John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Take two tablets, and call the publishing industry

[Surf's Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009. Click here to read more Surf's Up.]

There’s been a lot of chatter for the last few months about what Apple’s forthcoming tablet device will look like, and more importantly, what exactly it will or do. 

All this speculation – and remember, it’s all speculation – is kind of odd, because no one has publicly seen what’s expected to come down the pike in early 2010, if the rumour mill on the release date is in the ballpark. 

One common thread that seems to be emerging is that the tablet, which will be something more than an iPhone (or iTouch) and less than a Macbook), will be engineered to showcase newspapers and magazines, in no doubt stunning detail. I haven’t been at all surprised to read that Apple has, very quietly, been working with major publishers, including the New York Times. 

I'm sure the tablet, whatever it will be called, will have a big impact – and not just Apple's version. The technology blogs have had plenty of juice over the last few weeks about Microsoft’s competing product, which so far is known as Courier. Leaked images and details show it is not so much a tablet as a book-like device that closes on itself, featuring two work areas. As the ultra-influential blog Gizmodo put it, "maybe we've all been dreaming about the wrong device." 

Since the advent of Amazon’s Kindle, which is still restricted from sale in Canada for copyright and other reasons, there’s been a sense that e-books, tablets, or whatever you want to call them, may dramatically change how we read periodicals.

The timing could not come at a better time for the newspaper and magazine industry, which was slumping for years before last year’s economic meltdown, and has been in seeming freefall for at least a year. The possibilities of a new distribution are considerable, not the least of which is the ability to sell advertisers on a marketing capability that could be as interactive as the web.

Tablet technology – which is being touted as prominent titles like Gourmet magazine are folding – might be just what the doctor ordered.

Elsewhere this week 

(The Customer Is) Not Always Right
First things first: the folks at this blog do not believe in poor customer service. They do believe, though, in giving people who have toiled in the retail trenches the platform to vent about what they’ve seen and especially heard. Like Overheard in New York and many other variations, you’ll find one painful (but often funny) conversation after another. Hit the "popular" tab to see ones that have most resonated with other readers, and the "random" tab to see any old chestnut that’s been collected to date. 

The Raven
With Halloween around the corner, set the tone with one of the most wonderfully creepy bits of writing of all time: Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven. Get ready for your own once upon a midnight dreary with this version; if you don’t want to read it aloud, click on the link to have it read for you. (Turning off the lights might help!)

Balls
Want to play divide and conquer with a bunch of balls? Actually, it’s more of a game of just dividing, and it’s not so much a game at all … but you will likely be amused as you see how this Flash-based attraction works. Move your mouse over four circles, and watch them divide, and then divide again, at least as long as your cursor is in place. The circles, or balls, get progressively smaller; I counted them down to 1/128th of the original size, but I stand to be corrected. Look also for some other games on the left-hand side, including a photo-tag guessing game that is pretty challenging. 

John Gushue is a writer in St. John's, and is currently on leave from his job with CBC News in St. John's. John is on Facebook right here. John is on Twitter right here.

The New Yorker cover on Halloween, parents and phoning it in

The New Yorker's Halloween cover is brilliant. Although I saw nary a parent out there tonight (mind you, we weren't out long) with a smartphone, I think artist Chris Ware - more from him here - nails something about the obsession grown-ups have with their gadgets, perhaps at the expense of their kids.

Ruth Reichl, the closure of Gourmet magazine, and two tweeted moods

Today's closure of Gourmet magazine came as a shock. Yes, the publishing industry is in a brutal state and everyone is feeling the squeeze ... but Gourmet? It survived wars and cultural revolutions and every media phenemenon since radio. I don't read it regularly, but I always try to record the spinoff show, Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, which airs Saturday afternoons on PBS (and plays on our television whenever we have a few minutes to enjoy its gastronomic tourism style of journalism).

I checked editor Ruth Reichl's Twitter feed just now to see what she had to say. I found the contrast between today's note and a completely different one from Saturday almost heartbreaking.

Web trends of the year

I spend a lot of my time thinking about how the internet gets used, and how web-based technologies are evolving; in fact, it's hard keeping up with everything. This slide show by Richard McManus is an excellent composite of things, particularly on how the web is now about organizing data than a collection of separate web pages, and also of how real-time factors are changing content delivery and management.

ReadWriteWeb's Top 5 Web Trends in 2009

View more presentations from Richard MacManus.

A cover is born

On Wired, that is. Quite a bit of thinking goes into most magazine covers, perhaps more than is needed to sell an issue to a curious newsstand linger-on.

Scott Dadich, the creative director of the magazine, walks us through the process, in which details rule, images are rendered and even fictional characters get their own photo shoots. Dadich reveals some details, including the prep that went into the Martha Stewart cover for the magazine's how-to issue; yes, that is a real cake posing as a Wii console. (Here's a sample of Wired's cover archive, at least up until last year.) 

Take a breath, Mr. BBC presenter

A case example of why news hosts should pause ... just a tiny pause ... after introducing themselves.

A thought on the intoxicating effects of language

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."
- Rudyard Kipling

Five-fact Friday

Back-to-school sales have reignited the advertising wars for computers. Apple has been continuing its "I'm a Mac" campaign, which is credited with rapidly increasing the Mac share of the market. Last year, Apple outspent Microsoft's TV advertising by 71 per cent; in the first half of this year, however, Microsoft has more than doubled Apple's spending on commercials, in an attempt to win back customers.

Ted Kennedy grew up in the shadow of older brothers who seemed far more destined than he to gain the public spotlight; he also grew up on the move, attending 10 different schools by the time he was 11 years of age. 

If the 2010 Ikea catalogue looks a little bit different, look closely at the flag on the front cover. For the first time in a half-century, the Swedish manufacturer of build-your-own furniture has stopped using a stylized and very familiar type of Futura as its font. Instead, it has customized Verdana, which font geeks like myself know was invented for use on the web. Why? Verdana can be adapted to other alphabets, and Ikea wanted a consistent look online and in print, all over the world.

Duncan Jones, who is earning acclaim for his new, 2001-inflected film Moon, was better known decades ago by another name: Zowie Bowie, one of a series of oddball names rock stars gave to their children. The son of David Bowie, he went by Zowie until he was 12, when he changed his first name to Joey, and later Joe. As an adult, he's been known as Duncan Jones - the surname matching David Bowie's original name, David Jones. 

Speaking of unusual names, there's evidence that having one raises the odds you'll wind up in trouble with the law. Check out a Freakonomics posting on that here. 

A thought on motivations for writing

"I write fiction because it's a way of making statements I can disown, and I write plays because dialogue is the most respectable way of contradicting myself."
- Tom Stoppard

Font fight!

Last week, I posted a note about a T-shirt featuring the font Helvetica, and (more to the point) my enduring affection for typography. The folks behind the HITS FM Twitter feed asked me if I had seen the video below; I hadn't, and chuckled so much that I thought I would post it here.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.