App makes local news even easier to find

On the final day of my vacation (you might have noticed I wasn't around last week), I decided to catch up on the news around East County.

So I pulled out my phone, swiped down to the Your Observer app, and punched the big, white O with the red background.

Bam! What do you know? This stuff really works.

Oh, the choices!

I immediately called up reporter Lesley Dwyer's story about the Lakewood Ranch Republican Club hosting the Manatee County Commission's Republican candidates. Those of you who are regular readers of the East County Observer know that Lesley stays all over the local news scene. She is passionate.

Then I checked out some upcoming events, since I did have a little vacation time remaining.

Next, I read Madison Bierl's story about the possible names for the new Lakewood Ranch High School. Looks like Rangeland High School is in the lead, and I guess, as an editor, I should be happy. Short and to the point. It could have been Doctor Livingston Gireau Junior Memorial of Manatee County High School.

Rangeland is a lot easier in headlines.

Since I was in Honduras last week without cell phone reception, I didn't know who won the Senior PGA Championship at The Concession Golf Club. My finger pressed on Jack Nelson's coverage. Way to go, Stewart Cink. A course-record 63 in the final round does it.

After reading about Cink's victory, I even checked out one of my past columns. It was easy. The old Yellow Pages advertisement came to mind ... "Let your fingers do the walking."

My point is that the Observer app is easy. Now I will admit, I needed a little help from a coworker to load up the app, because this kind of stuff intimidates the heck out of me. She did it in a couple of minutes ... easy peasy. The QR codes (quick response) never have been very quick for me, but it was a snap for her.

You can find the information you need to download our app by going to YourObserver.com/app.

If you struggle with apps — like me — you probably know a 14-year-old who can help you load up the Observer app. If not, no worries, you can call 877-231-8834 and ask for help, or you can send an email to [email protected].

Since I have lived a little, I always have loved having an actual newspaper print edition in my hands. I would run to the end of my family's driveway and pick up the Times Herald Record (Middletown, N.Y.) and the New York Daily News.

I was the first one in my family to get a college degree, and yet we were a two-newspaper family. I feel blessed because it spawned my love of newspapers.

You, too, might love having the paper in your hands, and I get it. But having the app doesn't mean you can't enjoy the printed edition. In fact, one of the features is you can see the print version replicated in the app as an e-edition. You can still see the layout, the pages, the whole print product, without ink on your fingers. It's fantastic on a tablet.

But if you're a print diehard, it could be just a supplement. Think about when you travel, or if you are a snowbird — or when your favorite local place to pick us up is out of papers — that the East County Observer is just a swipe on your phone away. You literally can stay in touch with local news.

And, one of the best parts is, you have access to all the Observer news, including what's happening in the Sarasota and Longboat Observers and our magazines, LWR Life, Key Life and Season magazine. All without leaving your house to chase down print copies.

Intimidated? I don't know too many people who are more technologically challenged than I am. But I am doing what I can to keep up. From time to time I look at those icons I somehow have acquired. I look at my phone and have no idea where the Roblox or Clash of Clans icons came from, and then I struggle to delete them. I play around for 20 minutes, and eventually manage to uninstall the ones I don't use. Ever notice how fast you have to be to hit the uninstall button?

I had plenty of room for the Your Observer App icon. Now I am glad it's there.

If you have doubts whether you can handle all this, consider my own voyage through technology.

Challenged? Consider I still have the same America Online address from 1981.

At that same time in the early 1980s, our industry was beaming because we were using IBM Selectric typewriters, which could produce copy that could be fed into a reader and then, through a computer, was rolled out on film, then eventually cut out in columns and pasted on a page.

Sportswriters of the time were introduced to the Teleram Portabubble/81, which could be carried to an event so you could type your story, connect to a telephone using couplers, and send your home office a signal that the computer on the other end would recognize and configure for your copy desk.

The only problem was the computer screen was 6 inches by 6 inches, even though the entire unit weighed about 50 pounds. I don't know if it made me a better writer, but it sure made me stronger.

Before the Portabubble, I had to dictate my stories over the phone, reading from my notes. Being able to forgo that process for journalists was like man landing on the moon.

Then came the "Trash 80," as it was affectionately called, or the TRS-80 (Tandy Radio Shack) that made remote coverage much easier. 

The "Trash 80" was light and portable, but the screen was black and white, monochrome, and pretty hard to see. And it only displayed a few lines at a time.

Flash forward to today, and I am writing this column on a MacBook Pro laptop that is sitting on my chest as I lay back on my couch. The screen is bigger than the black-and-white TV I had in my room as a kid to watch the Yankees play baseball, the Rangers play ice hockey, and the Knicks play basketball.

We've all come a long way.

I just bought a new car where I can tell my screen on the dashboard that I want a driver's seat massage or my sunroof to open. It's about all I can do so far — other than play the radio — so I have an appointment with a sales rep in an attempt to have me program a least some primary items.

If you are like me, and perhaps you have lived a little, too, all this technology can make you want to lock yourself in your room. But, since we all like to laugh at ourselves, if you want to share your stories about your technological misgivings, email me at [email protected].

Until then, take that step and upload our app. I think you are going to like it. There's even a QR code below to help.

And I'll only be a swipe away.