“Products I’d have around”
It always surprises me, when I visit a newspaper and see one of my columns
posted on a bulletin board. I hear it all the time. “I’ve been trying to get the
publisher to buy…for years, but couldn’t get him/her to budge. Then I showed
them your column and, voila, they ordered it for everyone in the building!” It
works the other way too. Publishers will tell me they read my column and
decided to purchase new hardware and/or software based on what I wrote.
Kind of scary, actually! After noticing a lot of empty spaces on bulletin boards
lately, I decided to do my part by sharing my list of products I’d have around
if I were the king of your newspapers. OK. Here’s my list:
Computers: New iMacs for
everyone. It never ceases
to amaze me when I hear
a publisher tell me how
much production has
increased after getting
new computers. And the
iMac is the computer to
get. Two gigabytes of
RAM is fine. Oh, by the
way, buy some MacBooks
for your sales staff, while
you’re at it. They’re a
mobile group, you know.
Video camcorders: Ever
since I wrote a column on
the Flip video camcorder a
few months ago,
publishers have been
stopping me at conferences to show
me the ones they carry in their
pockets. Everybody seems addicted
to their Flip. At less than $150 for
the Flip Ultra, it seems like a “no
brainer” to get one for each reporter.
That way they can shoot a video
for your web site while covering a
story.
Audio recorders: Going out to
cover the county commission
meeting? As exciting as they can
be, it’s possible to miss a thing or
two. That’s where the Zoom H2
Handy Recorder comes in. I finally
spent my own money
to get one last month,
and it was $199 well
spent. Actually, I
found it on sale for $179. The Zoom
records in brilliant stereo on a
memory card just like you’d find
in some of your digital cameras.
Just copy the files from the card
onto your computer and you have
sound. It’s also great for recording
your daily podcast.
Font management software: Have
you heard about the new serverbased
font management application
from Extensis. Of course not. I
haven’t written about it yet.
But I have it. And for
those of you who have
asked about serverbased
font management
only to learn it could
cost as much as a few
dozen iMacs, I have great
news. Extensis has just
released Universal Type
Server Lite, which allows
server-based font management for
up to 10 users for less than $1,400.
It works with both Macs and PCs.
AutoDesk cleaner: Man, is it
expensive ($595). At least it’s not
as expensive as it used to be. But
if you’re going to have videos on
your web site, you’ll want to make
them as small as possible, while
retaining the quality. That’s what
Cleaner does. The PC version
is called Cleaner XL.
Don’t take my word for it. Try
the free demo at
http://usa.autodesk.com.
Adobe Flash: I don’t have enough
space to get into the whole
QuarkXPress 8.0 vs. InDesign CS3
(soon to be CS4) debate. But we
can all agree on one thing: every
newspaper should have someone
on staff who knows how to use
Adobe Flash. Whether you use it
to create animated ads for your web
site or to convert videos to Flash
files, Adobe Flash is quickly
scanner cost less than a dinner for
two (maybe one, with an appetizer)
at Ruth Chris. Buy an Epson
scanner. They’re the best.
Miscellaneous softwares:
GIMP (it’s
free - and
it rhymes
with my
name) for
folks who
don’t have
Photoshop on their
computers. Visit
gimpshop.com for more
information. ProSoft Drive Genius
2 is a great utility for keeping Macs
humming. Adobe Acrobat 9.0
Professional is a must for
newspapers that haven’t upgraded
to 8.0 Professional yet. You need
one of the two.
I could go on for days about
hardware and software. But this is
a good start. Now go ahead.
(Kevin Slimp is director of the
Institute of Newspaper Technology
and technology guru. Read past
columns at www.kevinslimp.com.
Newspapers can sign up to spend
an hour with Kevin during live
webinars at
www.braincast.biz)
n