Hearst readies electronic reader -- a shining backlight in troubled times?
Fortune reported today that Hearst Corp. -- best known in my world as the company threatening to shutter the San Francisco Chronicle -- is expected to launch an e-book reader this year customized for periodicals. (Thanks to Digital Media Wire for drawing my attention to the story.) It provided few details about the device, and had no clues as to the manufacturer. CNet subsequently confirmed the report. But before we all get misty-eyed about another nail in the coffin of newspapers (note to younger readers: They're collections of non-interactive stories printed on paper, with no immediate opportunity to post comments), I think it's worth wondering for a moment about the challenge Hearst faces to develop a user interface as compelling as a broadsheet's.
One of the great things about the newspaper format is that it surrounds articles about things you know you're interested in -- say, the latest Yahoo shake-up -- with things that you didn't know to look for. I'm reminded of this every time I pick up a physical copy of the New York Times. Ordinarily I read the NYT online, scanning the business and tech stories that the paper's daily e-mail provides links to. But when I look at the printed version, I invariably see lots of other stories that intrigue me for reasons I couldn't have anticipated. I call that the serendipity effect of the big page, and I've yet to see an e-book reader capable of duplicating it. Even the Plastic Logic reader (pictured), which is almost as big as a magazine cover, can't do it. The screens simply aren't large enough.
I'm confident that some clever engineers will figure out how to deliver the same benefit on a pocket-sized screen eventually. Readers, chime in if you've already seen software that can do it. But it strikes me as a really difficult problem because it's hard to predict what might lead a consumer of tech stories to be drawn one day to a snappily written piece about a bicycle manufacturer -- other than the fact that it's snappily written, and what algorithm can detect that quality?
Photo: Preview of the Plastic Logic reader, due in trials later this year. Credit: Plastic Logic website
-- Jon Healey
Healey writes editorials for The Times' Opinion Manufacturing Division.
It's very clear what Hearst is doing.
They want to deny the people who create the product the money they are due. Their mismanagement and stupidity for almost two decades now, created a shock doctrine "crisis" that now they wish to mismanage some more to ensure that people who do the hard work to create compelling writing and reporting do not get paid for the work they do. In fact, they fire people who are "too expensive" because they are "experienced."
in the short term this works great. However when they get their Kindle Valhalla, they will realize they have nothing to offer on said machine or future technology. They screwed over the people they needed to continue creating compelling narratives and investigative stories and went for cheap seats.
Fine. let them hire a pack of cheap kids. Whatever. Still won't match what they had and lost. And this goes for the LA Times and the LA Weekly. Both of you used to produce two awesome papers that compelled me to read you. Now, your trailer park king and your phoenix produce squat. Why should I pay now?
Posted by: dismayedreader | February 27, 2009 at 08:38 PM
And, pray tell, what is an E-Book reader?
Posted by: Special K | February 28, 2009 at 02:07 PM