Tuesday, February 27, 2007
A little look to the future
Several weeks ago I paused to look back. Sometimes it can be as illuminating to look into the crystal ball and check out the future.
I recently ran into a story about a statement made by Arthur Sulzberger at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland. He suggested that the New York Times may only have an online edition within the next five to ten years.
So who is this Arthur Sulzberger? He is the chairman of the New York Times. He may know a little about what he is talking about. The Times recently merged its print and online news desks.
The Gannett Co., a major player in the news, information and communications field is also embracing the Internet. The company owns the innovative national newspaper USA Today and is moving strongly into the Internet age as it merges print and online news activities, too.
The young adults of today are growing up in a world dominated by the Internet. It is integral to business. It is the medium for gamers. It is indispensable in higher education.
Anyone coming out of school with a college degree these days has had to develop an intimate knowledge of the Internet. Many professors now regularly communicate with their students via the “system of tubes” as a U.S. Senator once described it. Essays are submitted via the Internet and grades are posted the same way. The most popular graduation gift given to college-bound seniors is a laptop.
As often as our young people are using the Internet, it is not surprising they are also using it as the resource of choice for their news. The news media has got to keep up. It will have to be willing to put its horses to pasture and fire up the new-fangled automobile and travel the information super highway.
I found Arthur Sulzberger’s comments to be eye-opening. Coming from the head of one of the most important newspapers in the western world, it gets your attention. The Times has a large and extremely sophisticated Website. You will note that parts of it are in a restricted to subscriber area called “Times Select.” You will see other major newspaper move in that direction.
Last year more people visited their Website than subscribed to their newspaper. It is a sign that the Internet as a source for news and information underscores the notion that we are indeed entering the Internet age.
Another comment that turned my head and helped lead me to write this column was a comment made on a podcast last week. On this podcast about technology and the Internet the subject of the future of the comic book came up. It was suggested that there will always be a place for the classic print comic for investment purposes. An old Superman comic from the 1950s will always commend top dollars.
But many of the new comics, that don’t have that heritage, will likely move completely online within the next couple of years. Their heritage will be as a digital file. Somehow that doesn’t sound nearly as romantic as a glossy-covered magazine in a shrink-wrap pack.
What do you think?
You can reach me at rpolk@chespub.com or my blog: http://webnotesonline.blogspot.com/
I recently ran into a story about a statement made by Arthur Sulzberger at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland. He suggested that the New York Times may only have an online edition within the next five to ten years.
So who is this Arthur Sulzberger? He is the chairman of the New York Times. He may know a little about what he is talking about. The Times recently merged its print and online news desks.
The Gannett Co., a major player in the news, information and communications field is also embracing the Internet. The company owns the innovative national newspaper USA Today and is moving strongly into the Internet age as it merges print and online news activities, too.
The young adults of today are growing up in a world dominated by the Internet. It is integral to business. It is the medium for gamers. It is indispensable in higher education.
Anyone coming out of school with a college degree these days has had to develop an intimate knowledge of the Internet. Many professors now regularly communicate with their students via the “system of tubes” as a U.S. Senator once described it. Essays are submitted via the Internet and grades are posted the same way. The most popular graduation gift given to college-bound seniors is a laptop.
As often as our young people are using the Internet, it is not surprising they are also using it as the resource of choice for their news. The news media has got to keep up. It will have to be willing to put its horses to pasture and fire up the new-fangled automobile and travel the information super highway.
I found Arthur Sulzberger’s comments to be eye-opening. Coming from the head of one of the most important newspapers in the western world, it gets your attention. The Times has a large and extremely sophisticated Website. You will note that parts of it are in a restricted to subscriber area called “Times Select.” You will see other major newspaper move in that direction.
Last year more people visited their Website than subscribed to their newspaper. It is a sign that the Internet as a source for news and information underscores the notion that we are indeed entering the Internet age.
Another comment that turned my head and helped lead me to write this column was a comment made on a podcast last week. On this podcast about technology and the Internet the subject of the future of the comic book came up. It was suggested that there will always be a place for the classic print comic for investment purposes. An old Superman comic from the 1950s will always commend top dollars.
But many of the new comics, that don’t have that heritage, will likely move completely online within the next couple of years. Their heritage will be as a digital file. Somehow that doesn’t sound nearly as romantic as a glossy-covered magazine in a shrink-wrap pack.
What do you think?
You can reach me at rpolk@chespub.com or my blog: http://webnotesonline.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
We have questions and hopefully some answers
Will Daylight savings time be another Y2K?
What does it mean to your privacy now that RFID tags can be the size of a grain of dust?
What is the latest on broadband wireless on the shore?
How can you easily find out what the house down the street recently sold for?
Will I ever stop asking questions and start answering them?
Yes.
But first, people who attended the Mid-Shore Computer Users Group meeting, Feb. 15 got an overview of Google and some of the software available from the site during a presentation by Mike Regimenti of the Chesapeake PC Users Group out of Annapolis.
Mike explained Google mail, Google docs and Google maps. Google mail, a web-based mail solution provided the advantages of an email service offered by an internet service provider without tying you to that provider. If you decide to change your service provider, it can be cumbersome to change your email address. Using the Google service removes that need.
Google docs gives you a web-based word-processor program with much of the power of costly programs like Microsoft Office. Being web-based, it also allows you to share your efforts with others online for editing for review.
In March the subject at the users group meeting is scheduled to be broadband wireless on the Eastern Shore. Jim McCormick of the Department of Information & Technology in Caroline County is slated to give the presentation.
My daughter Sarah lives over across the bridge in Arnold. In her neighborhood she found about half a dozen hot-spots around her house. Several of them were restricted but several were also open to share. I can’t say the same for where I live near Greensboro. That will change as more people get wireless routers. More on that after the meeting.
When the sold sign goes up on the house down the street, are you at all courteous about how much it went for? I am. Rather than go down there and ask, there is a Website you can use to get the information. If you want, you can check what homes are going for in any community in the country. The Website is www.zillow.com. Check it out.
Warning, use of the Website can be depressing. I was a navy dependent growing up. My dad would get transferred about every three years. We sometimes had to sell our house rapidly to have funds for the house at the next duty station. In the late 60s we lived in Sunnyvale, CA and had to sell our ranch-style home on a postage-stamp-sized lot in the mid-40s. I checked on Zillow and recently the house next door sold for $895,000.
Some time back I noted the RFID tags used to track packages and even license plates. England was experimenting with having a RFID tag imbedded in a plate to help track cars. Farmers are concerned about a proposed National Animal Identification System that would used RFID tags to keep track of flocks or herd animals. This would help officials to track the outbreak of infected and exposed animals in a disease outbreak.
These tags have been the size of grains of rice. That is small but still a nuisance if you want to implant a tag in an animal. Hitachi has come out with a new RFID tag. It is so small. It is called a RFID powder. The tag is the size of a grain of sand. This miniaturization opens the door to much easier use of the tagging device.
But I also wonder what other uses this miniaturization will bring to the RFID? What do you think?
Daylight saving time will not start on the first Sunday in April this year. It will start on March 11. Congress decreed in 2005 that March 11, 2007 will see the start of daylight saving time this year. This could cause software that had internal clocks set for the old time change to be an hour off if the software was produced before the law was passed.
If you have programs that are automatically set to shift the time one hour forward on the first Sunday in April, they will be off by an hour for three weeks. What’s the problem? Just set your time ahead one hour yourself? Sure. Then on the first Sunday in April, you computer will shift ahead another hour. You’ll have to be aware and set it back to the proper time.
The best bet would be to disable the automatic time-shift feature and do it manually for the time-sensitive software on your computer. Microsoft is making “patches” available for download. They may not affect all your software. The calendar in Outlook Express requires special attention. If you are a dedicated user of the calendar feature in Outlook, each entry would have to be reviewed.
Still doesn’t sound like a big deal. There are some programs that involve automatic triggers like software set to automatically buy or sell stock when trading opens. The trigger might be off an hour and cost the stockholder money. Software that automatically opens or closes locks on a pre-set time could cause delays as workers wait for them to open.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it could be a minor Y2K. We’ll just have to see.
As always you can reach me by email at rpolk@chespub.com or through my blog accessible from the homepage of our Website.
What does it mean to your privacy now that RFID tags can be the size of a grain of dust?
What is the latest on broadband wireless on the shore?
How can you easily find out what the house down the street recently sold for?
Will I ever stop asking questions and start answering them?
Yes.
But first, people who attended the Mid-Shore Computer Users Group meeting, Feb. 15 got an overview of Google and some of the software available from the site during a presentation by Mike Regimenti of the Chesapeake PC Users Group out of Annapolis.
Mike explained Google mail, Google docs and Google maps. Google mail, a web-based mail solution provided the advantages of an email service offered by an internet service provider without tying you to that provider. If you decide to change your service provider, it can be cumbersome to change your email address. Using the Google service removes that need.
Google docs gives you a web-based word-processor program with much of the power of costly programs like Microsoft Office. Being web-based, it also allows you to share your efforts with others online for editing for review.
In March the subject at the users group meeting is scheduled to be broadband wireless on the Eastern Shore. Jim McCormick of the Department of Information & Technology in Caroline County is slated to give the presentation.
My daughter Sarah lives over across the bridge in Arnold. In her neighborhood she found about half a dozen hot-spots around her house. Several of them were restricted but several were also open to share. I can’t say the same for where I live near Greensboro. That will change as more people get wireless routers. More on that after the meeting.
When the sold sign goes up on the house down the street, are you at all courteous about how much it went for? I am. Rather than go down there and ask, there is a Website you can use to get the information. If you want, you can check what homes are going for in any community in the country. The Website is www.zillow.com. Check it out.
Warning, use of the Website can be depressing. I was a navy dependent growing up. My dad would get transferred about every three years. We sometimes had to sell our house rapidly to have funds for the house at the next duty station. In the late 60s we lived in Sunnyvale, CA and had to sell our ranch-style home on a postage-stamp-sized lot in the mid-40s. I checked on Zillow and recently the house next door sold for $895,000.
Some time back I noted the RFID tags used to track packages and even license plates. England was experimenting with having a RFID tag imbedded in a plate to help track cars. Farmers are concerned about a proposed National Animal Identification System that would used RFID tags to keep track of flocks or herd animals. This would help officials to track the outbreak of infected and exposed animals in a disease outbreak.
These tags have been the size of grains of rice. That is small but still a nuisance if you want to implant a tag in an animal. Hitachi has come out with a new RFID tag. It is so small. It is called a RFID powder. The tag is the size of a grain of sand. This miniaturization opens the door to much easier use of the tagging device.
But I also wonder what other uses this miniaturization will bring to the RFID? What do you think?
Daylight saving time will not start on the first Sunday in April this year. It will start on March 11. Congress decreed in 2005 that March 11, 2007 will see the start of daylight saving time this year. This could cause software that had internal clocks set for the old time change to be an hour off if the software was produced before the law was passed.
If you have programs that are automatically set to shift the time one hour forward on the first Sunday in April, they will be off by an hour for three weeks. What’s the problem? Just set your time ahead one hour yourself? Sure. Then on the first Sunday in April, you computer will shift ahead another hour. You’ll have to be aware and set it back to the proper time.
The best bet would be to disable the automatic time-shift feature and do it manually for the time-sensitive software on your computer. Microsoft is making “patches” available for download. They may not affect all your software. The calendar in Outlook Express requires special attention. If you are a dedicated user of the calendar feature in Outlook, each entry would have to be reviewed.
Still doesn’t sound like a big deal. There are some programs that involve automatic triggers like software set to automatically buy or sell stock when trading opens. The trigger might be off an hour and cost the stockholder money. Software that automatically opens or closes locks on a pre-set time could cause delays as workers wait for them to open.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it could be a minor Y2K. We’ll just have to see.
As always you can reach me by email at rpolk@chespub.com or through my blog accessible from the homepage of our Website.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
A pause to look back helps us move forward
Sometimes it is useful to pause and look back at where you came from. We just modified the appearance of the stardem.com Website. It was the first change we have made since we went with our paid model 17 months ago.
I’ve always been a strong proponent of the Internet. More than 25 years ago when worked for another paper in our company over on the western shore, I was a strong proponent of developing close ties with our sister papers. We wanted a way exchange stories of common interests throughout our newspaper group. We often had to settle with faxing stories to each other and re-keying the material into our own systems.
The Internet has changed all that. It has become a vital tool of business. Data is transmitted between sites involving all facets of our operation from financial to news stories and pictures. It has also become an important tool for the distribution of information to the public.
The Website has become an important element for a news operation. It could be a radio station, a television station or a member of the print media like The Star Democrat, the public has become accustomed to using an Internet Website as one of their main gateways to the paper.
Our own operation has undergone quite an evolution. Like most papers we started a simple site back in the mid-90’s just to provide a web presence. That effort evolved through several webhosts to where we were providing the lion’s share of the local information from the print paper on the Website. This provide to be most popular with our growing base of computer users on the Mid-Shore.
While it is generally accepted that some form of print paper will always be desired, the interest in online news has grown more dramatically than many anticipated. The advent of web browsers with graphical interfaces (images), made the Internet far more desirable to the general public.
In the early days of the Web, much of what was transmitted was text-based. There were community bulletin boards that attracted hundreds of participants. While helping with the early Website at The Star Democrat, I also served as a moderator of a BBS here in Easton. It was great fun to interact with people in the area online. But that only attracted a small portion of the people in the community. The online community was small and few people had reason to get a computer for the home.
Computers where word processors useful for writing term papers or drafting letters that would be mailed to friends and relatives.
Email changed that. People started to interact via digital letters. You needed to have an account with an Internet provider to get access to email and surf the Internet with those new browser tools like Mosaic and Internet Explorer (I.E.).
It soon became popular for everyone to have a computer. Fifteen years ago few people in my office had one. As new reporters joined the operation, they not only came with a knowledge of computers but often had one at home. They had started using the Internet as a research tool for stories. Public agencies were starting to grasp the need and began to develop online as well.
Computers are now the most popular high school graduation gift for college-bound students. Often these laptop-type computers are replacements for older models used in high school.
The penetration of computers in the home continues to grow. Slow dial-up modems are giving way to high-speed Internet connections. The higher speeds are bringing with them the ability to transmit video as well as images. The computer is rapidly becoming the focus of the home entertainment center. Movies can be downloaded for viewing on large flat-screen monitors that give a theatre-like experience that is worrying theatre chains across the nation.
All this means quick easy access to information. The hometown newspaper strives to keep up with this new technology as readers expect to be able to access their paper in print or online.
We have been moving to keep pace with this as well.
For a small daily paper we have done pretty well in the face of the change from totally free to a subscriber model. We felt it was important to award our print subscribers with a benefit for their subscription and made the online paper free to them. That was started back in September 2005. Thousands have taken us up on the offer. Hundreds have joined us with online only subscriptions. We intentionally made the online subscription fee far less than a local print subscription and incredibly less than a print subscription from out of our circulation area.
In 2005, the year we transitioned from free to paid, we had more than 5.6 million page views and a total of 181,355 visitors. In 2006 when we were entirely paid, the page views climbed to 6.7 million. Total visitors for the year dropped to 156,933 but each was viewing more pages.
This year we are looking at a rate that will have both figures climbing to new highs. Based on projection from the first 44 days of the year we anticipate almost 8.1 million page views and more than 239,588 total visitors. This is just a projection based on a fraction of the year. They could be low since the early part of the year typically does not have the highest traffic.
As always, I am interested in your comments and observations. Let me know what you like and what you don’t like about the site. You can reach me at rpolk@chespub.com or visit my blog.
I’ve always been a strong proponent of the Internet. More than 25 years ago when worked for another paper in our company over on the western shore, I was a strong proponent of developing close ties with our sister papers. We wanted a way exchange stories of common interests throughout our newspaper group. We often had to settle with faxing stories to each other and re-keying the material into our own systems.
The Internet has changed all that. It has become a vital tool of business. Data is transmitted between sites involving all facets of our operation from financial to news stories and pictures. It has also become an important tool for the distribution of information to the public.
The Website has become an important element for a news operation. It could be a radio station, a television station or a member of the print media like The Star Democrat, the public has become accustomed to using an Internet Website as one of their main gateways to the paper.
Our own operation has undergone quite an evolution. Like most papers we started a simple site back in the mid-90’s just to provide a web presence. That effort evolved through several webhosts to where we were providing the lion’s share of the local information from the print paper on the Website. This provide to be most popular with our growing base of computer users on the Mid-Shore.
While it is generally accepted that some form of print paper will always be desired, the interest in online news has grown more dramatically than many anticipated. The advent of web browsers with graphical interfaces (images), made the Internet far more desirable to the general public.
In the early days of the Web, much of what was transmitted was text-based. There were community bulletin boards that attracted hundreds of participants. While helping with the early Website at The Star Democrat, I also served as a moderator of a BBS here in Easton. It was great fun to interact with people in the area online. But that only attracted a small portion of the people in the community. The online community was small and few people had reason to get a computer for the home.
Computers where word processors useful for writing term papers or drafting letters that would be mailed to friends and relatives.
Email changed that. People started to interact via digital letters. You needed to have an account with an Internet provider to get access to email and surf the Internet with those new browser tools like Mosaic and Internet Explorer (I.E.).
It soon became popular for everyone to have a computer. Fifteen years ago few people in my office had one. As new reporters joined the operation, they not only came with a knowledge of computers but often had one at home. They had started using the Internet as a research tool for stories. Public agencies were starting to grasp the need and began to develop online as well.
Computers are now the most popular high school graduation gift for college-bound students. Often these laptop-type computers are replacements for older models used in high school.
The penetration of computers in the home continues to grow. Slow dial-up modems are giving way to high-speed Internet connections. The higher speeds are bringing with them the ability to transmit video as well as images. The computer is rapidly becoming the focus of the home entertainment center. Movies can be downloaded for viewing on large flat-screen monitors that give a theatre-like experience that is worrying theatre chains across the nation.
All this means quick easy access to information. The hometown newspaper strives to keep up with this new technology as readers expect to be able to access their paper in print or online.
We have been moving to keep pace with this as well.
For a small daily paper we have done pretty well in the face of the change from totally free to a subscriber model. We felt it was important to award our print subscribers with a benefit for their subscription and made the online paper free to them. That was started back in September 2005. Thousands have taken us up on the offer. Hundreds have joined us with online only subscriptions. We intentionally made the online subscription fee far less than a local print subscription and incredibly less than a print subscription from out of our circulation area.
In 2005, the year we transitioned from free to paid, we had more than 5.6 million page views and a total of 181,355 visitors. In 2006 when we were entirely paid, the page views climbed to 6.7 million. Total visitors for the year dropped to 156,933 but each was viewing more pages.
This year we are looking at a rate that will have both figures climbing to new highs. Based on projection from the first 44 days of the year we anticipate almost 8.1 million page views and more than 239,588 total visitors. This is just a projection based on a fraction of the year. They could be low since the early part of the year typically does not have the highest traffic.
As always, I am interested in your comments and observations. Let me know what you like and what you don’t like about the site. You can reach me at rpolk@chespub.com or visit my blog.
