News in the time of the iPad

Both the Kindle and the Nook--two e-Readers from book sellers--are black and white. The new iPad is about the size of the larger Kindle DX, but slightly heavier. And full color. I think heavy might be better--I like that my iPhone is heavier than a piece of plastic--but I know color is absolutely superior. News isn't just words, it's also the images that go with the text.

Here's a table that I haven't seen before:

Device	Width	Height	Thk.	Weight	Color?
Kindle	5.3"	8"	0.36"	10.2 oz.	No
Kindle DX	7.2"	10.4"	0.38"	18.9 oz.	No
Nook	4.9"	7.7"	0.5"	12.1 oz.	Lame color cover picker
Apple iPad	7.47"	9.56"	0.5"	24 oz.	Beautiful

I stumbled across an article about some physical considerations regarding newspapers, "Forget Blogs, Print Needs Its Own iPod" by David Carr, from the Oct. 10, 2005 New York Times.

Carr points out that you can't read a newspaper while you're driving, but that it is, as a medium, even more portable than, say, a laptop. You can't have a newspaper on in the background while you do other things. By contrast, the web seems to be what Carr calls "companion" media--"a pet platform that sits in the corner and pays attention to you when you pay attention to it."

"There are all sorts of devices coming along," said Dick Brass, who built the first spelling checker that worked and a format for e-books for Microsoft. "When something is good enough and close enough to paper for people to say, 'I want to use this,' then things will change quickly as they have with the iPod."

What if I offered you a magic tablet that connected you to your immediate community? Upcoming events, a traffic accident that just happened, a sale at the local new-age pharmacy, your neighbor's concerns about the planning commission, a new business opening, and a profile of the new elementary school principal. The device would give you access to the latest, as well as to the archives of the minutia of your community. You could share your opinions with your neighbors, participate in polls about the community's priorities, and so on.

The iPad isn't required for this scenario, but it certainly puts the stylish new device to useful work.