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Paper is the real 'killer app'

bbc.com

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Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#151

Post by athenot »

adtac wrote: post #129
vog wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only issue is that Ctrl+F doesn't work properly on paper, neither within a single newspaper, not across last year's newspapers.

I think I got a solution - every article is accompanied by a QR code that you can scan to open a searchable version of the exact same text. Just a couple of seconds away and you don't lose the papery-feel either.

Skip the QR code and let the article itself be a code. Some magagines have implemented that already. It takes a specialized reader app but then the paper is not littered with QR codes all over.

Of course the lo-tech version is simply google the title and chances are you'll find the digital version of the article.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#152

Post by rhodysurf »

yrio wrote: post #8

For writing text, I prefer to type on a computer because I can easily rearrange / edit things. You can't do that on paper. I prefer paper for drawing though (diagrams / flowchart / etc). Has anyone tried using drawing tablet like Wacom? How does it feel compared to drawing on paper?

I use a SP3 for note taking and diagram drawing and I like it, feels different than paper for sure but I enjoy it more than I thought I would.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#153

Post by athenot »

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.

I've done the same and found it is way less distracting. This means I get through more articles in a shorter period of time and with greater concentration. It also reduces the impulse to share on social media (and the associated brain power to come up with some witty comment about it).

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#154

Post by RodericDay »

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.

I've toyed around with this idea but I decided the paper and transport waste meant I was indulging myself recklessly.

On the other hand, an e-ink device over a glossy mobile or laptop screen is something I was happy to restrain myself to.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#155

Post by ddingus »

peatmoss wrote: post #86
peatmoss wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I capture on paper. If I'm at a meeting or something, I simply write to paper, then transcribe my daily notes to org-mode at the end of the day. I don't particularly worry about structure when spooling to paper. Sometimes I'll capture to paper even if I'm sitting in front of my computer. If I've got something complex to reason through, I like the free-form nature of paper. I pretend it's an auxiliary scratch buffer w…

I'll add that I've used Mobile-org and even tried Evernote on mobile. I cannot for the life of me figure out how people use mobile note-taking apps. Even with a bluetooth keyboard the UX is so slow / inflexible compared to paper. I've seen people apparently use them to reasonable effect though, so I'm going to assume that people capable of note-taking on mobile are just a more evolved kind of human than I am :-)

This is why I've got a Samsung note.

It's response is sufficient to capture in paper like fashion.

I still prefer paper, but the little note app that ships with the phone works very well.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#156

Post by mdrzn »

tambourine_man wrote: post #77

I hate paper. No searching and highly losable. I'm also way faster on a keyboard than with a pen/pencil. In fact, I had to fax a hand written letter (yeah, don't ask) the other day and realized I'm now almost illiterate with this thing. I could draw very well as a kid, but my handwriting was always pitiful. But after years of neglect, the thing was illegible. I pity the poor person that would have to decifer the hier…

Same, it feels too analogic.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#157

Post by ChuckMcM »

pumblechook wrote: post #35

I've found journaling on paper to be one of the best morning rituals for calming anxiety. It really is amazing how just writing a few sentences creates a sense of awareness of what's going on in your head. I also tried bullet journaling as my 'system', but quickly abandoned it. It is great if you're not a compulsive to-do list maker, but if you follow a GTD-like system where you frequently capture, it becomes onerous…

I find this can calm my anxiety about forgetting something important. Back in the 90's I used a Franklin Day Planner which was pretty awesome but also a bit too prescriptive for me so it was equal parts useful and repulsive :-). But I found I could capture the things I felt were important on paper and worried less about them being lost.

That turned into writing into my notebook at night what questions had come up during the day, and what needed doing. And in the morning, reviewing that and picking the top three things on that list to be addressed that day.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#158

Post by uselpa »

To me paper is a temporary GTD-style "Inbox" which quickly captures draft information until it can be put into a trusted electronic system. I guess I am too hooked on backups, tagging and searching, as well as the possibility of encrypting sensitive information.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#159

Post by idiot74 »

CodeSheikh wrote: post #134

Might be a bit off-topic, but here it goes. This article gave me reassurance how I resisted using e-readers and stuck to the notion of using an actual book. Waste of paper? Yes. But then we are wasting papers in many other ways as well (another debate). Plus books hardly get recycled and they often get passed on (used bookstores). Also, my another issue with Kindle-esque books or even buying paperbacks from Amazon is…

I thought I was fully converted to e-reading, but have recently moved back to physical books. Impacting or meaningful books on my bookshelf are like old friends, and they deserve to take up physical space in my physical space.

Re: Paper is the real 'killer app'

#160

Post by freehunter »

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.

I'm the opposite. I hate physical newspaper. Don't get me wrong, I like physically printed sheets, but newspaper is the worst quality paper. It tears easily and is partially see-through which means if I'm holding it up against a light (like an open window), it gets hard to read.

And if I'm reading next to an open window and a breeze blows by, the chances that my paper will (at best) get blown around or (at worst) torn are pretty high, again due to how fragile the paper is.

The ink also gets all over everything when I touch it, so if I'm reading the paper at breakfast, I either eat ink when I pick up my toast or I'm washing my hands every time I turn a page.

Meanwhile, when I'm done reading the paper and want to return it to the pile for someone else to read, I have to carefully fold each section and each page and try to get them all back into a neat order, which never happens.

I also disagree on the "resolution is amazing" comment. Maybe my subscription is lower quality than others, but even in the New York Times, the pictures are awful, awful quality compared to digital.

And they're printed once a day, so if an important event happens at noon, I won't get to read about it until tomorrow morning.

And the worst part of it all? Printing all of these copies, every day, distributing them on trucks, and then they get thrown away. A newspaper is the absolute worst way to consume news. Absolute worst. Yeah it might feel nice to sit and read a newspaper, but part of me says that's nostalgia/wistfulness talking. Every piece of a newspaper is the worst way to present that particular thing, from ink to paper to organization to pictures to the news itself.

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