When I look at these hieroglyphs on the the right, I see a bunch of pics carved into stone – a piece of art at most to my eyes. But they used to carry meaning, they were the form of written communication in ancient Egypt.
Paper has certainly been more practical than stone, and afforded literacy to billions of people. Let’s give credit where it’s due: paper has served us well. But it’s over… well, not really, but we are getting there.
Which is why I don’t understand what Google FastFlip is attempting to do. I’ve not touched a printed newspaper for years, have been consuming information electronically. I am not looking for exact replicas of paper-based news or books on the web, I would much rather have them in a format that’s more practical for the new media: easy to scan, expand, search, click through multiple levels.
Why would I want to read this article in a faded copy, cut-off mid-sentence as a result of a poor scan?
I’d much rather see Google take us forward, not backwards.
You have a point. I do remember when Amazon.com went public, and I did not trust their future. ( it was very wrong ) I see “FastFlip” as an experiment and will see how the public reacts. If any huge marketing power is behind this, then everything is possible
I am not sure if the original intent of the application was to allow users to actually read the articles. I guess it was just to provide a different way for some one to skim the headlines.