Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

'The Daily' iPad App Is A Padloid

The Daily is a new iPad app created by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

For the next two weeks, you can look at it for free, so I tried it. The first thing I noticed is that the app itself is only about 48 Mb in size; this is much more manageable than the half-gigabyte size of magazine apps like Wired.

The Daily provides a lot of content for $40 per year; the pricing is extremely aggressive. I liked the interactive features, like the crossword puzzle and the picture sets; these features make you more comfortable in exploring ads like the one for Virgin airlines. One feature that should be altered is the "splash" screen that starts the app; the user should be able to return the spot where you left the app.

I thought that the interface was easy to understand (the "how to" section should probably be made to disappear after the first week). I was never completely puzzled about how to use it (which was not the case with some other magazine apps). I did find one bug; to bring up a photo set, you can turn your iPad from vertical to horizontal (which is a good idea). However, after flipping though five pictures, I turn the iPad back to vertical, and find that I have advanced five pages.

I'm also surprised that the application makes you wait while a new issue is being downloaded. It would be preferable if the app put up something for you to read as soon as possible while waiting; for example, the app could present a list of new stories an photo sets.

Also, the app seems to put up the "New issue being downloaded" screen, but most of the information seems to stay the same. I think it would be very confusing to try to update major articles while keeping the version of the "newspaper" the same. For example, the "cover" story refers to a million protesters in Egypt, the table of contents entry for the story refers to a million protesters, but the updated article refers to "almost two million" protesters.

Take a look at the video below, which gives you a visual tour of the The Daily interface.


(Rupert Murdoch's The Daily )

"New times demand new journalism,” Mr. Murdoch said on stage at the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan before an audience of reporters, employees and advertising partners...

Mr. Murdoch said he was targeting a generation of consumers who did not read national newspapers or watch television news, but did consume media. This generation, he said, expected “content tailored to their specific interests to be available anytime, anywhere.”

He added, “I’m convinced that in the tablet era, there’s room for a fresh and robust voice.”

All in all, I was impressed with the app's interface and presentation. I think that it will be a pleasure for most iPad owners to use, even though it doesn't really try to push the boundaries like Richard Branson's Project app for iPad. Project is a fascinating effort to re-imagine magazines for the iPad, and it takes a lot more chances than The Daily does.

In reading through the celebrity gossip section, I was reminded of the padloids from John Varley's 1992 novel Steel Beach; the word is a combination of "newspad" (borrowed from Clarke) and "tabloid".

My office was in Mall Twelve, level thirty-six, 120 degrees. It's in the editorial offices of The News Nipple, the padloid with the largest circulation in Luna.

Via NYTimes.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/2/2011)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )

Related News Stories - (" Communication ")

Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone
Why can't we get more innovative phone configurations?

Positioned Cybertrucks With Free Starlinks WiFi In LA
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.' Vernor Vinge, 1999.

Will Whales Be Our First Contact?
'He had piloted the Adastra to its first contact with the civilization of another solar system.' - Murray Leinster, 1935.

NYC/Dublin Portal Fails To Meet 'Guardian Of Forever' Standards
I am the Guardian of Forever.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'

Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'

Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'

When Your Child's Best Friend Is An AI
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'

China's Drone Mothership Can Carry 100 Drones
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'

Drones Recharge In Mid-Air Like Jets Refuel!
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'

Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'

Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'

Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.

Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness?
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'

Heat Waver - The First Ever Combo Solar Collector And Wind Turbine
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'

Tesla 'Fleet Response Agents' Bolster FSD Autonomy
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.'

Mori3 Autonomous Shapeshifting Robot
'My homeland is being threatened by the Replicators. Thus far all attempts to stop them have failed.'

Tesla Seeks 'Tesla Robotaxi' And 'Robobus' Trademarks Ignoring Prior Art
'A robobus had just rolled up to the curb.'

Scary Grid Safety Robots
'The ultimate horror for our paranoid culture...'

Does AI Provide A Way Forward For Talk Therapy
'And there in the next room by the sofa sat a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.