ArticleIP_2242.txt

   
   
      
         
            Slate Home Delivery

            

               
                  Slate Home Delivery
            

            (Click to go directly to

                  Slate
                Home Delivery instructions.)

            Imagine this: You wake up,
stumble out of bed, pour a cup of coffee, and go to your printer. There, fresh
and warm, are 
                  Slate
               's "Today's Papers," a few of your other
favorite 
                  Slate
                departments, maybe even a non-
                  Slate
               
item or two such as that morning's Washington Post news digest. No need
to boot up or log on. No need to read onscreen or wait for a printout. Why,
there's no need even to go outside and collect the newspaper. True home
delivery-- inside your home. Sound good?

            It
occurred to us a while ago: Why can't people leave their computers and their
printers on overnight, or whenever, and have their printouts waiting for them,
rather than vice versa? There are "push" technologies, such as PointCast and
the "channels" on Microsoft Internet Explorer, which will download Web pages
automatically. But none of them takes the next step of printing the pages out.
Why not? Could it be that computer types don't appreciate the widespread
aversion to reading things on a screen? Whatever the reason, how hard would it
be to offer this service to 
                  Slate
                readers?

            As we do with all deep philosophical questions, we took
this one to the nearest software developer, who happened to be

                  Slate
               's own Chief Computer Guy Andrew Shuman. And Shuman gave his
usual two-part answer: a) Very easy. No problem at all. b) Very difficult.
Would require many a moon. Need new staff, much wampum. Accused of
self-contradiction, he sniffed: "To you it's a contradiction. To me it's a
paradox. Some people can't tell the difference." And he added, "If you think
it's so easy, why don't you do it yourself?"

            So we did.
The process gave us new respect for software developers. We deeply regret any
harsh or impatient words we may have uttered to them (or even behind their
backs). Nevertheless, we have a solution. Shuman wishes it known that this is
not an official 
                  Slate
                service, and the publisher wishes it known
that we cannot supply support or advice on it. It's just a whimsy of

                  Slate
               's journalistic element. It hasn't been tested. It doesn't
work on AOL and may not work on any configuration of equipment and services
other than those on the editor's home machine. Nevertheless, we think it's
pretty cool.

            
It's actually just an adaptation of some
software from Hewlett-Packard called HP Web PrintSmart. You can download the software free from HP's Web site. (Although the site
implies the software is intended only for HP printers, it actually plays well
with others.) PrintSmart has various features, and you're welcome to piss away
as many hours horsing around with it as we have. But for our purposes, it does
three things. First, at a time and frequency you determine (just once, once a
week, every day, or every weekday), it dials your Internet service provider (if
necessary), makes a connection, downloads the Web pages you have selected,
closes the connection, and hangs up. Second, it very cleverly reformats the
pages to look good and save paper when printed out. Third, it does print them
out.

            
PrintSmart can be customized for 
                  Slate
                fairly easily. You can
instruct the program to search in various ways for pages linked to other pages.
By setting these parameters correctly, you can schedule an overnight printout
of any combination of 
                  Slate
                articles or departments you wish.
(You can add other Web sites, too.) And in the morning, if you wish, you can go
to a checklist of 
                  Slate
                pages, preview them, and choose other
articles to print out--all without dialing in again.

            PrintSmart has some flaws, and for our purposes it's more
complicated than it ought to be. 
                  Slate
                and HP both have ambitions
for a simpler process, and you can expect to see some developments over the
next few months.

            We also should mention a
rival product put out by another printer company, Canon. Called WebRecord, it
has some advantages over PrintSmart. For example, it formats printouts for two
or three columns a page, thus saving even more paper. But it doesn't have a
search mechanism, it doesn't have a scheduler--and it costs $30. Nevertheless,
if you're into printing out, it's worth
investigating.

            For instructions on setting
up 
                  Slate
                Home Delivery using HP PrintSmart, .

            

               --Michael Kinsley