Hold the phone, MacWEEK Online lives

Talk about FUD! Today's news that the print edition of MacWEEK will gain a new name (e/media Weekly) and a cross-platform focus on content creation has set off an avalanche of speculation and worry.

Some readers have interpreted the reports to mean the end of the road for MacWEEK and its trademark brand of top-notch Mac news coverage. I'm here to tell you it's just not so.

In my new role as director of online content for Mac Publishing, L.L.C. -- which includes MacWEEK, Macworld and the forthcoming e/media Weekly sites -- I can tell you that MacWEEK Online is central to our Web plans. We are ramping up our efforts to turn MacWEEK Online into the best source of Mac news anywhere.

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The shift of focus both in print and online acknowledges a simple fact about how Mac users want to get their industry info: We're a Web-savvy crowd, and more and more of us are looking to the Internet for high-tech news. MacWEEK Online has been providing Mac news to you ahead of its print counterpart, and our commitment is unchanged by the moves on the print side of the office.

As a matter of fact, this is a good time to announce that John Batteiger, a MacWEEK veteran with experience in the trenches of daily newspapers, has come on board as MacWEEK's senior editor/online.

Both John and I are eager for your feedback, and we will do our best to answer your inquiries. Write to us at matthew_rothenberg@macweek.com and john_batteiger@macweek.com.