So I need a little help from the family members that read my blog. It seems you have gotten me in a bit of trouble with my mother. I appreciate that you are reading my and my wife's blogs. I am so excited to hear about how you love our pictures, but please don't tell my mom about them! She already feels disconnected enough from us, and it seriously doesn't help when you let her know about all the funny pictures you are seeing on this crazy little thing she barely understands called the Internet.

Of course, I'm joking, but only partially. My mom, with a slight quiver in her voice, asked me on the phone the other day to send her some pictures. Her birthday is coming up so this is easily accomplished, and honestly, it's something I shouldn't need an excuse to do. I know I need to connect more with her. I know she feels lonely sometimes.

But this also made me realize that as powerful as the Internet is as a medium to connect people across vast distances, it doesn't work for everyone. In fact, in all my preaching about creating Web pages that actually mirror what their audiences are looking for, I failed to remember that some audiences actually want a good old hard copy photograph they can place on their mantle (or at least on top of the DVD player they never use).

Someone asked me the other day what I think the future would look like for the news in five years. I confidently replied, "Oh, it's going to be all about the Internet." But I couldn't completely rule out some kind of print product either. People, like my mom, will probably still want their newspaper and the news media will need to provide it. In fact, I think there are more people out there like my mom than we in the business realize. I might even be one of them. While I spend a lot of time online, I hate whipping out my laptop in a sandwich shop. I'd much rather grab a USA Today from a free rack. And I'm definitely not going to compute waiting in the doctor's office or in line at the bank. Even if I had a handy, small Internet appliance like an iPhone, I'm still not sure I would. My mother taught me that's just rude.

So Mom, the pictures are on the way. In fact, we used the Internet to order prints and have them shipped right to your door. But be sure to remind me again, because it helps me remember how important you are in my life, and how I need to stay connected to people like you if I really am going to change the world with information.