So, my love affair with the New York Times continues despite my rapid expansion of consciousness in alternate news sources. I just feel at home when I am exploring the world through their website. So, I will devote a post to recent happenings at the New York Times company, accompanied by my commentary of course.
So, the good news... the NY Times posted a quarterly profit in Q1 2010! Hold the champagne though, total revenue dropped by 3.2 percent. Unsurprisingly, the decrease was driven by loss of print advertising revenue (down 12%), and mitigated by an increase in digital revenue (up 18%). About.com (Owned by the NYT Co.) posted stronger ad gains than the digital news division (up 30% and 11.2% respectively). With these trends likely to continue, it is not hard to see the day that the majority of revenue will come from digital advertising. This fact will prompt the company to make the very real decision whether the high fixed costs of printing are warranted.
Of course, I see opportunity here. Printing technology has already advanced to the point we can print a 300 page bound book in under 4 minutes. While still expensive, we know what happens to the price of a technology. If you want a paper, pull up the printer ready version and print it out at the office, the newsstand, coffee shop, or even at home if it becomes cheap enough. Thus, the Times has just exported the costs of printing, hell, they can even own the machines and lease them out for a profit.
Onto the next topic... the ipad application. Initially, an editors choice edition has been offered for free, soon to be followed by a premium paid subscription model. So far reviews have pretty consistently placed the free app below expectations set by the Times leadership. Slideshows, sharing, and navigation have not attained revolutionary status, but I'll give them some time to develop the paid model before I pass judgment. But really, the developers need to wow customers with some features that have never been seen before.
Again, I am tempted to put my ideas in the pot... I really want an easily navigable, comprehensive, and commented/tagged record of all the articles I read. There are many times when I spend 15 minutes finding an article i read three weeks ago so I can remember the details or send it to a friend. Also, while we are on sharing... a great way to get wider adoption of the premium ipad app would be drag and drop sharing with other paid users. I can just point to your name and that article will pop up in your reader when you sign in... way better than emailing! The algorithms or friends that recommend articles will create a valuable reason to use the paid model.
Moving right along...Ken Doctor wrote an interesting piece called "New York Times Local 2.0?" on paidcontent.org and his blog. The NY Times is planning to offer a local edition in 10-15 markets "relatively soon." I was intrigued... local digital advertising is much more lucrative: Joel Kramer of the MinnPost reports he gets $15/thousand impressions for local and $0.50/thousand for a national audience (pg 10). The times could easily set up some local reporters, put those stories front and center for IP addresses in that city only, and sell some intrusive but lucrative local advertising. I just thought, "FINALLY!" I almost screamed when I read further and found they are planning to PRINT local editions. Why? Why? Why?
The Times has such a great brand, fantastic content, and wide internet readership... They are the Titanic chugging through a huge storm, well positioned to make it, but not guaranteed. I just hope they will start making smarter little decisions that will actually get them to the other side. If they don't, I will tell my grandkids stories of the time I spent with the Times... of course they will have no idea why they couldn't see the writing on the screen.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Building the wall
First of all, (Eric Schmidt and) I don't think that paywalls are the solution to the financial problems at news organizations. Subscriptions have never been the main revenue source for newspapers... it has always been advertising. Steve Yelvington claimed at a recent University of Minnesota Conference on New Economic Models for News, that "journalism never had a business model of its own." (pg 9) Linking businesses and customers was the real revenue generator; "journalism" attracted the customers, and customers attracted the money. My thoughts are that news organizations will either need to become better at linking businesses and customers, or find another value proposition to latch onto.
But since there is so much talk about paywalls these days, I thought I would address some of the many moving parts to setting one up.
First order of business, what kind of paywall do you want? There are multiple models: all content is behind a paywall, some content is behind a paywall, or users get a set number of articles before hitting a paywall. With all content behind a paywall, the publication is likely a scholarly journal (like this MIT article I was denied access to) with a niche market and highly unique content. Many newspapers have experimented with having select content available for subscription, including Times Select and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The times announced it is planning to move to the third model in 2011. I think it has a chance to be moderately successful, but will not be the silver bullet that slays their financial woes. They will be walking a very fine line between generating additional revenue and losing advertising revenue. A good illustration of the fragility of the model is the Paywall game. It allows you to enter in your assumptions and estimates (guesses) for consumer behavior at the foot of the wall. Small changes in subscription and readership loss (<10%) href="http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/paywall-marketing/%20" target="_blank">Malcolm Coles points out that the screen the site uses to inform users that they have just run into a wall can have a big effect on their consumer behavior. Personally, I do not want to see that little lock icon anywhere I click... and I don't think I am alone. Visually appealing paywall pages that actively promote the value of the site within will be part of a successfully crafted wall. Newspapers are now selling the content, they would be unwise to ignore the huge body of human wisdom surrounding good salemanship.
Another issue to consider is search engine listing. Google has policies against displaying certain content to their web indexers and different content to users going through the link. If a site has a subscription model they require the First-Click-Free model, where users get to view that article in totality, but any subsequent clicks will hit the wall. I have personally gamed this system by reading one article, finding the next article I wanted to read, and then entering its exact name into a google search to return for my "first" time. The 25 extra seconds it took me were well worth not paying infinitely more than FREE.
And no paywall post could be complete without an honorable mention to Rupert Murdoch, hard charging his way into the subscription model with the Times and the Sunday Times of London. He has claimed that if he can get just 5% of current readers to pay 2 pounds per week, he can generate 6.24 million pounds per year. But he does not mention how much advertising revenue would be lost from losing 95% of your readers. I cannot imagine this glaring fact has escaped the attention of such a shrewd businessman, but can imagine his anger at losing money has caused him to gamble.
The die have been cast, all that remains to be seen is who picks up the money off the table... newspapers from the other side of a paywall or new organizations on this side. I know who I'm betting for... do you?
But since there is so much talk about paywalls these days, I thought I would address some of the many moving parts to setting one up.
First order of business, what kind of paywall do you want? There are multiple models: all content is behind a paywall, some content is behind a paywall, or users get a set number of articles before hitting a paywall. With all content behind a paywall, the publication is likely a scholarly journal (like this MIT article I was denied access to) with a niche market and highly unique content. Many newspapers have experimented with having select content available for subscription, including Times Select and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The times announced it is planning to move to the third model in 2011. I think it has a chance to be moderately successful, but will not be the silver bullet that slays their financial woes. They will be walking a very fine line between generating additional revenue and losing advertising revenue. A good illustration of the fragility of the model is the Paywall game. It allows you to enter in your assumptions and estimates (guesses) for consumer behavior at the foot of the wall. Small changes in subscription and readership loss (<10%) href="http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/paywall-marketing/%20" target="_blank">Malcolm Coles points out that the screen the site uses to inform users that they have just run into a wall can have a big effect on their consumer behavior. Personally, I do not want to see that little lock icon anywhere I click... and I don't think I am alone. Visually appealing paywall pages that actively promote the value of the site within will be part of a successfully crafted wall. Newspapers are now selling the content, they would be unwise to ignore the huge body of human wisdom surrounding good salemanship.
Another issue to consider is search engine listing. Google has policies against displaying certain content to their web indexers and different content to users going through the link. If a site has a subscription model they require the First-Click-Free model, where users get to view that article in totality, but any subsequent clicks will hit the wall. I have personally gamed this system by reading one article, finding the next article I wanted to read, and then entering its exact name into a google search to return for my "first" time. The 25 extra seconds it took me were well worth not paying infinitely more than FREE.
And no paywall post could be complete without an honorable mention to Rupert Murdoch, hard charging his way into the subscription model with the Times and the Sunday Times of London. He has claimed that if he can get just 5% of current readers to pay 2 pounds per week, he can generate 6.24 million pounds per year. But he does not mention how much advertising revenue would be lost from losing 95% of your readers. I cannot imagine this glaring fact has escaped the attention of such a shrewd businessman, but can imagine his anger at losing money has caused him to gamble.
The die have been cast, all that remains to be seen is who picks up the money off the table... newspapers from the other side of a paywall or new organizations on this side. I know who I'm betting for... do you?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Non-profit news
Creating non-profit news outlets is an increasingly popular idea in the journalism world (There are far too many examples to link to here). Since a well functioning "press" is essential for a functioning democracy, the thinking follows that news production is a quasi-public good. This post will address 1) legal issues for non-profit news, 2) operational issues at non-profit news, and 3) the potential size of the footprint of non-profit news.
First and foremost, non-profit news outlets face several unique legal issues. (Full disclosure: I am not a lawyer and never will be... this analysis is intended to provoke discussion, not conclude it.) A tax-exempt 501c3 organization faces restrictions on both activities and revenue generation. The organization must have a mission that is "charitable" (not necessarily aimed at the poor) and devote the majority of it's resources to fulfilling that mission. One of the more successful non-profit news organizations, the MinnPost, states its mission "is to provide high-quality journalism for news-intense people who care about Minnesota." This may not seem particularly charitable or educational, but there is precedent for "investigative journalism" to attain non-profit approval. There is also legislative movement to explicitly allow qualified news organizations 501c3 status. For more in-depth information, read Harvard lecturer Marion R. Fremont‐Smith's analysis of the legal issues facing non-profit news. In short though, it seems like journalistic missions will be sufficient.
Perhaps more importantly, non-profit organizations are prohibited from endorsing political candidates or engaging in lobbying activities. This will limit the scope of opinion pieces, and relegate non-profit news to less political news gathering activities. This contradiction between investigative journalism to inform the citizenry and the apolitical necessity of tax-exemption is VERY important in this debate. Anyone predicting that non-profit news will become dominant must explain this in far greater detail than I have seen yet.
Legally, non-profits also have restrictions on revenue sources. There are complex restrictions, but my (inexpert) interpretation is that they have to get at least 1/3 from donations, and non-mission revenue must be insignificant. This has serious implications for non-profits seeking stability through earned revenue, which includes advertising. They will have to walk a fine line, and must take extra care when designing a growth and sustainability strategy.
To illustrate a presumably legal and working strategy to creating non-profit news, let's look at the MinnPost more closely. Capital to establish the organization started with $850,000 from four foundations. For operating capital in 2009, they generated $217,000 from advertising (36% increase over 2008), and $458,000 from member donations (29% increase over 2008). They throw a successful annual fund-raising event called the MinnRoast. Members take pride in being branded news-junkies. But perhaps most importantly, they produce high-quality journalism with a cost structure that has the strong potential to be supported through operations (earned and donated).
Other organizations usually mentioned in the same breath as the MinnPost are The Texas Tribune, Pro Publica, and more recently Fair Warning. Check them out to see how quality news can be delivered by smart, motivated, and dedicated leaders.
As for the future footprint, non-profit news will probably play a significant, though non-dominant role in journalism. Unlike the Newsosaur, I don't think that it needs to entirely replace for-profit journalism to exist; it just needs to carve out a sustainable niche. My views are far more in line with John Thornton, who also sees a future of the model when the right people are at the helm. There is certainly no silver bullet the evolving issues in news, and there is no reason to think this won't be a piece of the puzzle. Just like in any other dynamic industry, there will be lots of failures and a few successes; those successes will then become indispensable to readers, and life without them will be unimaginable.
First and foremost, non-profit news outlets face several unique legal issues. (Full disclosure: I am not a lawyer and never will be... this analysis is intended to provoke discussion, not conclude it.) A tax-exempt 501c3 organization faces restrictions on both activities and revenue generation. The organization must have a mission that is "charitable" (not necessarily aimed at the poor) and devote the majority of it's resources to fulfilling that mission. One of the more successful non-profit news organizations, the MinnPost, states its mission "is to provide high-quality journalism for news-intense people who care about Minnesota." This may not seem particularly charitable or educational, but there is precedent for "investigative journalism" to attain non-profit approval. There is also legislative movement to explicitly allow qualified news organizations 501c3 status. For more in-depth information, read Harvard lecturer Marion R. Fremont‐Smith's analysis of the legal issues facing non-profit news. In short though, it seems like journalistic missions will be sufficient.
Perhaps more importantly, non-profit organizations are prohibited from endorsing political candidates or engaging in lobbying activities. This will limit the scope of opinion pieces, and relegate non-profit news to less political news gathering activities. This contradiction between investigative journalism to inform the citizenry and the apolitical necessity of tax-exemption is VERY important in this debate. Anyone predicting that non-profit news will become dominant must explain this in far greater detail than I have seen yet.
Legally, non-profits also have restrictions on revenue sources. There are complex restrictions, but my (inexpert) interpretation is that they have to get at least 1/3 from donations, and non-mission revenue must be insignificant. This has serious implications for non-profits seeking stability through earned revenue, which includes advertising. They will have to walk a fine line, and must take extra care when designing a growth and sustainability strategy.
To illustrate a presumably legal and working strategy to creating non-profit news, let's look at the MinnPost more closely. Capital to establish the organization started with $850,000 from four foundations. For operating capital in 2009, they generated $217,000 from advertising (36% increase over 2008), and $458,000 from member donations (29% increase over 2008). They throw a successful annual fund-raising event called the MinnRoast. Members take pride in being branded news-junkies. But perhaps most importantly, they produce high-quality journalism with a cost structure that has the strong potential to be supported through operations (earned and donated).
Other organizations usually mentioned in the same breath as the MinnPost are The Texas Tribune, Pro Publica, and more recently Fair Warning. Check them out to see how quality news can be delivered by smart, motivated, and dedicated leaders.
As for the future footprint, non-profit news will probably play a significant, though non-dominant role in journalism. Unlike the Newsosaur, I don't think that it needs to entirely replace for-profit journalism to exist; it just needs to carve out a sustainable niche. My views are far more in line with John Thornton, who also sees a future of the model when the right people are at the helm. There is certainly no silver bullet the evolving issues in news, and there is no reason to think this won't be a piece of the puzzle. Just like in any other dynamic industry, there will be lots of failures and a few successes; those successes will then become indispensable to readers, and life without them will be unimaginable.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The future of local news
The well documented decline in newsroom capacity at local newspapers has lots of journalists scratching their heads... It also has lots of journalists and businesspeople scratching the surface to see what is underneath.
In early 2009, Leonard Witt won a $1.5 Million grant from the Harnisch Foundation to start the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. One of their projects, Community Supported Journalism Northfield, is a pilot project that is exploring the potential of small local news operations. A Representative Journalism (Rep J) reporter has been assigned to the Northfield area to report on local issues through her blog. The concept is to create a community of independent reporters, citizen journalists, community members, and media organizations that collaborate to decide which stories are relevant.
The funding is to come from voluntary payments of members of the community. While it is far from assured that revenues will actually be sustainable, this model has distinct advantages over the Miami Herald experiment that failed earlier this year. In Northfield, funders will have input into the content of the local media: suggestions, meeting times/invitations, photos, etc. Second, with a much smaller city, there is a good possibility that the online community can actually strengthen local ties between leaders and citizens. Thus, the voluntary payment model is not just pasted on top of the old newspaper model, it is actually creating new value in local news.
Another group that is experimenting with "crowdfunding" of local news is spot.us located in larger cities in California. They use a different, and perhaps more appropriate model for generating contributions in larger cities. Journalists propose a story, and solicit funding from people who would like to see that story created. This model borrows heavily from the successful donation models of donors choose and kiva. There are several draw backs as I see it though... sensationalist and politically charged articles might be easier to fund, time sensitive stories are less likely to receive funding in time, and there will be a lower volume of completed stories.
Finally, a Google Advertising Operations executive, Tim Armstrong, has backed a site called Patch. The company is dedicated to creating participatory communities in the suburbs as the metropolitan newspapers cut back operations on their peripheries. Patch has a centrally located staff in New York City that designed and operates the common platform of each communities' "patch" (San Ramon, CA and Garden City, NY). There is a small professional staff in each community, and non-staff members can comment or post events to the calendar. Funding will come primarily from advertising (Google Executives in Advertising Ops are reportedly good doing that). With centralized sales and operations, no print overhead, and the economies of scale in promoting a patch network, the site has a fighting chance to provide local news coverage.
Check out these three options for local news, and let me know what you think of the format of the site, or the viability of the business model. Hyperlocal news has great promise, and the race is on...
In early 2009, Leonard Witt won a $1.5 Million grant from the Harnisch Foundation to start the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. One of their projects, Community Supported Journalism Northfield, is a pilot project that is exploring the potential of small local news operations. A Representative Journalism (Rep J) reporter has been assigned to the Northfield area to report on local issues through her blog. The concept is to create a community of independent reporters, citizen journalists, community members, and media organizations that collaborate to decide which stories are relevant.
The funding is to come from voluntary payments of members of the community. While it is far from assured that revenues will actually be sustainable, this model has distinct advantages over the Miami Herald experiment that failed earlier this year. In Northfield, funders will have input into the content of the local media: suggestions, meeting times/invitations, photos, etc. Second, with a much smaller city, there is a good possibility that the online community can actually strengthen local ties between leaders and citizens. Thus, the voluntary payment model is not just pasted on top of the old newspaper model, it is actually creating new value in local news.
Another group that is experimenting with "crowdfunding" of local news is spot.us located in larger cities in California. They use a different, and perhaps more appropriate model for generating contributions in larger cities. Journalists propose a story, and solicit funding from people who would like to see that story created. This model borrows heavily from the successful donation models of donors choose and kiva. There are several draw backs as I see it though... sensationalist and politically charged articles might be easier to fund, time sensitive stories are less likely to receive funding in time, and there will be a lower volume of completed stories.
Finally, a Google Advertising Operations executive, Tim Armstrong, has backed a site called Patch. The company is dedicated to creating participatory communities in the suburbs as the metropolitan newspapers cut back operations on their peripheries. Patch has a centrally located staff in New York City that designed and operates the common platform of each communities' "patch" (San Ramon, CA and Garden City, NY). There is a small professional staff in each community, and non-staff members can comment or post events to the calendar. Funding will come primarily from advertising (Google Executives in Advertising Ops are reportedly good doing that). With centralized sales and operations, no print overhead, and the economies of scale in promoting a patch network, the site has a fighting chance to provide local news coverage.
Check out these three options for local news, and let me know what you think of the format of the site, or the viability of the business model. Hyperlocal news has great promise, and the race is on...
Friday, April 9, 2010
Why the internet will not fail...
A friend of mine posted this link, "Why the internet will fail," as his g-chat status, and I got a good long laugh out of it... then I got a good long think out of it. Three Word Chant posted this article from Newsweek in 1995. When you parse the issues that Newsweek brought up, they were serious flaws in the internet that simply had not been solved at the time. Among the issues raised are ineffective search, lack of secure money transfers, and lack of human contact. Each of these problems have been solved by Google, Paypal, and social media sites.
Newsweek saw the present much to clearly and saw the future much too dimly. The people in journalism who see the present decline in journalism as apocalyptic, see the world in much the same way. The smart ones will see the problems as they are (journalists won't be able to make money, commodity news won't be produced, and readers won't know who to trust), but search for solutions...
I certainly don't claim to know how all of this is going to shake out, but I have more faith in the creativity and perseverance of humanity than to think that these are insurmountable.
Federated Media is a site that is tackling the first issue: journalists and money. They handle the advertising for some of the largest sites on the web, including News 2.0 sites.
Metblogs (a federated client) is providing local news in over 50 cities around the world. They use 10 to 20 volunteer contributors in each city to provide an interesting alternative slant on issues that only pertain to that city. Even Pittsburgh made the list!
Who do you trust? That is a tougher question, and one that is constantly evolving. Is it primarily based on how many other people read it, credentials of the author, diligence of citations, or the fact that they agree with what you already think? I am very curious what new research, and new models will come out in the future.
So, fret not... The internet is not going to limit the information that people have access to... it is increasing it at an accelerating rate. The problems we see are solvable, and the people working on them are SMART(er than me).
Newsweek saw the present much to clearly and saw the future much too dimly. The people in journalism who see the present decline in journalism as apocalyptic, see the world in much the same way. The smart ones will see the problems as they are (journalists won't be able to make money, commodity news won't be produced, and readers won't know who to trust), but search for solutions...
I certainly don't claim to know how all of this is going to shake out, but I have more faith in the creativity and perseverance of humanity than to think that these are insurmountable.
Federated Media is a site that is tackling the first issue: journalists and money. They handle the advertising for some of the largest sites on the web, including News 2.0 sites.
Metblogs (a federated client) is providing local news in over 50 cities around the world. They use 10 to 20 volunteer contributors in each city to provide an interesting alternative slant on issues that only pertain to that city. Even Pittsburgh made the list!
Who do you trust? That is a tougher question, and one that is constantly evolving. Is it primarily based on how many other people read it, credentials of the author, diligence of citations, or the fact that they agree with what you already think? I am very curious what new research, and new models will come out in the future.
So, fret not... The internet is not going to limit the information that people have access to... it is increasing it at an accelerating rate. The problems we see are solvable, and the people working on them are SMART(er than me).
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Miami Herald drops the ball
I originally started this blog because I was frustrated that I could not send a voluntary payment to the New York Times. Since that time, my views on the subject of newspaper economics have developed substantially, but I was still excited to learn that The Miami Herald started to accept online donations in December of 2009. While it seemed a perfect experiment for my project, I was deeply skeptical of their methods.
1. There are two ways to message a "voluntary payment": donation or pay-what-you-want. As for-profit businesses, I don't think that newspapers have any business calling it a donation (long associated with charitable non-profits and tax-deductibility). Steve Outing, one of the few people who I have found who has advocated for an optional payment system, calls this the "tip jar" model. Unless you are a public or non-profit company, these requests are extremely weak. Labeling it as a donation elicited this derogatory report from an NBC Miami correspondent. After researching this matter and surfing the comment logs, I assure you that the outrage was not limited.
2. Perhaps more importantly though, the interface was horrendous. In order to donate, a reader had to click a link, and then proceed to enter all of their credit card information each time! How annoying. According to... me... one reason that the Apple app store is successful is that it is so easy to just touch the buy button. Consumer behavior is something that cannot be ignored when executing a new model like the online donation system.
Full Disclosure: While I did initially assess the Herald's efforts as sub-par, I also knew (through HuffPo) that the "experiment" has been stopped. Unsurprisingly, The Herald's effort did not generate substantial revenue.
Kachingle has an interesting idea, although I have not fully assessed how profitable/widely used they are. They have users who register a payment method with them, and can contribute to participating blogs or websites quickly and easily. The Miami Herald could have used this service, or a similar service. One of the major benefits of to the Herald of using a third party provider is that the Herald would be conferring significant benefits to Kachingle (Users and exposure)... and could use this to bargain for better terms or even money back! The lack of imagination in execution is astounding.
So newspapers, please don't half-ass a roll-out again, or two months later the Huffington Post is going to gloat.
1. There are two ways to message a "voluntary payment": donation or pay-what-you-want. As for-profit businesses, I don't think that newspapers have any business calling it a donation (long associated with charitable non-profits and tax-deductibility). Steve Outing, one of the few people who I have found who has advocated for an optional payment system, calls this the "tip jar" model. Unless you are a public or non-profit company, these requests are extremely weak. Labeling it as a donation elicited this derogatory report from an NBC Miami correspondent. After researching this matter and surfing the comment logs, I assure you that the outrage was not limited.
2. Perhaps more importantly though, the interface was horrendous. In order to donate, a reader had to click a link, and then proceed to enter all of their credit card information each time! How annoying. According to... me... one reason that the Apple app store is successful is that it is so easy to just touch the buy button. Consumer behavior is something that cannot be ignored when executing a new model like the online donation system.
Full Disclosure: While I did initially assess the Herald's efforts as sub-par, I also knew (through HuffPo) that the "experiment" has been stopped. Unsurprisingly, The Herald's effort did not generate substantial revenue.
Kachingle has an interesting idea, although I have not fully assessed how profitable/widely used they are. They have users who register a payment method with them, and can contribute to participating blogs or websites quickly and easily. The Miami Herald could have used this service, or a similar service. One of the major benefits of to the Herald of using a third party provider is that the Herald would be conferring significant benefits to Kachingle (Users and exposure)... and could use this to bargain for better terms or even money back! The lack of imagination in execution is astounding.
So newspapers, please don't half-ass a roll-out again, or two months later the Huffington Post is going to gloat.
Monday, February 22, 2010
The belated i-pad post... with a twist
By now I am sure that everyone who takes the time to read blogs, including this one, has read extensively about the release of the Apple i-pad. In my quest to look back and post something about its release, I quickly googled "Apple i-pad newspaper" (sans quotes). The first link was to a Pittsburgh news aggregator called pittsburghlive.com. I now live in Pittsburgh, so I felt a little pride that the current center of the intersection of the i-pad and newspapers was nearby. It reported a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article describing the new device and the New York Times application. The Times application is everything I would expect, but nothing more. The twist is that neither apple, the new york times, or any other newspaper had the privilege informing of this news. A website that relies on google to direct traffic to their site instead of prestige has figured out how to become number one. Searchability is more important than name recognition for commodity news.
P.S. The article is well written and comprehensive. It was exactly what I was looking for for my quick fix of i-pad newspaper news.
P.S. The article is well written and comprehensive. It was exactly what I was looking for for my quick fix of i-pad newspaper news.
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