RON CON COCA COLA
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How Do You Share Something Sad?
Last night I wanted to share the image, but could not find the story on the NYT iPad app, and did not feel like firing up my laptop to search the website. I realized again how the print edition still makes sense for me.
Then I considered how best to share the photo:
Twitter: Nope. Too personal and I couldn't find a link to the NYT story anyway.
Facebook: Nope. While the image holds power for me, I would feel strange sending it out into FB land, and did not want it subject to 'Likes', or worse, indifference.
Blog: Makes sense because I can explain it and use it to consider other issues like how to share in this hyper-connected world, and the power of a printed image.
The front page will remain out on my pile of inspiring clips. In the digital realm, the story's already long buried.
Photograph by Shiho Fukada for the International Herald Tribune.
Powerful Print Niche
I couldn't resist purchasing the March GQ on the newsstand because I like Channing Tatum. I was pleasantly surprised by the experiment. First, I didn't mind paying the $4.99 because it was nice to hold the glossy, hefty, savable physical product. Even the paper smelled good. Another big surprise was I enjoyed looking at the fashion advertisements. In the digital version I find them annoying and swipe them away. I can't explain why.
I also see myself reopening the printed magazine while it sits on my table. But I don't really feel like reopening last month's app. It already died, and there are too many updates and things to check out on my iPad that feel more urgent.
This makes me think print magazines for fashion and beauty will have their place in a future dominated by digital. Advertisers already have a direct connection to an enthusiastic niche market, but they undervalue it because of all the hype and their digital-obsessed ad agencies.
Different Life Directions
Last night I read my undergraduate alumni magazine. It contained an update from a friend I remember well. We were editors on the daily school newspaper, and were both finalists for a coveted entry level job at the local big city newspaper in northern New England.
Turns out, placement on the job among two relative equals hinged on a typing test. I considered myself a good typist with a killer-quick backspace key maneuver. But when I entered the testing chamber, I was shocked to find myself sitting at an IBM Selectric typewriter. I was accustomed to the computer keyboard at school, and found the typewriter keys awkwardly high and prone to misfires with the slightest provocation.
I guess I flunked the test because my friend got the job. With no other options, I packed things up and moved to New York to enroll in a publishing program at NYU.
Over the years I managed to carve out a magazine career, and am proud to call NYC my home. But I would never have pushed in a new direction had I performed well on that typing test. The alumni magazine reports my friend continues a long-running successful career.
It is eye-opening something as random as a typewriter could determine a life direction. For better or worse can never be known. But I remember how badly I wanted the job, and how a whole world opened without it.
On Second Thought...
I discovered yesterday I spoke too soon about ditching the print edition of the New York Times. Turns out when I am really busy and unable to read news online, the print edition sitting at home becomes necessary to see what I missed. Reading back news online is too overwhelming when there is a constant sea of incoming new material.
Slipping Away
I've been loyal to the print edition for years, using it as my primary news source (I refuse to watch TV news for anything but election results or live coverage of disasters — often one in the same).
Even after years of flirting with nytimes.com, I was not willing to give up the print edition for the simple reason I love to stumble upon news I would not seek out myself. I would read the print edition at the end of every day, using it not as a source of breaking news, but as a summary of what went down the day before.
But then Twitter happened. I've become addicted to it as a way to ingest news more than anything else, especially breaking news tweets from the Times with web links. Unfortunately, though, I'm growing tired of reading the same news in print the next day. At first the combination worked — getting breaking news via Times Twitter, and then reading a summary the next day in print — but now It feels wasteful.
And then iPad happened. I love the way the Times App is organized and allows me to stumble upon news I would not seek out or find elsewhere, further weakening my print bond.
I also need to keep up in conversations. On multiple occasions recently, stories mentioned in blogs or at lunch time chats were subjects I did not discover until the next day, when my print edition arrived. I found the story "No More Mrs. Nice Mom" fascinating, www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/magazine/16fob-wwln-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine but hated I discovered it in my printed Sunday magazine a day after my friends, who have more entrenched web news habits.
So I find practical reasons behind my weakening connection to my print edition. I'm not ready to cut the umbilical cord and cancel my subscription. But an old habit is slowly slipping away.
Justify My Love
In an attempt to justify owing a MacBook Pro, iPhone 4 and iPad, I thought it would help if I analyzed how I use the devices to pinpoint the core strength of each. The chart shows how each scores for features important to me.
Loads Fast: It can be a pain waiting for your Mac to fire up, so for a quick check to email, the iPad wins, with the iPhone in a close second. (iPhone wins for Facebook updates -- the iPad app is clunky as of right now).
Hardcore Work: Gotta be the Mac for internet downloads, Adobe creative suite software, email and media file management (photos, videos, music). No contest.
Communication: Love having the iPhone in my pocket, primarily for texts and emails (phone calls, too, but I wish those would become obsolete). iPad could catch up, but the Mac easily beats it due to video and attachment download capabilities.
Reading/Web Surfing: iPad wins easily. The screen resolution is great, type is crisp, and usually the type size on websites can be enlarged with easy strokes. Navigating around websites more intuitive and fun using the finger rather than a mouse. YouTube videos look amazing...is it the screen resolution? Not sure, but what a difference, even over the Mac. YouTube videos on the iPhone = grainy.
Games/Apps: iPad wins easily. The larger screen size has much more impact than the iPhone. Never really used my Mac for games, anyway.
Email: Mac still wins due to ease of typing, file management, and downloading. It is a pleasure responding to emails on the decent-sized iPad keyboard, as compared to the iPhone where I do anything to avoid responding with a long email.
Typing: I've never made peace with the iPhone touch screen. I type words and can't believe the suggestions the phone thinks I may be trying to type. It seems to refuse to allow me to type swear words. And every time I type a 'm', the backspace button gets pressed because it is too close to the 'm' key. The Mac wins hands down with a real keyboard.
Portability: iPhone wins. The true test is a gym scenario: the iPhone goes with me everywhere and sounds great. iPad might work for music while on a cardio machine, but would be a nuisance in the weight room.
Comfort: This means sitting and curling up with it on a sofa or in a public transit situation. iPad wins easily. Mac too clunky to balance comfortably, iPhone too small to read comfortably.
So for me, Mac will be the mother station for real work (at desk) and file storage. iPhone for communication and 24/7 portability. iPad for reading (on couch), emails, web surfing, apps and games. Justified or not, I'm hooked.
If "Franny And Zooey" Were A Movie
Many people would place The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, on their list of favorite books. But my favorite is his melancholic Franny And Zooey. The book basically has no plot (the first half of Zooey takes place in a bathtub.) The complex characters and conflicts are revealed through intense conversations.
Franny struggles with a nervous breakdown, and tries to block out the outside world by ceaselessly chanting the Jesus Prayer. Zooey attempts to help his sister find value and meaning in life.
This video is an opening sequence to an imaginary film version of the book. The music is by Christopher Gunning and is entitled "L'ABC". It can be purchased on iTunes as part of the "La Vie En Rose" soundtrack album.
In The Desktop Dead Zone
