The cyber and print worlds finally get it right

We've all heard too many times lately that the printed word is in grave danger of becoming obsolete due to the Internet and the accompanying computer monitor. The simple pleasure of holding a piece of reading material in one's hand is growing quickly antiquated and unfeasible. Newspapers, books, magazines, all are now officially on the endangered species list as relates to ink and paper. And a lot of oldtimers like myself mourn the passing of the old way of gleaning information. Cyberspace simply ain't the same, no way, no how.

But here is the good news: a just-launched Net pitstop has come closer to seamlessly merging the worlds of online and printed content than anything I've seen before. It's called KobreGuide, and in the interest of full disclosure, its hands-on creator and editorial director, Jerry Lazar, is a friend and talented journalism man who logged time working for thr.com. But this doesn't render KobreGuide any less intriguing and, indeed, revolutionary. It supplies an impressively comprehensive, visually sharp, sleek and sophisticated overview of the creme de la creme of multimedia and video journalism content.

The brainchild of legendary San Francisco State photojournalism professor Ken Kobre, the site represents a one-stop shop for professional-quality, newsmagazine-style video journalism on the level of a "60 Minutes" or "20/20." Impressively simple to navigate, KobreGuide is organized according to "Channel" (everything from the L.A. Times to Reuters to the New York Times to National Geographic to NPR), "Topic (adventure, food, transportation, lifestyle, war) to "Award Winners" to "Got A Minute?" (where the options are "Make You Laugh," "Make You Cry" and "Make You Wonder").

In short, the site culls the best and most worthwhile content and presents it in a clean, straightforward and appealing package. It kicks the ass of the YouTubes and MetaCafes because it points surfers only to the online content that boasts genuine heft, rather than cluttering things up with anything and everything that can stick to a cyber wall like those other guys do.

Were I to recommend anything different to help make KobreGuide stand out, it would probably be to change the name. This is meant as no disrespect to Mr. Kobre, who is indeed a renowned guru of the profession. But it doesn't mean a whole lot to Joe Blow Cyber Consumer. It also may be too close to "KobeGuide," which could cause some confusion with people believing they were accessing a site that told them about Kobe Bryant or, um, Kobe beef. But that is a minor quibble. Anyone who still cares about depth in their news consumption -- and being truly informed rather than merely teased and titillated -- owes it to themselves to pay a visit (or several) to KobreGuide. It's the antidote to the mindless babble that so dominates the Web.

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[Alvin Chan]

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