Next Generation Newspaper ?

There must be many readers of newspapers , who ( like me ) wish they were able to instantly communicate with a person whose name is mentioned in an article / news report

I often feel like writing to the author of a newspaper article or to the journalist who wrote a piece of news

Whenever that desire is too strong , I spend hours on Google , searching for email ID of the person concerned

Sometimes I succeed but more often , I give up in frustration !

Even when I do find what looks like a legitimate looking email ID and spend hours typing email in Outlook , I doubt , it will reach the concerned person

And since I have so far received a reply against not more than one percent of the mails sent by me , I suppose , these never get delivered or get junked

For me , a very frustrating situation

How can people ( who are targeted by me ) , fail to read my mails and respond ?

OK , even if they do not wish to respond , why cannot they , at least " acknowledge "  ?

Of course , if a person were to actually receive every message ( email / SMS / Voice-Mail etc ) that everyone else who wants to send , it will be a deluge , especially if the recipient is a celebrity .

 A SPAM of a gigantic proportion  !

But then , advances of technology rarely bother about its undesirable " side effects "

Hence , it is only a matter of time before you experience following scenario :

*  Your paper newspaper gets replaced by a plain white LED embedded and internet connected sheet of plastic ( fold-able too )

*  Every morning , unfold it , and touch on a icon at the top bearing the name of your desired news-source ( Publication / TV Channel / Web site etc )

*  Touch a Subject Icon ( Politics / Sports / Entertainment / Economics etc )

Voila  !

All - and the only news , you ever cared to read - will instantly appear on that plastic !

Without advertisements , if you so desire

And where , touching on any NAME of any person ( or of any organization ) , appearing anywhere , will enable you to,

*  Read out / record your message , or

*  On a virtual keyboard , type out your message

A long press on the name will reveal ALL the messages ever sent to that person ( or that Organization ) , in a reverse chronological order

If any message is a spoken message , the " News-Plastic " ( cannot call it " paper " ), will read it back to you

Now , those targeted recipients ( of the messages ) will  receive those messages on their own " News-Plastic " , under an icon called , IN-BOX

Of course , nothing stops them from " long press " on their own name appearing in the news article and find out what other readers are trying to convey - and in what context

If  a person's name appears anywhere in the news , in his own " News Plastic " , it will be highlighted in RED color

No need for me to search those Email IDs in Google !

For those who worry about invasion of personal privacy , I quote onetime CEO of Sun Microsystems , Scot McNealy who , in 1999 said :

" Privacy is dead , so get over it "

All that we can hope is that it is an Indian Start Up which comes out with " News Plastic "

I hope news paper industry remembers Ted Levitt's  ( Marketing Myopia ) :

" If you don't obsolete yourself , someone else will "

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hemenparekh.in  /  blogs

22  March  2016