First of all, I've read the Times nearly my whole life. I grew up in a NY-suburban Times household. I have fond memories of my father spreading out the Sunday edition on the floor, sitting on the carpet in his pajamas. He read that paper every day until he died. (No evidence that the Times hastened his death.)

But that's not reason enough to fork over $15 bucks a month for the latest digital format.

The NYTimes web site is persistently in my "most visited" lineup on my computers. I have multiple Times RSS feeds neatly sorted in Google Reader. I subscribe to the Times on my Kindle. Oops ... as of five minutes ago, not so much with the Kindle. I ditched that subscription, and replaced it with TimesReader 2.0.

In doing so, I violated my own dictum (and we all know how much that hurts) that convenience always trumps quality. The Kindle subscription takes the convenience prize, especially when traveling. But oh my -- the quality of that interface would leave Samuel Pepys aghast. Fun fact about Pepys: he had 10 brothers and sisters. He had to fight for his share of the family Kindle.

Dictum death occurs when quality zooms upward, but convenience gets nudged down just a little. That's what happened here. Bad news for Amazon. I'm suddenly willing to dig out my laptop on a plane for a vastly improved reading experience plus updates from just before the machine exited WiFi range. I used to keep the Kindle on my bedside table so I could start reading the OpEd page in the morning before my eyes were fully open. Now I'll haul over a laptop. We'll see how that goes, but at the moment, the tradeoff seems more than worth it for the full-color, wide-angle experience.

Is any of this reason enough to subscribe in any fashion, when I spend all day and half the night in front of computer screens and can get Times content free of charge? I just hope my wife doesn't start asking that question. In the meantime, I am loving this thing. The NYTimes might and might not survive the newspaper crash, but some of the digital solutions it comes up with definitely rock.

TimesReader is a desktop application for reading the New York Times without a web browser. While this may not sound like a service you need, since you can read most Times articles online, the latest version of TimesReader provides a pretty compelling interface for reading the paper. TimesReader 2.0 also happens to be built on Adobe AIR, which mean that unlike earlier versions of the program, it runs well on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.

When you first load TimesReader, you'll see a list of articles from the front page of that day's paper. You can click any article to read the full text and see any pictures. You can also change the date to see any issues from the last week, enter a query in the search box, or flip to a different section of the paper using the sidebar navigation. You can even do the crossword puzzle for each day.

Once you're reading an article you can either go back by hitting the navigation buttons on the top or left of the screen, or you can hit a button to spread out the "pages" of the day's newspaper as if you were flipping through them on your table, helping to re-create the experience of reading the print edition.

There is a bit of a catch though. While you can read all of the articles from selected sections of the paper for free, if you want unlimited access you'll need to pony up $3.45/week for a subscription. Or fire up a web browser and go read the same articles for free on the web.

[via GottaBeMobile]

You'd never know it from looking at your RSS reader right now, but there are operating systems other than Windows 7 pushing out new releases. One of my favorite Linux distributions, Linux Mint, has just made a release candidate of their seventh version available for download.

Not familiar with the distro? It's based on Ubuntu - the Mint v7 core is Jaunty Jackalope, which Canonical recently freed from its cage. Apart from providing a solid foundation, that also means you can install Mint from within Windows using Mint4Win (Wubi, modified) (quick update: this is not working in the RC, but will be ready to go in the stable release).

For Windows users looking to try out a Linux distribution, Mint is a nice choice. The Gnome interface is set up Windows-style, with a taskbar along the bottom and menu button in the left-hand corner.

Apart from the obvious visual updates, Mint has introduced a few core features that have improved ease-of-use. The MintMenu system now offers a more intuitive search box (similar to the one in Vista and Windows 7). If Mint can't find an exact match for your query, it will provide suggestions. Results appear in an flash, and sugegstions are generally spot-on.

Mint Install and Update have also been improved, and they make adding applications and keeping your system current a breeze. Screenshots offer a welcome visual preview before you download - especially handy if you want to check out some the dozens of available games - including great ones like Wormux, FreeCiv, Nexuiz, and Warzone 2100.

Mint is a great distro, and the version 7RC is very enjoyable to use. Don't want to install it? Mint plays well with VirtualBox and VMware, and you can also run it as a LiveCD.

I'm enjoying the new release so far, and look forward to seeing it evolve into its final form.

At first glance, Statuzer looks like just another Twitter client built on Adobe AIR. But it has a few awesome features that set it apart from competitors like Twhirl and Tweetdeck. First, Statuzer comes with a built in music player that lets you stream MP3s shared through song.ly and tra.kz. But you can also use Statuzer as a search engine for Jamendo to find and play free and legal music. In fact, even if you didn't want to use the application as a Twitter client, Statuzer would be worth checking out as a Jamendo desktop client.

The program also has a few other bells and whistles, including the ability to display images from Twitpic directly in your stream. It also supports the following features:

• YouTube thumbnaiils
• Hashtags
• Contact groups
• Multiple accounts
• Search filters
• URL shortening
• Customizable color scheme

Statuzer is still in beta, but it seems pretty stable. It's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for a new Twitter desktop client for Windows, Mac, or Linux.

[via Go2Web20]

A few months back, Adobe announced the availability of a 64-bit version of the Flash plugin on Labs - for Linux only. Now they've released a 64-bit alpha version of Air, and once again it's just for Linux users.

If you're running a 64-bit Linux distribution on your system and can pitch in with bug reports and devote some serious time to testing you can email Adobe with your particulars. While I haven't received word back from Adobe as to why Linux is their testbed of choice, it surely has something to do with the number of Linux users running x64 distributions and their willingness to experiment with pre-release software.

Update: Adobe's Matt Rozen has just emailed me a response. He says "We have seen much stronger interest from the Linux community for a 64-bit version of Adobe Air, so that has been the focus of our efforts."

Windows users will have to wait patiently. There's no news at all yet about Air and the official line on Flash is that 64-bit support won't come until the next major release.

[ via @glynmoody]

Linux advocates had a lot of fun recently taking shots at Windows 7 Starter version, which Microsoft has positioned as an option for low-cost netbooks.

What could Microsoft possibly offer in response to the "Starter is a comically bad attempt at an operating system" comments?

They could announce the continued availability of Windows XP for netbook manufacturers for a full year after the release of Windows 7 - which exactly what they've done.

If what Acer said earlier turns out to be true, that means OEMs will be able to sell XP-powered machines until October 2010, and that decision is sure to have repercussions for Linux on netbooks.

After all, one of the key weaknesses of Starter Edition was the three application limit - something that can't be said about Windows XP.

Though it will still add a bit to the cost of a system, the amount has been pegged as low as $15. That's a negligible amount and one most consumers will be willing to absorb to have access to an operating system that is far more familiar to most than any Linux distribution.

The extension will give Microsoft an entire year to build public awareness of Windows 7 and showcase Starter Edition - or scrap it and offer better pricing on another more complete version. Either way, today's announcement could mean a continued rough road ahead for mainstream Linux.

[via PC World]

Open source media player and online video aggregator Miro is taking a cue from the highway service and asking patrons to "adopt" a line of code to help pay the bills much the same way as you can "adopt" a stretch of highway.

Here's how it works. You visit the Miro Adoption Center and pony up $4 per month and you get your name associated with a line in the Miro code base. Your name will also appear in the About Miro credits. But you don't get any tangible benefits like super fast downloads or anything.

In the long run, the only reason to adopt a line of code is because you want to support this open source project. But if you're the sort of person who needs an NPR mug before donating some money to help keep Morning Edition on the air, maybe the adoption page will help encourage you to pull out your wallet for Miro.

[via Boing Boing]

The Opera web browser may not have the name recognition of more popular software like Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari. But you know what it does have? History. The first line of code for the Opera web browser was written 15 years ago today.

Back in 1994, Firefox wasn't even a twinkle in the eyes of the team working on the popular Netscape browser. And Microsoft didn't release Internet Explorer 1 until 1995.

Over the last 15 years, Opera has continually added features that were later adopted by other browsers, including tabs, mouse gestures, speed dial bookmarks, and full page zoom.

To celebrate the anniversary, Opera has put together a portal with a comic strip, 15 reasons to try Opera, and a list of innovations that showed up first in the Opera browser.

You might also want to check out Opera.com today for a quick refresher on what the web looked like 15 years ago.

GKrellM is a system monitor utility that was originally designed for Linux, but which now runs on a number of operating systems including OS X, Linux, and Windows.

Out of the box, the utility includes modules for monitoring your CPU, memory, and network use as well as running processes and several other items. Each module can be customized to look different or display different information. And there's a huge list of plugins that you can use to add features like:

• Show clipboard entries
• Display images
• Show the time in several different time zones
• Monitor your Folding@Home account
• Control media players

And the list goes on.

GKrellM is an open source application, with installation packages available for Windows and several Linux distributions including Debian, SUSE, RedHat, and Mandrake. It's also available for FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD. Getting it up and running on OS X is a bit more complicated, but still doable.

[via MakeUseOf]

Like many sites offering icon design services, Visual Pharm generously provides a few dozen free downloads for users to enjoy.

As an added bonus, the icon sets they offer are free to use in both personal and commercial settings, provided you supply a link to their web site.

The Must Have pack includes all the OS essentials like disks, users, folders, arrows, gears, and clipboard actions.

For a little international flavor, check out Comrade Matroyshka and From Russia With Love. There are also a few handy computer hardware icons, a small office-themed set (partially pictured), and a half dozen whimsical animals to make your desktop a happy panda.

The icons are well done and provided in Windows, Mac, and PNG format so everyone can get in on the graphical goodness.

Now if I could just get that coffee machine to dispense actual coffee from my desktop...

In case you aren't familiar with the ReactOS project in a nutshell, the aim is to produce an open source operating system that is fully Windows compatible. I've been intrigued by the project for years, and as the developers push toward the release of version 0.4, there's every reason to get excited.

The latest version, 0.3.9, sports reduced memory requirements and major speed improvements, as well as a number of other enhancements. ReactOS requires only 32Mb of memory (it will run with as little as 20Mb), and the installer weighs in at just under 34Mb. Preliminary AC97 sound support has also been added, and GDI fixes have taken care of a number of graphics issues.

Want to take it for a spin? You can play with ReactOS a number of ways. There's an installation CD, LiveCD, VMWare virtual machine, and pre-packed Qemu setup, all ready to download. Just keep in mind that ReactOS is still considered an alpha release at this point.

Once you've got ReactOS running, fire up the downloader to get some apps installed, like Firefox, mIRC, AbiWord, IfranView, or even the Diablo 2 Shareware release. Nice!

[via TuxRadar]

Right on schedule, the folks at Canonical released the latest version of Ubuntu Linux this morning. Ubuntu 9.04 adds a number of new features including a revamped notification system, support for the Ext4 file system, and updated applications like Firefox 3 and OpenOffice.org 3.0.

Canonical also worked hard on system performance, and Ubuntu 9.04 should boot up faster and feature more efficient suspend and reume features. The operating system can also intelligentally switchbetween WiFi and 3G environments using a number of 3G cards.

Ubuntu 9.04 comes in several different flavors. There's a server edition, a desktop edition, and a Netbook Remix edition that's optimized for mini-laptops with Intel Atom processors and low resolution displays.

Kubuntu 9.04 is also available for users who prefer the KDE desktop environment to Gnome. Many of the basic packages in Ubuntu and Kubuntu are the same. Mythbuntu, which comes preloaded with the popular MythTV media center application, has also been updated to version 9.04.

Other versions including Xubuntu (based on the Xfce desktop environment) and Edubuntu (with a focus on educational software) should be updated to 9.04 soon.