• geekwithsoul
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    27 hours ago

    So, a newspaper with a lot of extra steps? I understand the gee whizness of getting this all to work but not really sure there’s a solid “why” to this.

    • @[email protected]
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      34 hours ago

      Yeah, but I don’t know whether you’ve recently taken a look in one of the local newspapers— being able to select topics you want to read about may very well be worth the extra effort (also, fun of course)

      • geekwithsoul
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        57 hours ago

        Maybe? But in the article he was talking about his priority being that he wanted to disconnect from his phone but still wanted news. Just seems there’s been a solution for that for a few centuries now. His solution seemed to me at least to be a lemon that wasn’t worth the squeeze as it were.

        • Praise Idleness
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          3 hours ago

          So there was two solutions for them:

          1. No-code, paid and pre-made
          2. DIY script writing, free(except materials) and custom built to suit personal needs. Fun to build(obviously).

          I choose 2.

          • @[email protected]
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            45 hours ago

            I’d actually be interested to see a cost breakdown between this and just buying a newspaper subscription; it looks like he spent about $100 on materials, plus then there’s the ongoing costs of electricity (negligible), printer ribbons, and paper. Ribbons appear to be about $1 / ea if you buy in bulk, and I don’t recall how much printing you get out of a single ribbon, but let’s assume a 24 pack is enough to last you a year. Paper seems to be about $30 / 1000 sheets, so assuming he sticks to the single-page-per-day format, that’ll last almost 3 years.

            So up front costs, $100 Ongoing costs, $35 / year, roughly.

            Newspaper subscription is about $150 / year, so this’ll actually be cost effective if he keeps it up. Of course, you’re getting a lot less news than you would from a newspaper subscription, so the relative value is questionable there.

            • Praise Idleness
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              13 hours ago

              I mean clearly this is more of a fun little project than not. What I wanted to say is that it’s a bit missing the point if all we talk about is money.

        • @jqubed
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          27 hours ago

          I’m assuming they still print newspapers, but I can’t remember when I last saw our local paper for sale at a store. The vending machines are long gone.