Dreams really do come true

Posted on September 24, 2007 by Melissa Worden

The future doesn’t have to mean giving up reading the Sunday paper at your local coffee shop.

Back in May, I wrote about how newspapers need to start thinking of innovative ways to deliver their content. I cited Microsoft’s Surface as a potential new way to read the news.

Are you sitting down?

Editor & Publisher is reporting that The San Francisco Chronicle is testing touch screen tables at seven Tully’s Coffee shops around the city. The tables, which are manufactured by TableTouch, are wireless computers with free access to the paper’s Web site, SFGate.com.

“This is yet another way for us to connect with the communities we serve, and make our content available in new and innovative ways,” Henry S. Ford, senior marketing director for the Chronicle and SFGate, said in a statement.

Update: OK, so a comment by David Black on del.icio.us made me wonder how successful this really will be. As much as I like the idea as a newspaper person, as a reader, after I’m done being wowed by the newness, will I be completely annoyed that the only site I can (partially) view on this table is SFGate.com? Most likely.

The answer is out there … we’ll find it, I’m sure. Meanwhile, I do think this is a bold trial at innovation.

Comments

2 Responses to “Dreams really do come true”

Random Mumblings on September 25th, 2007 7:18 am

Could you reboot my table?…

Miss, could you reboot my table?Melissa Worden notes tabletop surfing is becoming a reality. Tully’s Coffee in San Francisco is installing tables with touch screen PCs to allow patrons free access to the hometown newspaper’s Web site, SFGate.com, as …
Jim Humphrey on September 25th, 2007 7:33 pm

Melissa, our company makes the TableTouch NewsTable hardware and runs the network. There is no reason that the tables need to be limited to one or more URLs. It’s simply a matter of what content the table’s owner wants to display.

It’s possible to stream in multiple types of content from multiple providers.

The tables are BlueTooth enabled as well as having an RFID reader. You could sit at the table and watch and listen to video content.

Jim