USA Today plans 'radical' overhaul to focus on devices like iPad

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  • Reply 21 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by john galt View Post


    It's hard to believe the quality of McNews could get any worse than it already is.



    The McNews is not free. You're paying for it (sucker!). Read your hotel folio.



    Hey sucker! (Your term of endearment I'm sure!) I know exactly what I pay for and what I don't. I do not have a line item on my bill for USA Today. The price may be built into the cost of the stay but some places they have a sponsor (a sticker on the paper proudly explains that this paper was brought to you compliments of blah- blah-blah).



    I would not take the thing unless it were truly free - very fluff content.



    I don't get the McNews comment - are you implying that USA Today is like McDonalds? I sure wouldn't want to be like that mega bazillion dollar corp that has been successfully selling there product for over a half century with no end in sight (and internationally too). Not my favorite place to eat but makes a fair number of people happy (including stock holders I'm sure). Just cause it is not a place I would usually choose does not mean they do not serve a purpose.
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  • Reply 22 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blackintosh View Post


    Yeah right. How many iPad owners had to put down their shiny new glass tools and grab a real computer to watch the Glenn Beck festival in Washington? No flash, no deal.



    Screw the Apple walled garden.



    And welcome in the Adobe walled garden, where the trees are greener.



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  • Reply 23 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Pascal007 View Post


    And welcome in the Adobe walled garden, where the trees are greener.







    You should be able to run whatever software you want on your device.



    I really shouldn't have to tell you this. A sane person would know it automatically. But I don't mind helping you out pal.
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  • Reply 24 of 115
    skipaqskipaq Posts: 17member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blackintosh View Post


    You should be able to run whatever software you want on your device.



    I really shouldn't have to tell you this. A sane person would know it automatically. But I don't mind helping you out pal.



    You can't run whatever software you want on any platform. That has never been the case. Are there any programs on the iPhone that can't be run on an Android phone? Don't have to think to hard to find one. Maybe some people just like those programs.
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  • Reply 25 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by astrosmash View Post


    I've always thought of USA Today as the McDonalds of newspapers, something I would never seriously read, except when I'm on vacation and it's the only thing available.



    But they were one of the first with an iPad product, and they have what I think is the absolute best newspaper/magazine reader app. Better than NPR. Better than BBC. Way better than ABC.



    I read USA Today precisely because their software is so good. It's funny, isn't it. The quality of their iPad software is changing the way I think of their brand.



    Couldn't agree more. I give USA-T high marks for their iPad app. (WSJ and NYT are pathetic, by comparison).



    Memo to news companies doing iPad apps: Could you please build in a pinch-to-zoom feature? And the 'comments' feature?
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  • Reply 26 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blackintosh View Post


    You should be able to run whatever software you want on your device.



    I really shouldn't have to tell you this. A sane person would know it automatically. But I don't mind helping you out pal.



    And the opposite is true : I shouldn't be coerced in using a program I don't want to use, like Flash for instance. However, the web site you originally referred to obviously thought otherwise and wants to tell me what's good for me by imposing some software I'm not interested in having.



    So, following your logic, the website should have 2 versions : one for Flash-fans and one for sane people.
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  • Reply 27 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleSauce007 View Post


    Have you tried the Wall Street Journal, I think it's the best on the iPad.



    The Journal on the iPad is the slowest, buggiest, most locked-in app of the lot.



    I happen to think it's shockingly poorly implemented, but I am just one data point.
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  • Reply 28 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blackintosh View Post


    Yeah right. How many iPad owners had to put down their shiny new glass tools and grab a real computer to watch the Glenn Beck festival in Washington? No flash, no deal.



    Screw the Apple walled garden.



    The larger question is why would anyone want to see Glen Beck or listen to his fringe rants?



    Did you realize he uses Vicks Vapor Rub to induce those heartfelt tears?
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  • Reply 29 of 115
    estyleestyle Posts: 201member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Blackintosh View Post


    You should be able to run whatever software you want on your device.



    I really shouldn't have to tell you this. A sane person would know it automatically. But I don't mind helping you out pal.



    You are so right!!



    I want to run PS3 and Xbox360 OS's on my ipad while streaming the blueray content for a multiplayer firstperson shooter/strategy game over 4G while videochatting with my pals in the upper left corner without any frame lag or ghosting.



    I can't believe that Apple refuses to give me everything I want right now. It must be because of this stupid walled garden.





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  • Reply 30 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Damn_Its_Hot View Post


    Hey sucker! (Your term of endearment I'm sure!) I know exactly what I pay for and what I don't. I do not have a line item on my bill for USA Today. The price may be built into the cost of the stay but some places they have a sponsor (a sticker on the paper proudly explains that this paper was brought to you compliments of blah- blah-blah).



    On your folio or other room agreement you will find small text to the effect "I agree to daily delivery of the USAToday for 75¢". Look for it - it's there, with the disclaimer that you can decline their gracious offer and will be credited 75¢ if you do. Sometimes there's a check box to "decline" but that never works - you must request the refund. You will not find a line item for it on the folio.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Damn_Its_Hot View Post


    I would not take the thing unless it were truly free - very fluff content.



    Few things are "truly free". The McNews is not one of them.



    I always make it a point to decline delivery and demand my 75¢, which invariably confuses the pimply faced kid at the front desk. Sometimes they'll find a way to make their Windows - centric billing system apply the appropriate credit, but often they'll simply take three quarters from petty cash.



    The money is of no consequence to me - I am just unwilling to contribute to the decline of literacy in this country.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Damn_Its_Hot View Post


    I don't get the McNews comment - are you implying that USA Today is like McDonalds?



    Not necessarily - I didn't coin the term (trivia question - who did? ). It's frankly an insult to McDonald's, a superbly well run company with an excellent product. I own plenty MCD but I don't eat there either - it's too damn addictive!



    At least their food has some nutritional content... and doesn't contribute to the decline of literacy in this country.
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  • Reply 31 of 115
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by estyle View Post


    You are so right!!



    I want to run PS3 and Xbox360 OS's on my ipad while streaming the blueray content for a multiplayer firstperson shooter/strategy game over 4G while videochatting with my pals in the upper left corner without any frame lag or ghosting.



    I can't believe that Apple refuses to give me everything I want right now. It must be because of this stupid walled garden.









    Gotta love posters like Blackintosh who are against a free market and don?t even realize it. They keep saying how Apple should be forced to do exactly what they want despite how it would affect Apple?s business but as soon as you point out that fact they deny it.
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  • Reply 32 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by john galt View Post


    I always make it a point to decline delivery and demand my 75¢, which invariably confuses the pimply faced kid at the front desk.



    I've never come across one at the front desk of a hotel. But plenty at McD's.



    What kind of hotels do you stay in!?
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  • Reply 33 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Gotta love posters like Blackintosh who are against a free market and don?t even realize it. They keep saying how Apple should be forced to do exactly what they want despite how it would affect Apple?s business but as soon as you point out that fact they deny it.



    Right on. Not unlike those TPs who claim to be against government-run healthcare, but cannot seem to give up on their Medicare.
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  • Reply 34 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    What kind of hotels do you stay in!?





    Strike "pimply faced kid" and insert "illegal alien"
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  • Reply 35 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by john galt View Post




    Strike "pimply faced kid" and insert "illegal alien"



    That, I've seen many.
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  • Reply 36 of 115
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Right on. Not unlike those TPs who claim to be against government-run healthcare, but cannot seem to give up on their Medicare.



    Jon Stewart had some great shows this week. I love when he tears Glenn Beck a new one. I?m amazed to see one person contradict themselves so frequently.
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  • Reply 37 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hatchjt View Post


    It works on desktops too, of course,



    Great! Here's what we'll see



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  • Reply 38 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    That 130 out of 1,500 will probably be replaced over time as they hire tech savvy people who can write HTML5 and designers for iAds etc..



    That is not Gannett's way. Many of the 130 people cut will be content creators, otherwise known as reporters and editors, without whom the iPad will display more blank story templates. Oh, wait, they'll be displaying iAds for the companies in the few stories that remain.



    I worked for a Gannett paper. These "massive restructurings" occur every few years when a new person with an exciting theory of organization from business school decides that the news operation is all wrong. The result is always the same: Fewer people find and report news, more people "present" it. That, even more than the shift away from paper, will kill newspapers, because there has to be news to read whatever the delivery medium.
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  • Reply 39 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    The Journal on the iPad is the slowest, buggiest, most locked-in app of the lot.



    I happen to think it's shockingly poorly implemented, but I am just one data point.



    Have you tried the NPR app for the iPad? Other news providers could do far worse than to simply copy their presentation, or a least build off it.



    As for USA Today, I also only read this newspaper when it's free, at hotels and such. It's not quite a joke, but close. This paper was created to appeal to people with short attention spans. Ironically this makes it ideal for the internet so if they can figure out how to repackage their stingy, watered-down content and pointless, goofy graphics, they might actually have a hit on their hands. The impression of knowledge without real understanding -- it's what most people seem to want anyway.
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  • Reply 40 of 115
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cincytee View Post


    That is not Gannett's way. ...These "massive restructurings" occur every few years when a new person with an exciting theory of organization from business school decides that the news operation is all wrong. The result is always the same: Fewer people find and report news, more people "present" it. That, even more than the shift away from paper, will kill newspapers, because there has to be news to read whatever the delivery medium.



    Good explanation, it clarifies much of what I have suspected is true for decades now.



    It's ironic that given the plethora of choices for "news" it's harder than ever to become informed, since the "news" outlets that exist have become even more excessively slanted one way or another. It's regrettable that while the WSJ's and even the NYT's content is so much more refined, their electronic versions are becoming eclipsed by the McNews. It's still the best print product IMO but since the Bancrofts sold it, even the Wall Street Journal's quality has declined substantially. Its (paid) electronic version trails the (free) NYT's and borders on user-hostile They'd better get on board, and right soon, lest they too become irrelevant.



    "News" has been reduced to a product that's packaged and sold. Sometimes it's even manufactured. As such, it resembles more entertainment than information. Make no mistake... Glenn Beck and Jon Stewart are first and foremost entertainers. Good ones, but their product is entertainment... not news. So are the talking heads on the three-letter TV networks (whose names I don't know since I went cold turkey on TV years ago). Thinking you're getting your "news" from ABC, CBS, or CNN is as wrong-headed as thinking you're getting it from Rush Limbaugh. The difference is that while I believe Glenn Beck would be the first to admit he's an entertainer, so many arrogant so-called "journalists" would never admit it.



    Long ago I coined the term "nooz" to distinguish it from a product seeking to inform its clientele. Unlike news, "nooz" is a product sold for its own benefit, while apparently seeking to dumb down society. The McNews is its poster child.
    ...Get that trivia question yet? Winner gets removed from my ignore list
    I think these journalism / B-school grads that run popular news outlets have performed a major societal disservice. Educated men should raise society's standards, not reduce them to the lowest common denominator simply to secure the widest possible audience.
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