TAKEAWAY: Does summer ever leave Dubai? Not in September, anyway, but the temperature is not the only thing hot here; the media landscape seems to be hot too; one newspaper stops printing edition, a sports daily may soon see the light. And there are iPads everywhere. Read on. PLUS: Pages we like.
In September, give me early fall temps
It is hot Dubai for me the next few days. I admit that when September makes its grand entrance, I am ready for cooler climes and always tend to feel nostalgic for those early autumn days in Syracuse, New York, when Maria and I would pack the four kids in my Oldsmobile station wagon, along with our schnauzer, Bumper, and head out for Tully and its rolling hills, less than 30 minutes drive from our suburban home in North Syracuse.
The kids and Bumper would fly out of the car, greet the farmers and go pick apples off the trees. Maria would get her bulky Minolta camera out to take photos, glancing around for those leaves turning to golden hues.
So to find myself this Sept. 13 in Dubai, where the short walk to the parking lot in 40C degrees at lunch makes you less hungry, is probably not the best agenda planning. Summer was fun, and so was the beach, but I am ready for sweater weather, for a little change.
Media landscape is hot, too
Emirates Business 24/7 is now a digital newspaper only
One place where change is evident in Dubai is in the media. I have not been here for about three months and now discover several happenings of interest: one newspaper suspends its print edition and goes digital only, a new sports daily may see the light (although nobody knows when), and do I hear iPad rumors here and there?
First, Emirates Business 24/7, a local English-language daily, stopped printing last July and is now a digital edition only. According to a Gulf News report, the staff of Emirates Business 24/7 was as surprised by the announcement as must have been the readers. It was announced online and that was that.
Add the name of Emirates Business 24/7 to a now growing number of newspapers worldwide that, faced with higher printing costs and fewer readers for its printed newspaper, abandon it in favor of online only editions.
In a sense, these titles do not die, but simply continue operating in a different platform. It could be worse, as was the fate of so many evening newspapers in the United States in the early 1970s, which folded without the benefit of extending their brand. For comparison, in 1950, in the US, there were 1,772 daily papers (and 1,450 — or about 70 percent — of them were evening papers) while in 2000, there were 1,480 daily papers (and 766—or about half—of them were evening papers.). Wonder how many of those now gone would have had good second lives in a digital platform had such existed at the time of their demise. Two evening newspapers that come to mind immediately, Chicago Daily News, which closed in 1978, and, one dear to me personally as I did my apprenticeship there, The Miami News, which stopped publication in December 1988.
And, I wonder, just like the iPad is resurrecting such publications as Gourmet, the food magazine, will we see the likes of the Chicago Daily News and The Miami News making a grand iPad re-entrance?
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that there are no second acts in Americans’ lives. These would be second acts I would love to witness, however.
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Sports daily for Dubai
While one newspaper closes its printed edition, another one may soon see the light, both in print and online, in the UAE.
I have heard the rumor now for over a year, and a blog was mentioning the sports daily coming to Dubai already in 2006.
Designers have confided that they were contacted to do work on this sports daily, but nobody knows when the new title will be published.
What we do know is that an Abu Dhabi-based group, Gulf Sports Media , is set to launch the Gulf region’s first English language daily sports newspaper. The new publication, called Sport 360, will be published seven days a week with a minimum of 40 pages in a format slightly bigger than a tabloid. We read that Sport 360 will cover every sport, including such local sports as camel racing. It will also have a robust online edition.
We hope to see the new sports daily the next time we visit here.
iPads and Dubai
Gulf News editor Abdul Hamid in his office: new toy is the iPad!
Apple’s iPad is not officially in the UAE yet, but one does see plenty of them around, including on the desk of Gulf News editor, Abdul Hamid, who is proud of his new gadget and confesses that he really likes the versatility that it allows him. Abdul Hamid likes the ABC News app, but also BBC News, among others.
As for the UAE and iPad apps: one cannot honestly say that any of the newspapers here have created a true iPad app yet, although The National has its iPhone app available in the iPad. The Arab language daily, Al Ittihad,, which belongs to the same company as The National, also has taken its first steps into the iPad with its iPhone application.
It is a matter of time,I am sure, before these titles all take the bigger step to create iPad apps that are customized to present content in the tablet.
According to Bild, this is the biggest piano in the world, the Steinway D -274, 2.74m long, 480kg and made of wood and you can have it for 121.570 euros
Anyone we know who WAS NOT there?
It is Monday and Bild of Germany surprises us with two interesting spreads, one calm and subdued, showing the inside of a grand piano and how it works; another showing the VIPs of the week, how they partied, where they went and whom they mingle with. Both caught the eye of Frank Deville as he flipped through the pages of Bild on his iPad. Thanks, Frank, these are really good images to wake up to on Monday.
TheMarioBlog post #628
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