Newspaper Podiums

Riding the Highway 17 bus into town, beginning the turn near the train station, I saw a striking illustration of the demise of the newspaper era. To my left, I spotted a fellow standing behind a newspaper box, using it as a podium. He had placed a laptop computer atop the box and was typing. Standing literally opposite from the newspaper's "television screen" that depicted today's headlines that were written last night, this guy was almost certainly drawing from some wireless cloud. Catching this scene, I noted two particularly odd things. One was the fact that ten feet away, another guy was doing the same thing, using a newspaper box as a stand for his laptop. The other thing I noticed was stranger still: a piece of advertising for the San Jose Mercury News at the base of the box that read, "Your 50¢ Laptop. Upgraded Daily."