I seem to be an internet omnivore, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project
Omnivores make up 8% of the American public.
Members of this group use their extensive suite of technology tools to do an enormous range of things online, on the go, and with their cell phones. Omnivores are highly engaged with video online and digital content. Between blogging, maintaining their Web pages, remixing digital content, or posting their creations to their websites, they are creative participants in cyberspace.
Where do you fit? Take the quiz to find out. Candy and I each fit into groups with median ages two decades younger than we are. I guess that means we have something in common.
As much as I love technology toys tools, there is one category that does not seem to pique my interest: e-books and e-magazines. Despite that, Zinio recently caught my eye. Unlike the on-line versions of magazines, Zinio is offering scans of the paper product. That means that you can read the ads. You can see the photos. Everything.
I like their business model. You can subscribe to pretty much any magazine and read it on your computer. You can buy single issues. Subscription prices are the same as paper mail subscriptions. You can cancel subscriptions for refunds of the unused portion, just like paper mail subscriptions. You can even print (most) magazines, although only two pages as a time.
Zinio’s software particularly impresses me. When reading an article, all you have to do is push the space bar. That will move the “viewport” down the page. When you get to the bottom of the page, it will move the viewport to the top of the next column. Very clean and intuitive. If you are zoomed in, Zinio even zooms out briefly so that you can see where you are going; then it zooms back in.
Unfortunately, as good as Zinio is, it cannot overcome my barriers to e-magazines: I do not carry my laptop with me everywhere that I want to read. Instead, I keep most of my magazines in the library. Last night, it was a simple matter to scoop one up as I left to pick my son up at the YMCA. When I finish with a magazine, I usually toss it onto my son’s bed so that he can read it. None of these things are impossible with a computer, just more difficult.
Sure, there are e-book readers but with prices significantly greater than $0.00, I am unlikely to have one in the library, one in my briefcase, one by my easy chair, one by my wife’s chair, etc.
