Boys and Girls, The Future of Newspapers

[fishwrapper]

Mix in a color LCD screen. A lower price to reach more readers.
And you got it.
Shorter stories. Quick-hit news.
No more longballs. Narratives and the written feature are for magazines.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/ref=amb_link_6055642_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0C8PNWW13HGSXX667T6J&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=340036301&pf_rd_i=507846

 

[DougDascenzo]

How are you going to wrap a fish in that?

 

[fishwrapper]

Presents a problem, doesn't it?

 

[HoopsMcCann]

yawn

why have one of those when you have one of these?

 

[fishwrapper]

I have a BlackBerry Pearl. You're missing the point.
And, when Microsoft launches their platform next year, you can flush that one.

 

[HoopsMcCann]

no, i'm not missing the point -- digital readers have been around for a while, with downloadable content. just because its branded by amazon doesn't kill the newspaper. the cell phone and distribution through cell phones and devices like the iphone and blackberry are much more part of the future than amazon's 1996 machine

 

[HoopsMcCann]

And, when Microsoft launches their platform next year, you can flush that one.

just like the zune has taken over the world!

 

[fishwrapper]

I didn't say it would kill newspapers. Those were your words.
You're stuck on the gadget. The immediate technology. The interest is the merger of content and platform and technology. Specifically original content.
The New York Times and Washington Post seem to thing "amazon's 1996 machine" is worthwhile. They're providers of the content.

 

[buckweaver]

I didn't say it would kill newspapers. Those were your words.
You're stuck on the gadget. The immediate technology. The interest is the merger of content and platform and technology. Specifically original content.
The New York Times and Washington Post seem to thing "amazon's 1996 machine" is worthwhile. They're providers of the content.

The thing is, the merger already exists, content-wise anyway -- I read L.A. Times and WaPo stories on my phone all the time. I get AP feeds from Google. All formatted for a cell-phone screen (after about a year of trial-and-error, anyway.)

The next step is for every daily newspaper in the country to give you that kind of formatted, real-time access to their content on the gadgets people use -- which won't be the Kindle, I'm betting.

 

[fishwrapper]

It won't be Kindle. Of course not. It will be the phone or whatever the utilitarian device it is in five years.
Associated Press feeds are not the unique content that will save your career. I'm not sure if I can stress that enough. The Google feeds? Will kill careers (mine too) faster than save.
Your chains. Your papers will need the avenue to deliver the content.
Without that technology. Without that ambition. Well, you see my point.
That's the discussion that's worthwhile. Not the microchip.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

I was thinking about dropping $400 on the 16GB iTouch. After reading about the Kindle, I'm definitely buying the iTouch.

 

[TheMethod]

That thing sounds really impractical to me.

 

[buckweaver]

It won't be Kindle. Of course not. It will be the phone or whatever the utilitarian device it is in five years.
Associated Press feeds are not the unique content that will save your career. I'm not sure if I can stress that enough. The Google feeds? Will kill your careers (mine too) faster than save.
Your chains. Your papers will need the avenue to deliver the content.
Without that technology. Without that ambition. Well, you see my point.
That's the discussion that's worthwhile. Not the microchip.

Exactly. The problem, of course, is that newspaper companies have to invest in the product in order to provide that content to enter-futuristic-utilitarian-PDA-device here.

And they need to do it quick, because as a consumer, I can already get unique content from the LAT, NYT, WaPo, etc. If the Gannetts and McClatchys and other chains that own newspapers don't catch up, then keep up ... :-\

 

[fishwrapper]

That, my friend, is the riddle wrapped in the conundrum inside the enigma.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Rover just took a dump on it. I'm not sure that means he likes it or doesn't.

 

[jgmacg]

I only read what can be folded into a hat.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

How are you going to wrap a fish in that?

Dunno, but it looks like it'll fit nicely into the bottom of a bird cage ...

 

[fishwrapper]

Perhaps, this will help.
I have this feed on the BlackBerry.

 

[Football_Bat]

Hey, I heard Belo has this awesome invention. You can scan a bar code in the newspaper with this thing called a CueCat ...

 

[Mr. Homer]

Let's face it, the newspaper will never die, boys and girls.