“Last week, news anchors and producers at Barrington Broadcasting Group’s WFXL Albany, Ga., replaced their paper scripts with electronic versions displayed on the iPad,” Greenwald reports. “‘By using the iPad, we’re saving hundreds of thousands of sheets of paper annually,’ says News Director Terry Graham, who also anchors the news at 6:30 and 10 p.m. at the Fox affiliate. ‘Our projected savings per month are $800, or about $9,600 per year.’ That easily covers the cost of the initial six entry-level iPads, which retail for $499.”
“Newscast scripts are composed as usual. But rather than printing to paper, the final version is formatted as a PDF file and transmitted to each iPad via e-mail,” Greenwald reports. “The PDF translation is handled by iAnnotate by Aji.LLC, a $7 program sold and downloaded via Apple’s App Store.”
Greenwald reports, “Based upon savings in paper alone, Graham says he’ll probably be purchasing more iPads. And he says he expects that once it confirms the savings, Barrington will encourage other stations in its portfolio to put them to work on their anchor desks.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s iPad could end up causing more CO2 offsetting than all of the environmental groups, summits, speeches, and legislative schemes combined.
[Via. 9 to 5 Mac. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
could be the beginning of the paperless office finally after all these years
The idea of saving paper with this is a terrain shifter. The iPad pays for itself. Very cool.
I just did a report for one of my classes on the effect of the iPad in the coming years. The fact that the iPad has just about the perfect size of comfort(thanks RnD) it can help in the most responsible of way reduce waste, hence proving innovation in technology and common sense will help reduce the carbon footprint. It will also help schools be able to make a great investment and save money on paper too.
This is the kind of thing the naysayers either fail to consider or choose to ignore. The list of real world uses for an iPad is long, and I will be shocked if it doesn’t become a massive success. As I said when the original iPhone came out, this is an amazing device even in it’s first generation. Give it a couple of years to mature a bit and it’s going to be unbelievable.
This is so cool! Hopefully this trend will continue.
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Wow. It will pay for itself in paper savings alone in about 4 months. One question though: Was the iPad designed to withstand constant exposure to hot air?
As I anticipated, it’s great to see how many new and specific uses there are for the iPad, with more being realized each day, from the above newsroom scenario, to doctors offices, to corporate intranets. The applications are endless, the cost easily do-able because of the productivity return. This is just such a winner for Apple, and the news every day brings stories (the 98-year old woman who can now read) of the iPad becoming a part of our lives.
And people who were initially skeptical of the hype,are now realizing this is just a great product.
As John Jacob Astor said, “Buy and Hold”.
ok, how about power for an iPad, how can you add that into the equation? I am all about showing the iPad as being superior to paper, but we need to show the Total Cost of Ownership. I think when we get numbers on power, specific apps, and reduction of paper, I think we will start getting a better idea of just how much a game changer the iPad really is…
Jobs and Co. spent probably more than a decade or more bringing the Apple tablet to it’s final form. That’s a lot of meetings with Steve saying “This is %$#@!” If they felt the intersection of form and function is finally correct then this thing will find more uses than we can imagine. Good luck trying to catch up to this one.
Cool, not the use of iPad for a paperless office, that’s a no-brainer. Cool because this thread, somehow, is gonna explode in left vs right talking points and I’m following it with great interest what’s going to ignite the flame. I have my popcorn ready now!
Good move! Go Fox News!!!
What would Ron Burgandy think about this?
“Apple’s iPad could end up causing more CO2 offsetting”
…until a volcano belches
“Why does Mother Nature hate Mother Nature?”
It saves paper – emotional response is it saves trees, trees create oxygen, saves the planet (?) etc.
Reality tells us that manufacturing an iPad takes far more resources than a few sheets of paper and creates a LOT of toxic waste and general production crap.
Paper can also be recycled – reality is that if the TV station recycled ALL of the scripts, then not too much is lost.
But that wouldnt make a good story, would it?
“Give it a couple of years to mature a bit and it’s going to be unbelievable.”
You mean give Apple a couple of upgrade cycles to milk our money from new models by adding features that should’ve been there in the first place.
ajdowntown: As alternative methods of producing energy grow in acceptance (wind, solar, etc.), the power consumption is going to be less of a factor. Besides, how much power is used printing those paper pages and then recycling all that paper? Not to mention the ease of updating if there’s breaking news.
@ajdowntown
I bought my iPad to eliminate as much paper (and clutter) as possible. I’ve cancelled my morning newspaper. I only buy e-books and magazines for my iPad.
It also saves on the use of printers: ink & electricity, photocopiers, recycling, trash removal, space, etc.
I recharge at night when electricity use is down and the price is cheaper.
Seems a winner to me in many ways.
Now if they wise up even further, buy some Macs, and compose their scripts in Pages they can eliminate the PDF translation step.
Please stop buying iPads, we need some in the UK!!
I just bought a camping vest from Eddie Bauer. It’s got all sorts of pockets, but the interesting one is on the small of the back, just the right size for an iPad. I know that’s not what they had in mind, but I’m betting this kind of vest will become very popular soon.
@ lurker
lol!
@towertone,
Bwah hah! thanks for that- “Why does mother nature hate mother nature,”
How interesting…
R2: do you understand the Development part of R&D;?
@ Tower Tone
“Apple’s iPad could end up causing more CO2 offsetting”
…until a volcano belches”
It’s funny because when that happens, air travel is grounded.
The air traffic in Europe puts about 400,000 tons on carbon into the air on an average day. The volcano itself pumped out about 150,000 tons per day in the first three days, then declined in the days since. This resulted in a net decrease in carbon emissions.
So you see, the earth is really better for itself than we are. If you actually do the numbers.
For more real information you can read…
http://inform.com/world/ash-clouds-silver-lining-bluer-skies-913368a