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Paper is the real 'killer app'

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Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#211

Post by noahjcz »

cableshaft wrote: post #146
KIFulgore wrote: post #124

I recently re-subscribed to a real-life, old-fashioned newspaper. I like the digital edition, but prefer the paper version. The resolution is amazing and you can't beat the loading times, and I never run into browser incompatibility issues. There are still too many ads, but they don't pop up and dance.

After almost a decade of not bothering with them, six months ago I signed back up for physical magazine subscriptions again. I decided I like having the physical artifact around sometimes. There's even a niche magazine (Vitamag) where I'm one of only about 100 people that pay for it through Patreon, that they actually print our names on a page of each book. That's a pretty cool feeling.

In one of the "fake news" threads here, someone suggested The Economist as a good weekly recap. I got a subscription for my wife for Christmas (she wasn't thrilled, but it's growing on her). We've both been enjoying having the physical magazines around, as we can pick one up and read a good 5 minute story with coffee or before bed. Some articles have a clear moneyed establishment slant, but there's a lot of quality research and writing and a minimum of fluff.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#212

Post by rhizome »

Procrastes wrote: post #195
DigitalJack wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money is a decoupling mechanism. An interface.

True, but it's also an incentive. If there were a way to compensate app developers for actual productivity gains then the incentives would be more aligned. This may actually be possible for bigger ticket, B2B apps. Maybe some sort of share-the-risk arrangement tied to a consulting engagement.

I think what they're describing is that there can be a problem in that the pursuit of compensation causes the disalignment of incentives. "Pay me to solve an artificial problem."

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#213

Post by pbhjpbhj »

midgetjones wrote: post #55
eddd wrote: post #53

Paper is not only bad for but also harmful. You actually have to cut a tree to make a notepad. I hope in 100 years people will look at the "paper age" as we do see the era when people carving information in stones. Why paper is worse: * you cannot easily edit/alter information that has been already created * it is hard to replicate and distribute * version control is non existent (except book keeping) * due to the re…

How bad is it in comparison to the resources used to make your computer/phone?

For most people that resource cost will be sunk. If you note take on paper the chances are you'll still have a computer. The reverse is possibly not true.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#214

Post by rhizome »

ThomPete wrote: post #131

I call this the tangibility factor. When I worked at MetaDesign back in the late nineties and early zeros we had something called RedBooks. RedBooks were most of the work we had done for a specific client printed out in tabloid size bound into a spiral back book and put on a large shelf system. We also had a matriculate digital folder system with projects, searchable and the same pages as PDF plus much more accessibl…

I think the "digital folder" part is the loser here. It sounds like the difference between grabbing a collection based on the client and project (or date, or...) with the RedBooks, vs. reading a book via its index (digital folder). That is, the UI for a RedBook vs the UI for accessing a digital folder are fundamentally different, and the digital folder hierarchy is/was demonstrably worse. Sounds like a banal conclusion I'm sure, but the organization of these kinds of assets can actually be done wrong.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#215

Post by pbhjpbhj »

FreezerburnV wrote: post #25
skrebbel wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I warmly recommend a mechanical pencil with a relatively soft lead and a little eraser on the back. If you write softly with soft lead, erasing is very little effort.

The Frixion line of pens is also useful for this. They might be somewhat limited as to what you can get outside of Japan, but a site like Jet Pens should be able to fix any deficiencies. (Eg: didn't know that they made highlighters with Frixion ink until a recent trip to Japan, where they have these pens literally everywhere)

Dip a page in a 50% alcohol solution and set fire to it. Dry. Now you have a clean page again!

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#216

Post by marvindanig »

There is also one more thing to factor in: freedom from a bunch of weirdos (both pigs and wolves) who want to track every move I make, every purchase I do or every interest that I share over the wire.

Thank you paper. I can shred, burn or let you decompose in the rain to enforce my right of forgetability!

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#217

Post by DanBC »

jurassic wrote: post #116
amelius wrote: post #12

It lacks a good undo/redo feature. Unless you scan your work, erase stuff on your computer, and then print it.

I like working on index cards because if I screw up a note I can just throw it out and start again without impacting any other notes. Notebooks give me anxiety; my fear of somehow "messing up" the notebook causes me to underuse it. And the sortability/filterability of cards sometimes comes in very handy as well.

We learn from our mistakes, and my crossings out in my notebooks are an important part of my notebooks.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#218

Post by archagon »

I'm 100% onboard with the paper paradigm for my project-related note-taking, but I've moved over to using GoodNotes with my iPad and Pencil[1] over actual paper and graphite. It's basically as good as the real thing, but you also get a pristine PDF version of your notebook once you're done with your doodling. No doubt that there's a charm to leafing through a pile of your ragged, dog-eared Moleskines as an occasional nostalgia trip, but I've found myself returning to my old notebooks far more often now that they're sitting in a folder on my Dropbox.

In searching for an app like this, one of my main requirements was that the app produce standard data as output, so that if it shut down or the company went out of business all my journals would still be safe. Fortunately, the PDFs GoodNotes spits out are basically pristine copies of its internal data model: vector graphics, multiple layers (including one for the paper texture), and even hidden OCR text.

[1]: http://beta-blog.archagon.net/2016/08/30/on-the-wonders-of-d...

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#219

Post by pbhjpbhj »

dmoo wrote: post #33
kagamine wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What price a PC compared to a farmed forest?

As I always say, trees for paper are a crop with a long growth cycle. If you don't need the paper who will plant the trees?

What proportion of planting is for paper, I'd expect wood used in construction to be a greater demand?

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#220

Post by pbhjpbhj »

dmoo wrote: post #33
kagamine wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What price a PC compared to a farmed forest?

As I always say, trees for paper are a crop with a long growth cycle. If you don't need the paper who will plant the trees?

What proportion of planting is for paper, I'd expect wood used in construction to be a greater demand?
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