A major, international daily newspaper based here in Boston announced last week that they plan to cease daily publication in the coming months - at least in print format. They'll be shifting to a weekly printed magazine format, and they'll be shifting more of their content on line. The Christian Science Monitor once had more than 300,000 daily subscribers, but that number has been dwindling fast. And the cost to print and distribute coast-to-coast simply can't compete with the cost to push pixels to your desktop or iPhone. Despite its name, the Monitor is an independent, professional publication well known for its detailed international and political coverage.

The generations that grew up on newsprint may be dwindling, and the Monitor is ahead of the curve in moving to reduce its costs and revaluate its distribution model. Monitor readers may be willing to pay for an iPhone application, or other news outlets that are cutting staff may pay for syndicated stories - all ways to make revenue on-line. And pushing more readers to the Monitor site will increase ad revenue - although it won't reach the levels of print advertising.

As a paper respected by journalist, the Monitor's greatest asset is the stories is collects each day. By finding new ways to syndicate these stories, and by reaching a broader audience on-line - an audience in the millions, not the hundreds of thousands - they'll be better positioned to find new revenue sources. The money won't come easily, but by moving On-line, the Monitor is moving in the right direction.

I normally write about creative technology and items that impact marketing and design areas. But today I'm reflecting on a creative genius who died on Friday - Paul Newman.  We can learn a great deal from the way he lived his life - both professionally and personally. I had the chance to spend an evening with him, his wife, along with one of his daughters and several of his grandchildren - and it reinforced why so many hold him in such high regard.  

I don't know many folks that are as equally popular with grandparents and grandchildren alike. While younger viewers may only know him for his role in Cars, those of us who know his earlier work are also reminded that our creative energies can be put to good use. He showed us that we can and should invest in causes greater than ourselves, and that corporations can be successful and do good work. His leadership in supporting a camp for children with serious illnesses reminds us of how fortunate we are and how much good we can do, and his Newman's Own brand has donated more than $250 million to many charitable organizations.

When I met Paul Newman a few years ago it was unforgettable. We were both backstage at a theater. I was there at the invitation of a good friend that knew the performer well. Mr. Newman was there with his wife, daughter, and grandchildren. We were the only people backstage. I spent a great deal of time talking with his wife, not knowing who she was - what a wonderful woman. Mr. Newman walked over and joined our conversation and we talked about my several month old baby daughter.  As I didn't have any other daughters or sisters growing up, I asked for advice on raising girls. In his classic voice he told me, "Start your gun collection early" to keep the boys away. He was funny, gracious, and kind.

In an age where we see self-centered behavior in so many ways, Paul Newman reminded us that it's not what we take that is important - it's what we give back.

My iPhone wasn't in its charger this morning. Like many people getting ready to head out the door for work, I grabbed my keys, wallet, and had a moment of panic that my phone was missing. After checking the usual spots around the house, I asked my wife, then my second-grade son who told me it was in his bedroom. After a quick scolding ("Don't take Dad's phone") I located it and turned it on to check the battery level and get my email fix. As soon as I turned it on, I found that my son had located some Godzilla clips on YouTube - and later in the day when using Safari - the web browser on the iPhone - I learned that he had Googled "Godzilla" which is what led him to YouTube.

While Kudos are probably  in order for Apple creating the iPhone so that a seven year old can navigate it with no training, and to YouTube for making it so easy to use, we can all learn something from this Godzilla moment. We should all want our Web sites to have such clear ways to request information, learn more, or take the next step. Can the seven year old locate what he needs on your site?

From an even bigger perspective, there's a message here for those involved with marketing and promoting businesses and products - we can actually learn something from the seven year old kid sitting in his bunk bed with Dad's iPhone. The first place he went on his quest for content is Google. "How did you find a Godzilla movie?" I asked, in real disbelief. "I Googled it, Dad" came the much too matter-of-fact answer from the seven year old. He might not be much of a consumer yet, but his behavior is indicitive of how current and future consumers are looking for what they want. Can the seven year old even find your site 

While you might not be selling Godzilla movies, you need to make sure that what you're selling is as easy to find at that Godzilla movie.

On-line video hit my home this week, bringing my entire family together in front of my laptop. It wasn't for some YouTube clip, but live video - and thousands of hours of it with the olympics. NBC has been delivering the olympics at nbcolympics.com using streaming video technology known as Silverlight.

My MacBook didn't hiccup with Microsoft's Silverlight. The streaming was flawless across my wireless network, even when watching one main stream and three separate picture-in-picture images - a total of four separate video streams. I never imagined watching fencing, soccer, horse jumping, and bike racing all at the same time. It's left my kids asking to watch the olympics - on our computer. Several times this week we've had the laptop open while watching the nightly games as well. I would have never expected Microsoft to change the way we watch sports - but it has definately proved its worth. Silverlight may have been relatively unknown before this point, but it's emerging as a viable, industrial-strength platform for delivering streaming video at a massive scale to users on different platforms.

The company I work at, AGI, offers Silverlight Training for designers and creative professionals looking to create interactive and streaming content.