New ritual
One of the changes that the iPhones have wrought at our place is cancellation of our subscription to the weekday New York Times. We still get the Sunday, for several reasons, but the Monday through Saturday editions have gone the way of all flesh, because the savings now help to pay for our data plans.
Anyway, with the daily Times no longer there to occupy us over a solitary meal, we now have the glowing little Apple to provide enlightenment and amusement. One of the "apps" we've got on the thing gets us the CBS News, in both text and video formats. Now instead of leafing through the daily Times on paper, we've taken to watching the evening news with Katie Couric over lunch or dinner when there's nobody else at the table.
On the iPhone, the whole show takes about 20 minutes, and there are no commercials. It had been years since we'd actually sat through that program, but it turns out, it isn't bad. Couric is a pretty good news anchor, and the news segments seem as sharp and succinct as they did in the heyday of Walter. So now we get the Times and the TV news over the internet. Just like they said we eventually would. Having it in the palm of our hand is something else.
Comments (8)
AAPL closed a tad above 185 today.
Posted by Gardiner Menefree | September 18, 2009 2:42 PM
I've been reading the Times in my e-mail for years.
Posted by Lawrence | September 18, 2009 2:58 PM
Wow now you can get all those Viagra, Lipitor and other over the age of 55 demographic health aids on your phone. Ain't life grand?
Posted by PJ | September 18, 2009 3:07 PM
I've been reading the Times in my e-mail for years.
I have too, but until now I couldn't read it over dinner without either a laptop or the paper.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 18, 2009 3:13 PM
Somehow I think this post and the jarring, gigantic, full-page retirement portrait of Fred Stickel in today's Oregonian are related.
I was standing in line at a cafe today when I saw a woman wearing a lapel button with a picture of Stickel's face on it. The clerk asked her about it and the woman gushed about how awesome he is and how much everyone was going to miss him. I refrained from commenting about how it seems that everyone will be 'retiring' from the paper soon.
Posted by none | September 18, 2009 5:35 PM
One thing you learn quite quickly in the Newhouse organization is how to make nicey nicey with your boss.
Particularly if you're not in a union.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 18, 2009 5:40 PM
Your optometrist loves Apple. You're going t be needing new glasses from reading on the tiny screen.
Posted by don | September 19, 2009 10:23 AM
Speaking of mobile browsing - Bojack looks a lot better when viewed through "Skweezer", if you're using a Blackberry. Just a suggestion for other Blackberry users.
Posted by Frank | September 19, 2009 12:18 PM