Mobile devices give news outfits another bite at the apple
By J.D. Lasica
Online Journalism Review
Steve Yelvington remembers the Friday night five years ago when, at the end of a new media gathering in Washington, D.C., a colleague took 20 of the conference-goers out to dinner. “He had an Apple Newton, big as a college yearbook and absolutely unreadable. He had downloaded a dining database, and so we walked, I swear, five miles to find a great restaurant. When we finally got there, it was closed.”
Last summer, Yelvington and two colleagues were looking for a dinner spot in London’s Chelsea district, with one checking his Garmin portable phone, another his Dick Tracy-like Suunto watch/compass with Global Positioning System, and Yelvington his Palm Pilot. “We wandered around aimlessly and couldn’t find a place to eat there either, even though we had tons of electronic gear. We were trying to decide whether to ask directions or try to get lucky with a blonde in a red Ferrari when it turned out to be Fabio.”
