This is the sort of launch we like to hear about! Per the release: Today, Popular Science announced the launch of a new, exclusively digital multimedia magazine, the PopSci Genius Guide. The move makes Popular Science the first-ever major consumer publication to use enhanced digital technology from Zinio, which enables online readers to interact with the multimedia publication by viewing videos, animation and rich media files embedded in stories and advertisements throughout the entire magazine.

The first issue of the PopSci Genius Guide will be available for purchase starting today, through www.popsci.com/geniusguide.

"The appetite for digital publications is clearly there, with the success of electronic reading devices like the Kindle and the launch of so many more on the horizon,” says Mark Jannot, editor-in-chief of Popular Science and the PopSci Genius Guide. “We’re really excited to be at the forefront of that movement and offer digital readers a quality product with the great design, imagination and authority they expect from our brand.”

The multimedia publication will feature Popular Science’s trademark in-depth coverage of science and technology, with each issue focused on a topic of special interest to multimedia readers. The first issue will appropriately highlight home entertainment, offering readers all the information they need to set up the ultimate home theater—from the precise placement of speakers to the optimum connections for all the gear to the best site for downloading movies—all delivered through highly interactive pages, 3-D diagrams and video. Each issue of the PopSci Genius Guide will contain exclusive original content.

According to Jannot, the PopSci Genius Guide will complement the magazine’s existing Web site, PopSci.com, launched in 1994. “Our Web site features original content and is updated many times daily with the latest news in science and technology, but Web sites and blogs aren’t a good delivery system for magazine-style service journalism and longer-format feature writing. Multimedia editions allow us to bridge that gap and work toward creating the magazines of the future.”

In the first year, readership for the quarterly PopSci Genius Guide is estimated at 900,000. The magazine will use a payment-based subscription model.

“This is truly a new frontier in media,” says Gregg Hano, publisher of the PopSci Media Group. “Advertisers have the opportunity to reach a highly targeted male audience who are on the forefront technologically. We are excited to be able to partner with Zinio to enable such a dynamic experience for our readers and out advertisers”

“Over the years millions of consumers around the world have enjoyed using Zinio to have the ability to access, read or purchase the print magazines they love, in a digital format,´ says Rich Maggiotto, President and CEO of Zinio. “As consumers become more and more used to this media, they begin to desire an enhanced experience. We are thrilled that Popular Science has created such an innovative new format that responds to the next generation reader’s needs and wants.”