Couric:

What newspapers do you read?

Palin:

Oh, Katie, that’s such a quaint old-timey question – news “papers” - that’s like asking me what “records” I listen to or what “evening news show” I watch.

Well, I do still get the newspaper from my hometown of Wasilla every week – it’s good to stay connected to my roots, to see what is happening at the community level, and to support the small town business.

And I read the Anchorage Daily News – I am still the Governor of Alaska, after all. Most days I read it online, but I get the Sunday edition delivered to my house because my kids (and Todd!) like to read the Sunday funnies the old-fashioned way.

But that’s about as much “paper” as I’m willing to consume just to get the news.

Of course I have news sources beyond the Alaskan border, Katie. If you were to hack into my Google Reader account (please don’t!) you’d see I have it set up with many feeds, not just from traditional “newspaper” sites, but from a variety of sources with a variety of outlooks, including cable news sites and the best of the blogs. That way I can scan the headlines, read the articles, easily see how the same story is reported from different points of view, and form my own opinions.

And, like many Americans, I have my Google Alerts set up to bring me news on specific topics, and I’m constantly updating it with topics that deserve my attention and consideration as a candidate for Vice President. I don’t know how I managed without that one!

So, how about you, Katie. What "newspapers" do you read?

When you have a 20 minute interview that you know will likely result in a 5 second snippet, make sure you know in advance what that one snippet is going to be. The topic of the interview with the Chron was how effective was Apple's marketing run-up to the iPhone release. I gave it some thought and jotted down some notes before the call, so you can see where I got into sound bite mode:

1. Having been a Mac user since 1985, I've been part of the 5% of computer users treated to the evolution of interface design a couple years before the rest of the world. When the iPod and iTunes came out with Windows support, that meant that people didn't need to be part of that 5% to benefit from Apple design.

Now I have a Macbook Pro, which is obviously a computer, and I run Skype on it, which makes it a phone, and I run iTunes on it, which makes it a music player, etc. If Apple were to say: we've made a little Mac as big as an iPod, and we've included lots of cool stuff like a web browser, movie player, music player - and even a phone - so buy our little Mac today! -- they wouldn't be be convincing that many non-Mac people to get one.

But iPhone more than a phone, and more than a next gen iPod, but non-Mac iPod buyers and phone buyers will buy an iPhone, one that is starting to look more like a little Mac. And it runs Safari, and guess what, so does Windows now, too. And the other 95% are getting treated to something they aren't used to.

2. The iPhone ads are quite effective. I haven't seen a real iPhone, but I've seen the ads and the web site. The ads tell a 30 second story, and explain what iPhone is. It's clear that it's a phone, but it's clear that it's more, and not just an iPod with a phone.

It struck me as I saw this that Apple was effectively showing us the future. You know how concepts of how the future will be have some sort of indeterminate future... Someday, we'll all be using phones like this? But when Apple started running the ads, they ended with "Available June 29". This meant that it was still the future - it's not available today, it will be in the future. But now, thanks to Apple, it had a date certain - and that future was this month. This was the phone of the future, but you could start camping out today.

3. The other effect the ads had on me was an interesting one. After I started seeing the iPhone ads, then when I saw ads for any other phone - any other phone looked like it could have belonged to Alexander Graham Bell. Though they may have 21st century features and styling, they were really extensions of last century telephones. Apple laid down a big gap between their phone and the phones of last century - that comes through not just with Apple's ads, but in ads for other phones.

Now I've been taking a 50,000 foot view here, but there will be a lot going on between 10,000 feet and the ground: the battery, 3rd party apps, my two year contract with Verizon, anything version 1.0, the monthly costs. The initial costs. But what else am I going to spend $500 on? o.O