Is That Slate in Your Pocket or Are You Just Glad To See Me?

Posted Wednesday, April 19, 2000 at 4:00 p.m. PT

Starting today there is a new way to read Slate. That's the good news. The bad news is that it requires a new palmtop device using Microsoft Pocket PC software. Since sale of palmtops using this new operating system (which replaces Windows CE) only begins today, it is unlikely that many Slate readers already own one yet. But the good news is that they are marvelous little gizmos that everyone will wish to own, and they are priced so reasonably that almost anyone can afford to do so. Please go out and buy one now, then return to read the following paragraphs.

Slate's enthusiasm for Pocket PCs has nothing whatever to do with the fact that our friend and former publisher Rogers Weed is now marketing director for the Pocket PC. Having gone from competing with Salon to competing with the PalmPilot, Rogers is looking a bit pale and stressed at the moment. Of course, that may also be due to the birth of his third child just last week. Such is the creative inspiration of Slate that Rogers and Julie have had three children, all boys, in the less than four years Slate has been publishing. During many previous years of marriage, when both of them worked for other divisions of Microsoft, they had no children whatsoever. Congratulations to the Weeds on No. 3—although, having named him Jasper, they will not be permitted to have any more.

But back to the Pocket PC. Each of them will come with a built-in feature called the Microsoft Reader. This is a software program for reading electronic books and other material in book format. The Reader, in turn, includes a new technology called ClearType, which makes text much crisper and easier to read on a computer screen. Starting today, an e-book version of Slate containing everything published during the previous seven days will be available every day around 5 p.m. PT .

Now, we know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Anything as wonderful as Microsoft Reader with ClearType must surely be an integral and inseparable part of the Pocket PC operating system." But that's just the kind of jumping to conclusions that we're getting a bit tired of around here, quite frankly. As it happens, the Pocket PC and Microsoft Reader are two separate products! So there. This summer, there will be a version of the Reader available—free—for use on desktop and laptop PCs. Then you'll be able to download the Reader version of Slate and read it—off-line—like a book: turning pages instead of scrolling, etc. We also will be making a similar version of Slate available for printout and for reading on other devices, such as the Rocket eBook and—yes—even the PalmPilot.

Also coming in the next couple of months is MySlate: the ability to build your own version of Slate containing just the articles and features you want. You will be able to print this version out, read it off-line on your desktop or laptop PC, send it to a Pocket PC or a PalmPilot or an e-book device, carve it into a watermelon, shoot it into space or, if none of those options satisfy you, you can stick it where the sun don't shine.

Please visit Slate every day and stay here for several hours each time to make sure you are among the first to know when each of these features becomes available. Meanwhile, if you have actually got a new Pocket PC and you want to read Slate with Microsoft Reader, click here for a sample. The daily update, today, can be found here, or under Reader Services on the Utilities drop-down menu.