The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the P-I as we call it stateside, is going Web only as of Wednesday. That's possibly good news, in the sense that here we have an old-media institution keeping up with the times. But here's the bad part:
P-I Publisher Roger Oglesby in an interview that the online venture would have a professional news staff of about 20 or 25. The vast majority of the P-I's 167 employees, almost all in news, will lose their jobs.
Oh.
As I was reading this story, I thought of the new Kindle 2, having been shown one by a friend the other night. It's considerably less clunky than the first version. The battery lasts -- get this -- up to a week, and that's with serious usage levels. And it holds 80 Anna Karenina's and all that.
It does all manner of amazing things. The one thing it still doesn't quite do so cleverly, though, is show you the daily newspaper. You don't get a "front page" per se, photographs are all black & white (there's no color capacity), and you are fed a sort of cumbersome index of stories that is not easily navigated. So, for those on the go rather than stationary, it can still be argued that the actual physical paper remains the most efficient delivery system.
If Kindle 3 sorts these problems out, though, look out.
