good bye, good luck...

Happy trails to the Printed Blog, an incomprehensible idea from the outset.

The New York Times reports that the ill-fated paper, the brainchild of John Karp, has folded up shop. Karp initially financed the paper with savings and credit cards and in the end, could not find the venture capital to keep the paper afloat. If you ever saw a copy -- which featured the worst of what blogs have to offer -- you won't mourn its untimely demise. (Full disclosure: I only saw one issue, but it was enough for me.)

From the Times' story:

Mr. Karp started The Printed Blog to try out a new solution to the problem facing all publications: readers are going online, but advertisers still pay more to appear in print.

His idea was to take free articles and pictures from blogs, with their permission, and print them on 11-by-17-inch pieces of paper. Then he sold ads to local businesses and distributed the papers at train stations in Chicago and San Francisco. Though he still had to spend money on paper, ink and delivery people, he tried to cut costs by putting commercial printers in the homes of the delivery workers.

so is THIS the new media?

If you weren't confused before about the future of journalism, you will be now:

Just when we thought the journalism biz was heading digital, with no turning back, Wired reports that a startup called The Printed Blog will launch a twice-daily print newspaper that aggregates a selection of ... blogs.

Another way of looking at it: Just when we thought the blogosphere was driving newspapers out of business, along comes a plan to make money off blogs by delivering them on paper. Weird. I mean, Wired. From the article:

“'Why hasn’t anyone tried to take the best content and bring it offline?' said [founder and former business productivity software entrepreneur Joshua] Karp, who thinks print media is far from dying.

“'[For] people around the world, who need to and want to consume information, whether it be in developing countries or emerging countries, newsprint is still going to be a main mechanism for information for years to come,' he said.

"The hope is that the hyperlocal content will attract local advertisers who can spend less to reach out to their target audience. Ads are relatively cheap in comparison ($15-$25) and the paper has already lined up a number of Chicago-based businesses for its debut. It will also host classified ads.

"The first issue is expected to launch on Jan. 27, handed out at three CTA stations around Lincoln Park and Wicker Park in Chicago and one location in San Francisco. A New York edition is due out shortly."