Blank (Media) Slate

On the weekends, when sitting at the breakfast table with the family, I find myself reading dead trees.  I have a number of computers at the house, all of which are wireless.  I’ve even got a handy-dandy tablet sitting on the table as a way to connect to the world in a less “computer unfriendly” way.  Why, then, do I find myself leafing through the printed word over my bagel and coffee?

For me it seems to boil down to being lazy.  After getting the kids into their high chairs with their breakfast, toasting my bagel, and preparing a reasonable latte, I settle into my chair and glance around for something to read while I munch.  I’d gladly leaf through whatever magazine or catalog happens to be at hand.

I’m not suggesting I’m like everyone else, but my guess is I’m not incredibly dissimilar, either.  If something else of more interest happened to be sitting next to the US Weekly that happens to be there (I’m not telling who it’s addressed to), I’d happily thumb through it.  The trick, however, is that after taking my first sip, I’m not motivated to get up and find something else.

What about that nifty tablet sitting right there?  It’s only hibernating, so bringing it to life is easy enough (ie. it doesn’t have to go through a five-minute boot cycle).  Once awake, though, the decisions begin.  What to read?  Everything’s right there at my fingertips.  I could read one of a couple dozen blogs I follow, or perhaps I could simply glance through the online pages of the WSJ or Boston.com.

I’ll bring the kids up again.  By the time I’ve sipped, clicked, and decided, child one or two needs attention requiring I hibernate my reading (and bagel munching).  After solving whatever crisis cropped up (eg. retrieving a dropped crayon or topping off some milk) I can revive my hunt for reading material.  If I’m lucky the tablet hasn’t reverted to sleep and I can get back to staring at a screen primarily intended for computer viewing rather than as a digital magazine.

So, here’s what I thought about this weekend.  We’ve all seen various paper replacements (my favorite is the Sony Portable Reader), and I’ve even got a WM5 phone on my hip with a number of books loaded up (along with similar access as the tablet).  What’s missing, though, is direct-delivery of relevant content.  What I mean by that is immediatley when waking it up I’d like to see content fed to me in magazine format.  This way, I can flip the device on (or in the case of the Portable Reader the last page is still “on” the screen) and continue flipping after my the completion of the child management tasks.

I know, some of you are thinking things along the lines of “just use an RSS reader or somesuch.”  Yes, I hear you and I’ve done that.  I’ve got all my favorite sites loaded up to my Google homepage so that wherever I am I can access my feeds (at work, tablet, WM5 phone, etc.).  What I’m talking about goes beyond that… again because I’m too lazy to maintain the list.

Generally, I’ve breezed through my RSS list in a few minutes.  After all, of the couple dozen reasonable blogs, feeds, and whatnot it’s relatively easy to zing through them quickly enough (as they only add a few good articles a week).  I could go off on a tangent following the white rabbit but I only find myself going so deep into the rabbit hole before crayons are dropped again or my coffee has gotten cold.

What I’m talking about here is wanting a total replacement of the printed experience.  This goes beyond simply putting paper-like content into digital form.  I need to find a way to keep up with interesting stuff in a non-linear way (ie. flipping around) within context (eg. similar to a magazine) without getting lost along the way (eg. when following random links of dubious value).  As a capper, the experience has to be in a package that’s kid-friendly so that I’m not tempted to scold child one or two when crayons make their way toward the non-paper paper-like experience device… they should be encouraged to interact with their universe rather than scared away from it.

So, that’s what I’m looking for.  Nothing major.  Just the panacea of “gimme what I want when I want it how I want it.”  Let me know if you’ve got the solution and I’ll give it a try.