and set up real-time news alerts via instant message. InfiniteAgent developed the USA Today instant message bot.

www.infiniteagent.com

Day International said it will market XCP Pressguard in North America beginning this month. Manufactured by the Scottish-based Marott Graphic Services (UK) Ltd., XCP Pressguard is a corrosion protection fluid designed to provide protection across the entire printing press; from cylinders and plate clamps to bearers and side frames.

www.dayintl.com

ECRM released RIPMate 8.0 with new enhancements including PDF raster output of variable page sizes, support for PDF 1.7 and PDF/X-4 compliance, multithreaded rendering, and support for Apple Macintosh OSX 10.5 and Microsoft Windows Vista operating systems.

www.ecrm.com

Yahoo Inc. said it would begin a limited test of Google Inc.'s AdSense for Search service, which will deliver relevant Google ads alongside Yahoo's own search results. The test applies only to traffic from yahoo.com in the U.S. and will not include Yahoo's publisher partners. The test is expected to last up to two weeks and will be limited to no more than 3 percent of Yahoo search queries.

www.yahoo.com

www.google.com

Anygraaf USA announced a partnership with mobile content management provider Conmio to offer Conmio’s ManaGate software. The deal will allow Anygraaf to provide mobile content management that integrates with its Doris ePlanner content management and publishing apps, the vendor said. ManaGate provides device-specific recognition, content filtering and context-aware mobile services for users worldwide. Meantime, Anygraaf said it’s been selected as a preferred supplier by the PAGE Cooperative.

www.anygraaf.com

www.pagecooperative.com

AccuWeather.com said its Zumobi weather widget ranked in the top three most downloaded tiles since its launch in January. The Zumobi widget on AccuWeather provides current conditions and 5-day forecasts for easy access by users on mobile devices from the Zumobi home screen.

www.accuweather.com

The Omaha (Neb.) World Herald selected XpanceX and XpanceNet software from Morcor Solutions Inc. to manage its display ad tracking and asset management.

www.morcor.com