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The Future of the Newspaper

Just finished reading this from the BBC and it got me thinking. There is a larger story unfolding here, but maybe in a smaller media choice. So we have seen the traditional UK broadsheets becoming less... well broad as the Telegraph and now the Guardian shrink down to a more convenient size for reading in trains.

Of particular interest was the future vision of a Minority Report syle news paper. Far fetched you might say but a recent revelation from Fujitsu may mean that such a vision is not as fantastical as some would believe. The creation of electronic paper brings new media delivery a reality within the next 10 years.

Trends in Japan would suggest that peoples attitude towards mobile readers is changing significantly. This posting on Wired, on a Novel Use of Mobiles, from back in March this year demonstrates a desire to have more than just a phone in our hand, and not a PDA either.

However all that said there are usability issue to be considered and solved if the ideas are to really fly. A very intersting background piece in TheFeature states the case for usability very clearly and is well worth a read.

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