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nothing here to explain since it is happening all over
the US Post Office is shrinking day by day
you can buy anithing you want online
your cell phone is more important than your land line
book stores are closing and THANKS to the kinddle
camaras are obsolet, history are gone (KODAK) anyone??
welcome to the digital world
Remember reading at night as a kid; blanket over your head, flashlight in hand, all excited, feeling sneaky and ready to pretend to be asleep in case mom came in?
Now, I just read by the light of my Kindle. Nowhere near as much fun.
[quote=”aguirrewar”] nothing here to explain since it is happening all over
http://www.nacion.com/2012-09-28/AldeaGlobal/the-tico-times-cierra-su-edicion-impresa.aspx?Page=3#comentarios%5B/quote%5D
I have been reading the on-line edition of the Tico Times since before I arrived in Costa Rica. (guilty)[quote=”aguirrewar”]the US Post Office is shrinking day by day[/quote]
I have found that UPS or DHL is much faster in delivering items I have purchased (guilty)[quote=”aguirrewar”]you can buy anithing you want online[/quote]
I have been purchasing much of what I want or need or selling what I don’t need on eBay for 14 years. (guilty)[quote=”aguirrewar”]your cell phone is more important than your land line[/quote]
unil I had been in Costa Rica for 1 1/2 years I did not own a cell phone (I hate them). I will not respond to a text message or a call on my cell phone while driving.
The only reason I now own a cell phone is when either my wife or I is away from our home singly it is used to communicate with the other at home.[quote=”aguirrewar”]book stores are closing and THANKS to the kinddle[/quote]
My wife is an incessant reader and reads books. We do not own a kindle although she is pressing me to buy one now.[quote=”aguirrewar”]camaras are obsolet, history are gone (KODAK) anyone??[/quote]
I own a digital camera and a digital video camera. I can upload to my computer or onto CD or DVD.[quote=”aguirrewar”]welcome to the digital world[/quote]
The prices we pay for advancing technology. I imagine that in the not too distant future I will be able to order everything we need including our groceries by internet and have it delivered by robot.
The last 15 years of my work life was in the computer industry but I like the idea of personal contact with other human beings.What will the world be like when we do not have to interact wuth another human being?
1. About 12 years ago when I first arrived in Costa Rica as a Wall Street trained investment advisor who had been working in offshore investments on Grand Cayman for a few years, I contacted the Tico Times to see if they might be interested in a series of articles about offshore investments.
The owner replied to me saying that investing “offshore” was for money launderers and criminals or words to that effect … I guess she hasn’t looked at [url=http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts
] Mitt Romney’s personal finances[/url] lately…“The firm (Bain Capital) today has at least 138 funds organized in the Cayman Islands, and Romney himself has personal interests in at least 12, worth as much as $30 million, hidden behind controversial confidentiality disclaimers.”
2. I’ve had two Kindles and must confess that I MUCH prefer holding a book in my hands and one point that most people miss completely is that when you have the “truth” in your hands in black and white, printed on paper in your hands, it’s not easy to manipulate or change.
On the other hand… Did you see ‘[url=http://io9.com/5317703/amazon-secretly-removes-1984-from-the-kindle]Amazon Secretly Removes “1984” From the Kindle[/url]’?
It’s supposedly a copyright problem but it’s also a warning sign for the future, don’t you think?
“An uproar followed, with outraged customers pointing out the irony that Amazon was deleting copies of a novel about a fascist media state that constantly alters history by changing digital records of what has happened. Amazon’s action flies in the face of what people expect when they purchase a book.”
Scott
It was [url=https://www.welovecostarica.com/members/cfmbb/messages.cfm?messageid=3C4A8533-24E8-5ED2-F17221C1F9B9FDAA#3C4A8533-24E8-5ED2-F17221C1F9B9FDAA]nearly two years ago[/url] that I wrote in this Forum: “Looks to me like the Tico Times is on its last legs, it gets thinner and thinner each week and someone told me they’re going non-profit, is that true? If they can’t make enough money to survive as a for-profit business, who and why would anyone support them as a non-profit? Has that worked for other newspapers?”
They have obviously been running on fumes for years.
In [url=http://www.ticotimes.net/Current-Edition/Top-Story/A-56-year-legacy-comes-to-an-end_Friday-September-28-2012]yesterdays Tico Times[/url], they write about how “Management observed diminishing revenues. Circulation that once reached 15,000 was cut in half, and then dropped even further.”
“The dominoes tumbled as the global economic crisis eliminated advertiser after advertiser. The paper could not conceive of ways to get back those advertisers nor the revenue streams. The main response was to downsize, but that only created an overworked staff and errors, not profits… Tico Times Business Manager Olman Chacón “also noted that faced with the changing times and the flight of advertising, the paper suffered from continuous lack of vision. “It was badly planned and had poor business strategies for years,” he said.
So the solution to this “continuous lack of vision,” bad planning and “poor business strategies for years” according to the [url=http://www.ticotimes.net/Current-Edition/Top-Story/Donate-and-help-save-The-Tico-Times_Friday-September-28-2012]Publisher Dery Dyer[/url] is for people to “Donate and help save The Tico Times.”
In her begging letter Dery Dyer says that: “To survive, The Tico Times needs your donations. In coming months, the company will create new revenue models and modernize the online product, but we are going to need your help. To keep telling stories in the region, and to keep our small group of volunteers out reporting for you, we need cash. If you still want to see The Tico Times continue and evolve into something better than before, push the donate button.”
It’s probably too late but don’t you think she should have been trying to run the newspaper like a business rather than a charity?
Would you agree?
With less than 7,500 readers seems the Tico Times has less readers than this site, is that right Scott? How many readers do you have?
An interesting side note: for the last 12 years I have owned and run a coffee shop and bookstore and a straight coffee shop. I could see the handwriting on the wall for the book business before Kindle/Amazon (too much real estate devoted to books with a diminishing reader market, basically anyone under 40, due to technology) but it really hit home in 2007 when book sales began to slide. At that point I could buy new from Amazon for less than through a distributor. Ouch and the book customers figured this out pretty quickly. 2009 was the watershed year for those of us that love to hold books in our hands-sales nosedived, Borders began their death throes and the e-readers began their march on the castle walls, which were breached, easily. Bookstores you say? Anyone look at a B&N store lately? Looks more like Toys R Us than a bookstore. Sadly, but due to technological advances, our books are now in our hands in a much different format. I may have been one of the last holdouts, but for Christmas 3 years ago my kids bought me a nook, and me…….one of the diehard holdouts, who NEVER asked for this toy, knowing it was the death of my own business (I changed my business model, by the way) turned out loving it. Guess I was not as old as I thought I was and with some reservations, I became a fan. So sorry about the Tico Times, but, it is a sign of “The Times.”
You’re right, b&b, time marches on. We, too, bought readers (iPads) a couple of years ago and I’d never go back. The convenience of downloading books from Amazon, the iBookStore or wherever, especially to us here in Costa Rica, trumps anything a printed book could offer.
Interesting sidenote: In a recently rebroadcast of an early episode of Startrek, the Next Generation, Captain Picard was reading LaForge’s engineering update on a tablet.
I often would love to open a book store, nice litle place, old and new books,etc…maybe a few movies thrown in and all. One reason I have not, other then the start up? No one reads anymore. Not sure about the average Tico/a, but in US, everyone has a gadget and/or internet…..Even I am guilty of not reading as much, takes me awhile now to get into a book, when I used to read for hrs…..would love to open a book store, but was born I guess too late….anyone know of a good online or work from house enterprise, send me a private email if you would…..
Personally, love hte feel and smell of a real, paper book, plus easier on the eyes, for me. I spend at least 9-10 hrs on a computer as it is and that bright light and waves are occupational hazard….
I do get most of my news online…..[quote=”frankburns”]With less than 7,500 readers seems the Tico Times has less readers than this site, is that right Scott? How many readers do you have? [/quote]
Tomorrow’s WeLoveCostaRica.com newsletter will be sent out to exactly 24,965 people Frank… Last Friday’s went out to 25,105 people.
Scott
[quote=”Scott”]Tomorrow’s WeLoveCostaRica.com newsletter will be sent out to exactly 24,965 people Frank… Last Friday’s went out to 25,105 people.
Scott
[/quote]Oh no, that’s terrible news Scott – a loss of 140 people in 4 days. Based only on the information given, and maintaining that same velocity, we will all be gone in just under 2 years! But where will we go? Forgive me Sprite, it appears that you have been right all along!!!
[quote=”costaricabill”] Oh no, that’s terrible news Scott – a loss of 140 people in 4 days. Based only on the information given, and maintaining that same velocity, we will all be gone in just under 2 years! [/quote]
That’s just awful news, Bill, but we need details. Who will be the first to go? Will it be a “first in/first out” process? “Last in/first out”? “Boy . . . Girl . . Boy . . . Girl”? Descending order by age or hat size? And who will turn out the lights?
And (I hate to bring this up), at a loss of 35 people per day, it’ll only take 1.71 years ’til the last one of us is gone. That’s about the 8th of September 2013. Anybody got a Mayan calendar?
And I really, really hate to bring this up, but could sprite be right after all? What are the chances?
I figure the average age of the people that participate in WE LOVE COSTA RICA is between 45 and 55
maybe by a ratio of 60%
and if 2 out of 3 people moving to CR returns to the USA then that # is defining the LOSS in this forum
I have 3 children and the oldest was born in CR and came to the USA 5 years ago
based on some #’s I read in La Nacion, 335,000 ticos have left CR in the last 3 years
have to find out how many US citizens are living in CR but it is not close to 12,000
any ideas???
I seriously doubt that folks who have left Costa Rica for the U.S. or elsewhere ALWAYS terminate their VIP memberships. Most just walk away.
The most recent Costa Rican census (2011, maybe) reflected that there are about 15,000 legal residents who have come here from North America.
15,000 you say??
that is the # of legal US citizens that live in CR with their residency and own property
30,000 more as perpetual residents as some come and GO and they just rent and are not counted
now; where do I fall in this statistic, I am a US citizen with property in CR but visit 30-45 days out of each year
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