While this site exists partly to plug The Solomon Scandals novel about old-time newspapering, it’s also an experiment in online technology. iPad owners can see a snazzy magazine-style look from the Onswipe add-on for WordPress (described in detail in an independent blog post by my friend Nate Hoffelder). If you don’t own an iPad, click […]
Read MoreWriter’s tiny N.Y.C. apartment: Comfy or scary? I say it’s a mix. Time for Felice Cohen to try e-books as a space-saver?
Felice Cohen is happy here. I’m not sure if I’d be, although I envy her ability as an organizer and wish her luck with her new book on her grandfather who survived the Holocaust. Actually, in The Solomon Scandals, a maverick bureaucrat lives in a space smaller than Ms. Cohen’s. Meanwhile, might Ms. Cohen want […]
Read MoreA Steve Tax for the news biz? I sold my iPad for another reason—but the tax won’t help
New iPad paper has wow factor Rupert Murdoch’se iPad newspaper launched Wednesday, and judging from a YouTube, it has its share of knock-your-socks-off features—it can even read news to you. But for now at least, you won’t find me among the subscribers. I sold my iPad before prices dropped too much more as owners unloaded […]
Read MoreVideo ballyhoos promising iPad app for the Washington Post, stars Bob Woodward, Ben Bradlee & friends
The Washington Post’s iPad app is finally out. No, The Product isn’t quite the equal of the rival New York Time app unveiled in the spring and refined since then. But the Post’s video promo leaves the Times’s marketing in the dust. I test-drove the iPad app today and suspect that Ben Bradlee, Bob Woodward […]
Read MoreLink between keyboard noise and good prose? How to find the clicky keyboard of your dreams—if that’s your thing
Might American newspapers and journalistic Web sites be too quiet these days? Here I’m not talking about silence on Afghanistan or the budget deficit. I mean the rooms—the amount of noise or lack of it.
Read MoreWashington Post iPad app due by year’s end: Slate-ish layout someday?
If I ruled the world and the Washington Post, you would have been able to read the paper on a genuine iPad app months ago. But fear not—either about my ruling the world or about the lack of a Post iPad app. The paper will release an iPad edition “before the end of the year,” […]
Read MoreDon’t just worry about ‘books,’ Jack—worry about libraries, indie stores, e-formats and DRM
Jack Shafer, the Slate “Press Box” columnist, is mourning the “fallen status” of the traditional paper book, which he thinks technology has devalued. As a contributor to the troubled medium—Scandals is available as a trade paperback, not just as an e-book—I have an obvious stake in this. Shafer may be thinking especially of hardcovers, but […]
Read MoreHow to enjoy a preview of ‘Scandals’ in iPad-style splendor—and what this means for geeks, book publishers, authors and news people
Update, Nov. 5, 2010: I’ve disabled the iPad mode for the moment but will probably bring it back when I have more time to experiment. I still love the idea. – D.R. Own an iPad? Go to this post if you’re not reading it on your Pad already. In iPad-style splendor, you can see an overview of […]
Read MoreHow the iPad-related stimulus plan could help the news business—plus a brief update on the plan
My thoughts on hyperlocal news—prompted by the forthcoming launch of TBD, the Web and TV combo for the D.C. area—have drawn visits from some powerful news organizations. While they’re at it, perhaps they can check out A national information stimulus plan: How iPad-style tablets could help educate millions and trim bureaucracy—not just be techno toys […]
Read MoreApple iPad: Another way to read ‘The Solomon Scandals’ and other books
The Solomon Scandals is mostly about yesterday, but e-books do show up briefly in the afterword. We learn about the Scandals as people looked back on them many decades later in the 21st century. So what’s it like to read Scandals electronically on the just-released iPad—via the Kindle e-store or otherwise? As both a reader […]
Read More‘Red Hot’ Engel sisters, possible iPad edition, Henry Adams and ‘Scandalize your classroom’
Remember my optimism about Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, the play by the Engel twins, based on the life of the uppity liberal Texas columnist who fondly gave George Bush the nickname of “Shrub”? So far, the write-ups are upbeat, and I predict that R.H.P. will make it to Broadway—aided by […]
Read MoreWashington Post iPhone app panned by gutsy WaPo technology writer: Symptom of worse woes?
Update, March 19: Hooray! The Post app in its current form now lets you change type size more gracefully. Tap the screen while reading a story and you’ll see the options. – D.R. Seymour Solomon, the real estate magnate in my D.C. newspaper novel, is among the Washington Telegram’s biggest advertisers and pals around with […]
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