What, exactly, are we reinventing here?
Issue #78
One of my all time favorite movies is the 1999 black comedy, “Office Space.” Although the technology and the century have changed, the satire of the movie is timeless because the essential nature of doing business has not changed in the least.
I love the use of business jargon in the movie. I love the sheer cluelessness of Peter’s management team. I love how the writers poke holes in the dreadful uber seriousness of the company. The uselessness of the consultants known as “The Bobs” is a shopworn riff on business consultants but it’s still fun after all these years.
But my favorite theme in the movie? The war between Peter and his friends with the office printer. The perfectly wonderful death by baseball bat ending the printer meets in a cold and barren field is, for me anyway, immensely satisfying.
I’ve said it here. I’ve said it at the newsletter’s previous host, and I said it years ago at my old blog: I am not a Luddite. I don’t yearn for the days of three TV channels, rotary dial phones and incandescent light bulbs. No, I like the present warts and all.
I just want the tech to work. For me.
A recent OS upgrade disconnected an external monitor and now it appears that this monitor, which worked perfectly fine earlier, will no longer work. Google, Apple and a lot of other “experts” offer all sorts of helpful suggestions. None of them work, of course. But you guessed that, right?
A new printer (It’s predecessor met a very satisfying end.) periodically “updates” is firmware. Those updates require me to “sign in” to the manufacturers’ cloud in order to get access to features that worked in prior incarnations. In those earlier incarnations I didn’t have to sign in to use them. Google and the printer’s manufacturer offer me multiple suggestions to fix this “glitch.” They work. Until the next firmware update.
How often are you asked to “create an account” when you visit a site or wish to make a quick purchase?
Look, I love tech. I own a lot of it. I just wish it was actually working for me.
By the way: If you head out to your local newsstand and buy a magazine, there’s no sign up required to read it.
#justsaying
1___In mildly creepy news, Apple creates AI narrated catalog for audiobooks
We’ve been heading in this direction for some time so this was inevitable. At the moment, the tech feels very new. Of the four samples on the page, three of them still have a rather robotic “tech” feel to them. To me, the one named “Madison” seemed the most human.
Interestingly, the only available books for this project at this time are fiction: “Historical” and “Women’s”. The site says that fantasy, science fiction, mystery and thrillers are not supported.
2___LSC closes another printing plant
What is there to say about this? Printers are consolidating.
When private equity buys the company you work for, things are going to get a lot less generous for the line workers because the investors want their money back. Now.
At the same time, you can’t fault a company for doing what they have to do to remain in business. But it rarely seems fair the way the pink slips are distributed.
3___Nepo Baby magazine internships were apparently a thing once upon a time…
How do you feel about the phrase “nepo baby?” Like so much contemporary slang, it seems fun until that point when it just gets tossed around too much. I think we’re already there with “nepo baby.”
So three major magazines of the nineties and aughts hired the sons and daughters of top drawer famous folk. I’m shocked (No, I’m not). It made sense. Their whole existence depended on access to the rich, famous and fabulous.
But in so many ways, this whole obsession with the nepotism of the wealthy and well connected is kind of funny because nepotism has been with us since the dawn of humanity . I mean, where do you think royalty came from? How many businesses on “Main Street” are family owned for multiple generations?
In other words, as far as I’m concerned, the snark about “nepo babies” is just a bit tired and maybe y’all need to just sit down and stop taking up so much space yourselves.
Snark is supposed to be fun. Stop spoiling it for the rest of us. OK?
4___How climate change is affecting the way rare books are maintained
How are we going to preserve our past? How do we maintain rare books, manuscripts, magazines, newspapers?
As the article points out, digitizing is not always as simple as it sounds. How do you catalog? What would you do if the server crashes? What happens if the software or operating system changes?
5___Not a great way to start the new year, Hilton Head Monthly ceases publication
As a rule, the demise of a relatively small, free distribution regional publication wouldn’t make it into this newsletter. But the fact that they had the January 2023 issue ready to go, were one week out from Christmas, and dismissed via email…
And I happen to really like small regional magazines.
Regional titles are important. They’re a source of news for your hometown. They can be cheerleaders, the voice of reason, the reporter of record. This is increasingly important in a time when hometown newspapers are diminishing, local radio is nothing but political chattering and TV news is mostly about the latest robbery or shooting.
The smart ones, the ones that will last will have diverse sources of circulation and revenue.
Your Moment of Magazine Zen…
Hey! Happy Birthday Sesi Magazine! Making it ten years in the magazine world as an indie publisher is a very big deal. Our hat’s off to the founder Andrea Butler and the entire team that makes this magazine special, vital and important.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please give it a boost by clicking “Like” and then subscribe. You’ll get a brand new release in your email in-box every Tuesday (Or sometimes Wednesday if things get a little crazy around here). Sometimes I‘ll even have some “bonus” content for you.
If you’ve got a question or comment, please drop me a line. You can always reach me at joe.berger@newsstandpros.com.
Looking for me on the social sites?
It’s actually kind of a nice place. I got an invite to Post.News and you can find me here on this new app.
Yep, I’m still on Twitter. You can find me here. For now.
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May your week be productive and low in stress. And may you never, ever, get an email from the boss saying “We’re shutting down. Today.”