24 Hours With...

The Daily: Murdoch's iPad Newspaper

Yep, I'm a news geek. I spend a significant amount of time browsing my favorite news sites in the morning while sipping my pre-work latte. I've transitioned a bit to reading the news on my iPad instead of my Mac. The Wall Street Journal's app and the BBC's app are my favorites, with the New York Times coming in a distant 3rd place (it needs to stop being a direct "port" of the print version).

What I have yet to find is a news experience optimized specifically for what the iPad does best: providing a platform for me to interact directly with the news that most interests me. I want a mashup of media types, I want content feeds based on my own profile, I want to be able to share with my friends, and I want to be able to stash interesting articles away for reading later.

Several months ago when word leaked that Rupert Murdoch was working on a newspaper formatted specifically for the iPad with daily updates, social features, and an experience designed to take advantage of the iPad platform, I was intrigued. It would also be Apple's first subscription offering for in-app purchasing.

So yesterday, after a delay reportedly brought about by Apple not having their technology in place for in-app purchasing, The Daily was finally announced. I watched Engadget's live blog of the event, and downloaded the app the minute it became available.

For two weeks, thanks to Verizon, you can sample The Daily free. I love this model. I hate having to purchase apps in the app store without a trial version. To me, that is software 101: provide me a demo.

So I've spent 24 hours (a full day!) with The Daily now, and have some impressions. When the app first opens you see a pre-loader message informing you that "A new issue of The Daily is being delivered". I'm on a Wi-Fi iPad, so The Daily downloaded its first content push in less than 3 minutes. Once the content download hits a certain point, a "carousel" displays that auto-rotates similar to the Mac's Cover Flow displaying the day's stories in News, Sports, Gossip, Opinion, Arts & Life, and Apps & Games.

The newspaper's design is minimal, and "gets out of the content's way" to allow for lush, rich photos, a smattering of videos, and local content such as weather and horoscopes. 

The "experience" is a notch above the other news apps I mentioned, but I still think they're missing the mark on what could be a great iPad experience. The videos are jerky, and rarely play all the way through, and many times they don't play at all. They're also not integrated well... I would think the videos in some situations would be the primary content piece. The photos and diagrams are nice, and rotating the iPad to see full-screen photos is a delight. However, like the NYTimes app and other apps, they layout is mimicking a print newspaper. I thought The Daily would be an opportunity to move away from a traditional print experience, and build a true tablet experience.

Regardless of the media experience, i really look to my favorite news sites for top-notch writing. Murdoch reportedly hired or transitioned over 100 writers to the staff of The Daily. So far, I'm wondering what pedigrees these writers have. If The Daily cut costs anywhere, it was in the writing. The articles seem "light" and a bit too "airy" bordering on tabloid-like. Many of the features, like the Arts & Entertainment sections seem like they're pulling content from amateur repositories. And some of the "funnier" parts of the gossip and news sections just seem a bit too contrived.

I think the editorial voice will mature, hopefully. Until then, I may wait this one out awhile before subscribing. It only costs $40 a year, so it's not a huge investment, but if I pay, I want top quality writing and a tablet-optimized experience.

The MacBook Air (11.6 inch, late 2010 model)

OK, I'll admit -- I'm an original Apple Fanboy. I bought the first iPod the day it came out. Heck, I opened my first Apple credit account to get an Apple IIc (which cost around $2500 I think) in the early 80s. And yes, I was at Infinite Loop 1 for the big Newton unveiling. So, having said that, you'll understand why I am drawn to most everything Apple produces (with forgiveness for a few things: remember the Cube or eWorld).

In that vein, I admit that I have a definite lust for smaller and lighter gadgets. I couldn't wait to get the first MacBook Air when it came out. I enjoyed working with it, and thought it was a great first attempt at a "netbook" computer for Apple. Sadly, I gave it up because I noticed that day-to-day it wasn't really small enough or powerful enough to replace my MacBook Pro.

For "ultra-portability" I moved to a Sony Vaio X for awhile. It was at the time, the thinnest laptop made. While it had its pluses, two big minuses were the cramped keyboard and the under-powered Intel Atom chip. I had to strip Windows 7 to its bare minimum just to get the thing to operate smoothly. I told myself I would get used to it, but never really did.

After the first Air and the VAIO X, I thought I was done with the "netbook" form factor, until Apple announced the MacBook Air refresh this year. The new 11.6-inch size caught my attention -- it was small enough to stash in my messenger bag, and was loaded with a decent chip, RAM and disk space. The added benefit of an affordable flash drive also seemed attractive. In 2008 models, both a hard disk and a flash drive were options (although the flash drive model was uber-expensive). Now, your choice is limited to just the flash drive. Flash drives are attractive because of their "instant on" capability, and their lack of moving parts. And, true to form... when I flip the lid up, the Air is instantly on... however, there is a caveat. The Air itself wakes up almost instantly, but the bluetooth and wireless take a bit to fire up. I've been surprised by how long it takes the wireless receiver to connect.