I was just wondering what the news is as the product has been around for a few years. It has been updated regularly but nothing really worth calling it a "new calculator". Or is there something I'm not seeing? Their website seems unchanged too.

It's called 'linked editorial' in advertising parlance. What that means is, a company pays for an advert (note that there is an advert for TOPCAT at top right on the main Avsim page) and a medium will run a news story about them in addition to placing the advertisement, in order to drum up additional interest. It's very common in newspapers and magazines, as well as with websites. Traditionally, most 'top right' advertising slots will get linked editorial, since it is considered the prime spot in advertising (this is actually based on the notion that it is the first bit of a printed page one will see when thumbing through a publication, but the tradition has sort of carried over to web pages too).You are correct, TOPCAT is of course not new, but since it is not one of the more well-publicised things for FS, yet does get updated with extra aircraft stuff once in a while, it is what might be considered newsworthy for those who are unaware of how useful it is, especially considering the fact that real airline pilots do use stuff like that. But the above info probably explains its appearance.It's important to understand that this does not mean companies are paying for news coverage; linked editorial is regarded as a perk, but it is not actually paid for in most cases. If editorial is actually paid for, in most countries, legally it has to have the word 'advertisement' appear above it, in order to distinguish it from being misinterpreted as news. Generally speaking, if you sling a press release at a news medium, providing it is well written, they will invariably put it in there anyway if they have a space to fill, regardless of whether you've paid for an advert or not. What normally happens when an advert gets placed however, is that the advertising rep who sold the advert will buttonhole the person who writes up the news page, shove a press release under their nose and ask them if they wouldn't mind slinging it in there. Al

There is no such thing at Avsim as a 'linked editorial', all news items are submitted to the Editorial Staff and are then screened for conformity with our editorial policy, in all the years i have been an Editor at Avsim never once have i checked if a news submission is from an advertiser prior to posting . A news item is submitted about a product update to inform the users group of its availability, any number of submissions have incremental improvements to a given product to report , in the case mentioned there was a new build released March 10 , it is not our policy that only major upgrades are posted but service packs , additional liveries and minor bugfixes are posted so as to have as many of a given products users informed as possible , a great many simmers visit Avsim to look over the latest releases, reviews , the File Library and Forum and leave with the impression we got it covered .C.Jodry Managing Editor, Avsim.com

Well, in that case, I stand correctedAl

There is no such thing at Avsim as a 'linked editorial', all news items are submitted to the Editorial Staff and are then screened for conformity with our editorial policy, in all the years i have been an Editor at Avsim never once have i checked if a news submission is from an advertiser prior to posting . A news item is submitted about a product update to inform the users group of its availability, any number of submissions have incremental improvements to a given product to report , in the case mentioned there was a new build released March 10 , it is not our policy that only major upgrades are posted but service packs , additional liveries and minor bugfixes are posted so as to have as many of a given products users informed as possible , a great many simmers visit Avsim to look over the latest releases, reviews , the File Library and Forum and leave with the impression we got it covered .C.Jodry Managing Editor, Avsim.com

Then with all due respect, I believe the AVSIM lead in should state it's an update/upgrade, and not give the impression it's a new product as this one does. This isn't the first time I've seen this. In fact there was one time I saw a product (Can't remember which one, it was awhile ago.) I almost re-purchased a product I saw posted on AVSIM's front page worded as if it was a new product, before I realized I already had it. I know it's not AVSIM's intention to mislead anyone, so it would go a long way to make this clarification, on news stories about product updates (Which most but not all, as demonstrated here, do), so we don't get the wrong unintended impression that it's a new product release.EDIT: It wasn't a product that I almost repurchased in this case, it was an upgrade that was reposted a month after it was first reported, that I already had. (ASA SP1) Here's the link to what I posted then.http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtop...661&hl=news

Thanks for the clarification. I see the news item has now been corrected. I was just under the impression the news items are selected in a slightly different way.Happy with that.

Thanks for the clarification. I see the news item has now been corrected. I was just under the impression the news items are selected in a slightly different way.Happy with that.

I echo that! Thanks!

I was just wondering what the news is as the product has been around for a few years. It has been updated regularly but nothing really worth calling it a "new calculator". Or is there something I'm not seeing? Their website seems unchanged too.

It's kind of like "new and improved, now with Lemon scenting".

it is not actually paid for in most cases. If editorial is actually paid for, in most countries, legally it has to have the word 'advertisement' appear above it, in order to distinguish it from being misinterpreted as news. Generally speaking, if you sling a press release at a news medium, providing it is well written, they will invariably put it in there anyway if they have a space to fill, regardless of whether you've paid for an advert or not. What normally happens when an advert gets placed however, is that the advertising rep who sold the advert will buttonhole the person who writes up the news page, shove a press release under their nose and ask them if they wouldn't mind slinging it in there.