I’m no fan of either the New York Times (which I find to have an incredibly self-satisfied tone to it, far beyond what’s appropriate; I loved the skewering of the NYT in “The Paper“), nor looking at the Internet on handheld devices (which just sucks in general, even on my otherwise-beloved Treo).
So it’s a strange moment of mental vertigo to realize the NYT may have put together the two tastes that don’t taste so great together and come up with something that may, just may, end up being pretty darn tasty: The NYT Web site on a useful and convenient handheld device.
Naturally, it’s a proprietary device, because God forbid the NYT gives the entire industry a shot in the arm by rolling out a technology that will help the entire sector to survive, but despite that (and its underlying Microsoftness, which suggests that the NYT may also have the honor of having the first handheld digital newspaper to get hacked six ways to Sunday), it looks pretty spiffy.
Because as swell as Internet news sites may be — and even modest little sites have seen their traffic go up like a rocket in recent years — you can’t take them on the subway with you and read them one-handed while you hold onto a support pole so that you don’t end up with your face in the armpit of a fellow commuter with only a vague understanding of basic hygiene. You can’t take them into the bathtub, where I like to do a lot of my reading, like the Golgafrincham B Ark captain in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. (I know: It’s amazing I’ve ever been romantically involved with any women, ever.)
The new Times Reader may have licked those issues. If the text zooms in to the readable level, we may be looking at the future of newspapers: A merger of the Internet datastream with true portability. It might not be the Times Reader unit itself — probably not, in fact — but a portable device that doesn’t suck is an absolute requirement. People don’t want to be tethered to their desks to get news and sending pictures and text over wireless Internet connections to a mass audience is a lot more practical than newspapers reinventing themselves as less-telegenic TV stations and transmitting video and audio everywhere instead.
It’s ironic that a newspaper that fought adding color like it was the equivalent of wearing a bright red tube top to a funeral for a ridiculous length of time would be the ones to push into this arena in a big way. (I would have bet on the Mercury News, myself.) But I’m glad it’s here. This feels like the way forward to me, especially when the ease of use is incorporated into other digital devices like a PDA or cell phone.
Here’s how I ended up with the education beat in Hesperia: I just got out of the September school board meeting, and it’s 10:04. The meeting ran more than four hours. Oy.
Meaty meeting, though.
It’s true.
Ryan Leli loves the Mets.
The Suffolk County teenager loved the Mets so much that authorities say he posed as a reporter to get into Shea Stadium and talk with players.
Police arrested the 18-year-old Leli Friday night at Shea just before the start of the New York Mets-Colorado Rockies game and charged him with impersonating a journalist, the Queens District Attorney announced Saturday.
Prosecutors say Leli told New York Mets management that he worked for NBC Universal and showed a fake NBC employee identification card so he could get press credentials.
Leli first used the press pass to attend an Aug. 10 game between the Mets and the San Diego Padres. Authorities said Leli used the pass to approach and chat with players including Mike Piazza before and after that game.
Leli used the fake NBC identification again Friday to get another press pass for the Mets-Rockies game.
Mets management apparently became suspicious and contacted authorities.
Leli was also charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records, larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, criminal impersonation and criminal trespass.
Leli could get up to seven years in prison if convicted on all charges.
I know, I know, the jokes write themselves.
(Source. And a big, big congratulations to Todd and Lauren on the birth of their second daughter, Natalie Jane, on August 22nd!)
The proposed Barstow casino is one of the casino projects touched upon in a new article from the LA Times this week:
Rich tribes also oppose two other deals the governor struck with poor tribes, which would allow off-reservation casinos. Those pacts involve the Los Coyotes band and the Big Lagoon Rancheria.
No tribe has less than Francine Kupsch’s Los Coyotes. About 70 of the 380 members live on the 25,000-acre reservation in homes built with federal aid. Many collect welfare. They receive federal commodity cheese and charity turkeys at Thanksgiving.
Casino developers have concluded that the land, in the northern San Diego County mountains, is too remote to support a casino. The nearest settlement is Warner Springs, down a narrow road. The closest city is Temecula, 40 miles away.
Now, Los Coyotes hopes to open a casino in Barstow, off Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. That proposal is controversial — the desert town is two counties and more than 100 miles from the reservation. The group would need permission from the U.S. Interior Department for an off-site casino, but Congress is considering banning off-reservation gambling.
Schwarzenegger suggested that the 21 Indians who make up the Big Lagoon Rancheria join Los Coyotes in the Barstow project. The lagoon that gave the tribe its name is 700 miles from Barstow, in Humboldt County in far Northern California, and Schwarzenegger was hoping to preserve their stretch of largely undisturbed coast.
Each band could have 2,250 slot machines in the Barstow deal. But the compacts announced last year to allow the deal have languished in the Legislature.
You have to register to read the article, unless you use BugMeNot.com or, better yet, the BugMeNot plug-in for Firefox, which should be your browser of choice anyway.
If you’re one of the folks wanting to know what casinos are coming where — and have discovered that I can’t answer that question when you call the Hesperia Star (because I can’t, other than to give you an unsatisfactory update to the Hesperia casino situation) — check out Casino Stalker, which merges Google Maps with a growing database of information about casino projects around the country.
(Oh, and there will be a new Hesperia casino story in next week’s Star.)
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