Multimedia Maniac

Yo boss, listen up! I want one! And I want it now! Right now!

Got it? Enough exclamation marks? This is it…

From now on we’re gonna do things a bit different. It’s more than just this Nokia N95. It also comes with:

- Fold out blue tooth keyboard

- Mini (but very good) microphone

- Tiny tripod (very cute)

- Solar panel (yes, I might need to be transferred to the Bahamas)

And listen to this, boss, the whole thing doesn’t cost much more than hiring a television crew for one day. Gotta like that, boss.

I saw this MJT at the Reuters’ London headquarters tonight, at an ONA gathering. Bet you don’t know what that means, boss. MJT stands for Mobile Journalism Toolkit. They like it very much.

Me too, boss. Me too.

You heard it from me first, boss. So get me one. Right now. In the meantime I’ll keep on hauling my multimedia backpack. Remember how we used to slap each other on the back two light years ago, boss?

Future of journalism, we bragged. Well, boss, I’m a dinosaur compared to these MJT folks. So get me one, boss, right now.

(ps. We had a silly discussion about ‘redefining quality’, which I argued was a fancy way of saying ‘cutting corners’, but that’s a whole different story, boss, I won’t bore you with that.)

Sure, having the news delivered to you on your mobile, on your blackberry or relayed to that implanted chip behind your left ear is the future, and there’s no denying of that fact.

But my sun only rises when the papers arrive on the doormat. A (to be continued) ode to printed joy. Leave your love letters in the comments below.

1. I love the blackened fingers. Scars of a devoted reader willing to suffer.

2. I love that moment on Sunday evening when I’ve really finished off that tree, top to bottom.

3. I love the grateful nod of a fellow train passenger when he picks up my paper, carefully left behind.

4. I love it when my boys start flipping through the comics. Nostalgia for the next generation.

5. I love losing time on the loo, cos’ I gotta finish that great piece in G2.