Thursday, November 25, 2004

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Interesting article in Wired about the future of newspapers. Apparently the Washington Post commissioned a study which included the finding that "focus-group participants declared they wouldn't accept a Washington Post subscription even if it were free. The main reason (and I'm not making this up): They didn't like the idea of old newspapers piling up in their houses." I totally agree. That is my number one reason for not being interested in newspapers. Number two: too much reptition. They are in no-man's land--for slowly-unfolding stories, they are obliged to devote large portions of each article to repeating and summarizing information contained in prior articles. For fast-breaking stories, they aren't fresh enough. Number three: the infamous "written for readers with an eighth-grade education" factor (though that is overstated, at least for the better papers). Number four: unwieldy form factor. Number five: newsprint smears. I definitely think newspapers, at least in printed form, are headed the way of the dodo. I should be a prime newspaper reader. I come from a newspaper-reading family. I am a news junkie. I read newspapaers as a child and teenager. Yet I reject them. (Unlike another finding in the survey, I do like newsmagazines.) 10:58:22 AM    comment []

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Attaboy for SanDisk Wow! My SanDisk 256 Ultra II SD card--only 6 months old--spontaneously went bad last week. Really bad. So bad that, when I put it in an SD reader, it locked up the computer (even tried a second PC with same result).   So, I checked the SanDisk website: 5 year warranty, and--here is the lovely part--no receipt required. Of course that should be the normal case (obviously, they didn't even make the part 5 years ago, so obviously it <i>can't</i> be out of warranty yet), but is all-too-rare. The point is, many companies are looking for reasons to welch on their offer, SanDisk is not.   It gets even better. The RMA request function on their website gave me a link form which I printed out a FedEx label with prepaid shipping. They sent me an auto-email when they received the part. And here is the coup de grace--no sooner had they received it, than they sent another email with the tracking number of the replacement part! 10:51:05 AM    comment []

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Lucky. My daughter got a 36-hour stomach virus (not the stomach flu, THERE IS NO SUCH THING!). She got over it quickly enough, but equally important, neither her two siblings nor her parents came down with it. We emphasized to the kids the heightened importance of hand-washing, and they were mildly compliant, but that can't be the whole explanation. We seem to be very lucky in not having such maladies spread through the household. (Fingers remain figuratively crossed.) 10:49:01 AM    comment []