Letterpress for iPad?!

My next door neighbor developed the fart app. One day he looked at his wife and said, do you know there isn’t a fart app out there? She says, really?

99 cents a unit, a million sold.

What more do you really need to know about apps?

Gerald
http://BielerPress.blogspot.com

Gerald, That’s genious.

Well played, sir.

Now I see that the computer tech have taken ALL the fun of life and killed it!

I hate it!

I looked at that LetterMPress video. It’s very realistic. I mean, I magically turn 5-inch wood type into 10-inch wood type all the time.

I totally agree that most apps fall into the fart category, but there are some worth having.

Barbara

Barbara:

Why would want this?

It not real!

Oh Aaron, I was joking! I was saying that the app ignores a basic reality of letterpress printing: you can’t magically turn vintage 5-inch wood type into vintage 10-inch wood type. Of course you can have a plate made any size you want, but that’s not the process shown on the video.

Barbara

Sorry, I just see every day all things I once loved being replaced by computer tech junk!

At one time, in 1991, I loved the new computer to replace the days of photo typesetting.

But, one day about 2 years ago I wanted to good back to touching real type and real linotypes again.

Everyday, some 5 year old, that I run into with his parents shows me things he did on a computer that makes me feel unwanted.

I am 65 years old, grew up with letterpress, now, kids not in grade school are doing ads for newspapers, that I once did.

I am use sad!

Barbara

I have been fortunate to be able to view a couple of Gutenberg Bibles. They are breathtaking, especially the paper edition. The app you linked to just shows pics. That really isn’t what a book like this is all about.

I know, I know, what about the poor unwashed masses who cannot afford to travel to see a real Gutenberg Bible. Well, they can apparently afford computer phones (and service charges) and, of course, apps.

And, you know, there are pics of the Gutenberg Bible in just about every book on printing history. Those don’t take anyone by storm, why should a pic on the an electronic communication device be any different? Unless, of course, it is all about the device? these incredible toys that are used to reduce reality to the absolute mundane.

Gerald
http://BielerPress.blogspot.com

Interesting. There is an Exhibit of Rare Books at Stanford’s Green Library showing among other things, a page from Gutenberg’s Bible along with a dozen other 500 year old books. I am having second thoughts as to whether I can require my class to go see this exhibit or even if they will want to. You are right Gerald, nothing can replace seeing the real thing.

Now Gerald my dear, I don’t like belaboring a point but I cannot let you continue to think that smartphones are mere toys. Yes, it is about the device — about portability — just as it was when clocks moved off the mantel and into our pockets. Telling time is as mundane as it gets, indeed most of what anyone does is mundane. So why not do it conveniently?

I am not a heavy application user, but in my pocket I have a means of contacting my husband, my son, or the police; a world clock, an alarm clock, a stopwatch, and a timer that greatly reduces my risk of committing parking violations; a street map of every place on earth — one that can point me to a used book store wherever I happen to be; a calorie logger that helps keep me thinner than I would otherwise be; a personal calendar that can alert me of appointments I might otherwise forget; a camera and photo album; a notepad; a tape recorder; a flashlight; a regular calculator; a fancy financial calculator that lets me make on-the-spot decisions that may affect my future net worth; a means of knowing weather conditions and predictions for any place on earth; a means of converting currency and many other units of measure; a carpenters’ tool that includes a ruler, surface level, spirit level, plumb bob, and protractor; a decibel meter that proves to one’s spouse that the TV is too loud; a sketchbook with many drawing tools; a means of tracking the route, speed, and calorie expenditures of my daily walks; a quick connection to all of my financial institutions; a quick means of choosing a good restaurant no matter where I am; and two book readers, so perhaps I’ll be able to conveniently study your book, which I understand is coming out in e-form (thanks!).

Not to mention all of my email and the entire internet.

I do have a few toys — some word and math games that may help forestall Alzheimer’s, a dog whistler that is actually effective with the neighbor’s yapper, and an ocarina that one plays by actually blowing into one’s phone. If you suggest a tune that I might practice, I’ll play it for you on Saturday at the Los Angeles Printers Fair.

With good will and affection,

Barbara

I have an iPad and I love it. So does my 4-year old autistic son who uses a bunch of educational games and applications to help develop his dexterity among other things. It’s an amazing device.