Innovations in media: 'Works in Progress'

Works in Progress is a 6-year-old “magazine of new and underrated ideas to improve the world.” 

“Magazine” is used loosely. A bi-monthly print version of the London-based magazine launched only late last year. The first 20 issues of Works In Progress were digital, distributed only on a robust website that includes individual articles (including audio transcriptions of each), videos, a podcast, an email newsletter, events and an archive of past issues. 

All of the digital pieces are free to consume; the print magazine, however, costs $100 a year for six issues. It’s pricey, but beautifully designed on high-gloss paper. Each issue weighs in at more than 120 mostly ad-free pages, with an eclectic mix of content focused on “economic growth, technology, policy, history, metascience, cities, medical research, aesthetics, transport, energy and much more.” Classically liberal and market-oriented themes guide the story mix. 

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Innovations in media: 'The Cloud Report'

I learned about Christine Tyler Hill from a front-page Wall Street Journal article about the school crossing guard’s passion project that is now earning $14,000 a month in subscriptions. 

Hill publishes The Cloud Report, a monthly 8-page zine that’s “about nothing and everything.” The 2-color risograph print is on 4.25-inch by 5.5-inch stock she binds, stamps and hand labels for mailing. 

Hill is a designer and illustrator who uses her daily 50-minute crossing guard shift to uncover interesting moments at a Burlington, Vt., intersection. 

Of The Cloud Report, Hill says, “Active subscribers receive a newsletter filled with drawn and written observations from the intersection, the woods, the studio, the garden, and other

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Innovations in media: 'Power Soak'

One of my favorite music books of 2026 is Brendan Borrell’s “Power Soak: Invention, Obsession, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Sound.” 

It’s the story of Tom Scholz, the founder of the band Boston, and the legal shenanigans surrounding the band’s long-delayed third album. Scholz, ever the perfectionist, resisted intense record company pressure to release “Third Stage,” in order to capitalize on the mammoth sales of Boston’s first two albums.  

As Borrell writes, “When Scholz refused to hand over his own record, ‘Third Stage,’ until it met his exacting standards, CBS Records chief Walter Yetnikoff declared war. Royalties were cut off. Lawsuits piled up. The band splintered. And Scholz sank further into isolation.

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