Score for Transcontinental! Tell the SF Chronicle about clickable newspapers. It should be a win-win-win.

Transcontinental starts printing the San Francisco Chronicle - from WhatTheyThink:
"MONTREAL -- Transcontinental today began officially printing the San Francisco Chronicle daily paper at its brand new 338,000-square-foot plant in Fremont, California. The Monday, July 6 edition is the first to come off the presses at the plant."

No doubt the better color and better paper is very cool. But color might turn out to be a necessary but not sufficient condition for a newspaper's success. The business about being more of a magazine ish format will also help. The ability to do marketing collateral for newspaper advertisers is very very cool. Of course the regional commercial printers are going to get very nervous, but that's life in a competitive world. They have their problems. The Chronicle has its problems.

In my not so humble opinion, it would be very cool to get the whole QR code thing on the radar of the business people at the Chronicle. The data harvesting potential is just what the doctor ordered to get that revenue stream back.

It would be ultra cool if the Chronicle combined their long tail of content, editorial skill, and deadline driven culture with Transcontinental's long tail of super efficient manufacturing ability. Then they, instead of or with RDA, could produce Clickable Newspapers or Clickable My Weekly Readers replace textbooks in California.

The newspaper wins.
Transcontinental wins.
The kids win.

Triple wins usually get to "why wouldn't I do that?"