海角大神

Here鈥檚 a trick anybody can do: Slip a sheaf of papers into a metal box in Anchorage, Alaska, or Oslo, Norway, and a few days later it will be in someone鈥檚 hands in Cape Town, South Africa, or Albuquerque, N.M.

OK, you鈥檒l need a stamp, but what the postal service does is still something of a miracle. On foot, horseback, train, planes, and trucks, postal carriers have faithfully delivered the news around the world since the days of Cyrus the Great. Herodotus marveled about how undeterred these couriers were by snow, rain, heat, or darkness.

Paper needs to be hand-delivered. Information doesn鈥檛, not in the Digital Age. And a news magazine is information.

Wait. I know what you鈥檙e thinking. The next sentence isn鈥檛 going to announce that the Monitor is leaving print behind. We鈥檙e committed to print. But we have a request: Take a look at our new Monitor Weekly digital edition. It鈥檚 free to Monitor print subscribers, it takes full advantage of digital delivery, and 鈥� yes, I鈥檒l say it 鈥� it is faster and richer and more economical to produce than the print version.

If you have a tablet (an iPad running iOS 6 or later or an Android device running OS 4 or later), you can download an app from Apple鈥檚 App Store or Google Play. No tablet? Go to
听CSMonitor.com/CSMApp, click 鈥渕anage your account,鈥� fill in the subscriber form, and then click on 鈥渃urrent issue.鈥� That鈥檚 not as smooth an experience as on an app, but it is still timely and accessible wherever you are. And here鈥檚 what the new app features:

鈥�Fast access. At 5 a.m. on the Wednesday before the cover date (for the Sept. 30 issue, that would mean Sept. 25) a new Monitor Weekly is ready to read. That makes the publication more timely and more consistently available than if it arrived via mail. It makes the magazine available at the same time everywhere in the world.

鈥�A new feature called The Daily Feed that keeps you updated on important Monitor news and features. This lets you read the weekly while staying in touch with current events.

鈥�New navigation that gives you tips on browsing, shows you where you are in the magazine, lets you view pages and photos (much more vivid when backlighted) in portrait and landscape aspects, and makes it easier to move among sections and articles.

You can also bookmark articles, check out slide shows and movie trailers, follow links from our book reviews to buy a book, and e-mail a letter to the editor. And archives to past issues are only a tap away. We think this is a superior reading experience with enhancements that can鈥檛 be provided in print.听

Whether you prefer the print or digital edition, you are supporting 海角大神, with its unique mission to report clearly and compassionately on humanity鈥檚 sometimes difficult, often inspiring quest for freedom.

So, while we stand behind the print version of the Monitor Weekly, we hope you鈥檒l agree that our digital app is a lively, timely, versatile way to read the Monitor Weekly. Wherever you are in the world, you can use the Monitor to stay current and go far.听