I think it's a compelling and feasible solution to the news site monetization problem. It just seems difficult to imagine users flocking to something like this away from ad blockers—which improve daily (and are mostly free).
There's been a bunch of similar initiatives, albeit more typically aggregating via a single app (Inkl, Pressreader etc). I've tried some in the past because I'd like to pay for news, but consider site subscriptions as deeply hostile to the www per se. But they all end up with the same problem - great early hope of accumulating more sources over time, which then doesn't happen.
Standardised micropayments are the obvious answer, but it seems to be a ship that's sailed.
If you're in the Apple ecosystem, Apple News Plus isn't too bad. If you read a lot, it's pennies or less per article.
Apple's added a good number of publications since it launched, and I get more value out of it than I used to. But it's still trying to find its sea legs.
I've had no Apple devices for a couple of years, but in Australia at least its newspaper coverage is pretty much limited to News Corp. That'd be a nonstarter for me. Though that's based on what I read during the Aus launch. It may have expanded since.
Yeah I don't see the appeal here. I do however. see value in a service like this that would allow accessing paid content from multiple news sites - like a netflix or spotify of paywalled news. I still don't think I'd buy it unless I was flush with cash, but I think more people would be interested in that.
If we're going to use profit as a measuring stick for a company doing the right thing—then it seems relevant to mention the fact that Apple's stock has fallen over the last several years and has continued in that trend.
I don't personally hold the view that this directly reflects a company's innovative quality, but again if that's the measuring stick, it only seems to further the argument that Apple's design decisions aren't what they used to be.
In this case, the past few days would tend to counter your thesis. Also, the current dip is shorter than the one from Sep '12 to Jul '14, at which point they rebounded dramatically and pushed ever-higher highs. Do you believe they stopped making good design decisions around then?
I' a pretty visual person myself. So I find that watching a video tutorial and then immediately trying to put it into practice myself seems to be a winning combo. But of course, everyone is different and some learn more effectively with other means (reading, audio, etc.).
Yea, been there, a couple of times, but I've yet to find anything "viable" (nebulous term, I know).
Things in common between the three new-ish apps mentioned above is a sleek, simplified UI, all with the essentials when it comes to features.
I've tried a number of the ones on the page you've referenced, but most are too big a step back.
My hope is that there's a Sketch-esque InDesign type app out there that I've missed among the latest and greatest. I'm coming to believe, however, that's only wishful thinking. ;)
Scribus is powerful enough. Even magazines are beeing made with it. It is for sure lacking some features when compared Indesign but for every normal user who is willing to learn how Scribus works it offers at least for me everything I need from a DTP program.
There was one tool which filled your gap perfectly in the past on Windows: It was called CorelDRAW, it was easier to use than QuarkXPress with its horrific (or beautiful?) shortcuts (or later InDesign) for the normal user out there.
A big problem with this poll is that the lines between option A and B have become largely blurred in today's society.
For example: "I disagree with the President of the United States and feel his policies are harming America."
Response: "You are a racist."
Of course, the reason for disagreeing with the President has nothing to do with race, yet it's an easy way to attack and silence points with which some do not agree.
As one commenter noted, "there are no rules." Really, it comes down to rational, thinking human beings being open to an alternative point of view rather than finding every way possible to attack people on the other end of the table—whether by downvoting or crying "racism."
Also with "You are a sexist." Disagreeing with a person might have nothing to do with their sex/gender but is also an easy way to shut them down. People will be hesitant to agree with a person that was just labeled racist/sexist.
The very 1st photo after the header on that homepage sends the opposite message to your "Paper is making a comeback" with it's clearly computer-generated text on this image:
http://f.cl.ly/items/0v1m0x0a2a35420m3a3L/styles.jpg
Handwriting the text, even if it were slightly less legible, would be better than doing it in a stock font in Photoshop.
