“And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” —W.B. Yeats

That’s been a pretty good description of the cloud of fear that has collected around many of us who’ve spent our careers producing printed communications. Since, print has been declared dead in the last couple of years.

Well, the new beast is taking shape, and it’s not so rough after all. In fact, it may turn out to pretty damn sexy and even, gasp, profitable! Witness the latest reincarnation of Gourmet as Gourmet Live to be released for the iPad later this year. The iPad is allowing Conde Nast to pull a Lazarus on this much loved brand. But this new creature will be part magazine, part social media resource with a game component similar to Foursquare. It will feature content from it’s  backlog of recipes as well as new content available for a small fee. (Gourmet Magazine Revived for the iPad)

Wired magazine also shows what the future may hold for publishing with downloads recently exceeding it’s newsstand sales without cannibalizing them. Wired is also breaking new ground and acting as an early leader in establishing conventions for digital publishing. (Introducing WIRED on the iPad)

But this isn’t an Apple love-fest. Adobe is playing a key role in enabling much of this revolution with it’s new software offerings for Creative Suite 5, or if you’re on a first name basis with it like we are—CS5. CS5 is providing powerful new ways for content developers to digitize their content straight from their printed projects while minimizing development costs. Apparently Adobe has been the motor under the hood of Wired magazine’s new digital offering. (Creating Digital Magazines)

In a way, it may be that the website has died a little. As devices like smart phones and tablet computers offer more attractive vehicles for content, the website may grow to be more utilitarian in nature, like the PC itself. Enter Flipboard. Billed as your social media world presented as a magazine experience. A new app for the iPad. Okay, so maybe this is an Apple love fest after all. But this app is a great example of how the website is being transformed by the app. And the exciting new possiblities of presenting and monetizing content. (Flipboard, New “Social” iPad Magazine will be Powered by Semantic Data)

From this spot in the road, we may have to correct, the masterful Yeats’ gloomy vision with the more stylish, if not remotely linguistically comparable Don Draper by way of Balzac — “Our worst fears lie in anticipation.”

I can’t call myself an early adopter. Although I appreciate the latest techie gadget from afar, I would rather spend my cash on a new pair of Nicole Miller shoes or designer skinny jeans that make me look as good as the money I paid for them. However, after watching the demo of Apple’s latest and greatest, my calendar is marked, with alarm button set for June 15th; iPhone 4′s pre-order start date.

A few months ago I heard a TED talk by Simon Sinek called “How great leaders inspire action.” One of his prime examples was Apple and how they “sold” their products; in essence, what makes them so special. On paper, they don’t have better materials than anyone else. They don’t have access to a more talented pool of people than anyone else. But why are they different? The answer is in the question: WHY? Why do we do what we do? By WHY, we are asking, “What is our motivation? What is our purpose? What is our belief?” The core of any brand. Although I don’t have access to Apple’s brand guidelines, if I had to guess, their core belief might sound something like this: “In everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently.” Apple’s success is not in retrofitting their products to this core understanding of themselves, but their ability to create products that continually reflect this core belief year after year. Instead of selling the product, they are selling an idea. When my PC friends fire off their list of complaints regarding Apple products, I can’t spar in technical speak. When they argue how elitist Apple is, I pretty much shrug my shoulders. But with so many gadgets out there that change and become updated every other second, iPhone 4 made me stop and mark my calendar in anticipation of such an ingenious device. iPhone 4 showed me a new way to see an old staple. iPhone 4 inspired me to buy who they are… and it’s pretty damn sexy.