A computer magazine focusing on the darker side of technology just got a black mark from CompUSA.
The national computer retailer removed all copies of In Formation magazine from store shelves late last week, saying the magazine just didn't fit the CompUSA image.
In Formation contributing editor Stephanie Anderson said CompUSA was slavering for the first copy of the magazine when it came out last fall.
"They were quite demanding about getting the magazine from the distributor," Anderson said. "They were making a big hue and cry about 'we want this immediately.'
"Now they're pulling it."
CompUSA representatives say the magazine is totally inappropriate because it contains articles with a word that a spokeswoman said "rhymes with puck and starts with an 'f.'
"That's not a corporate image we like to present," said Suzanne Shelton, director of public relations at CompUSA.
Silicon Valley programmer David Temkin published the first issue of In Formation in November with contributions from technology industry journalists.
With the tagline "Every day, computers are making people easier to use," the magazine uses satire and criticism to speak to the downside of technology. Recent articles include "Pot and porn: Welfare even a technolibertarian could love," and "Barcoded Fish: Engineered to be scannable, and the technology is moving up the food chain."
Further complicating the CompUSA flap, no one at the electronics chain seems to know where the magazine came from in the first place.
"We're not quite sure how it got into the stores, and the people who made that decision aren't here anymore," Shelton said.
"We're getting rid of it. That is the bottom line."
Shelton said the new buyer of print publications at CompUSA, Denise McDonald, discovered the magazine's material and decided it "didn't fit."
