NYT posts

Filed under: Design, Developer, Adobe, Open Source

Adobe open sources Media Framework, text engine behind TimesReader 2.0

by Lee Mathews Jul 21st 2009

This morning, Adobe announced the release of two major pieces of software as open source- the OSMF (Open Source Media Framework) and TLF (Text Layout Framework) - under the Mozilla Public License.

TLF is the new text-rendering engine in Air 1.5, where it handles things like the typographical wizardry in TimesReader 2.0. A major goal with TLF was to provide web application developers a set of features more like those provided by desktop publishing suites.

Other sites utilizing TLF include Adobe's own Acrobat.com Presentations and Makebook, a slick web service which allows independent authors to self-publish. It's also powering the Boston Globe's GlobeReader, which is currently available for preview.

Adobe and Akamai have also teamed up to continue work on the Open Video Player initiative, which is aimed at providing a consistent platform for delivering Flash multimedia content. As they put forth on the project web site, "Open Source Media Framework enables developers to easily assemble pluggable components to create high-quality, full-featured playback experiences."

Adobe believes the frameworks will provide reduced development time, allowing traditional media outlets (like the Times and Globe) to focus on monetization - a problem few have yet to solve.

Tags: adobe-air, adobe-flash, new-york-times, nyt, open-video-player, osmf, timesreader, tlf, video

Filed under: Internet, Mobile Minute, web 2.0

Mobile Minute: NYT game shows you how stupid it is to text while driving

by Lee Mathews Jul 20th 2009

It's not a game in the "collect 100 coins and get an extra life" sense, but the New York Times' Gauging Your Distraction is out to teach you a lesson about safety.

Once the game starts, you'll be driving down a stretch of the New Jersey ~~turnpike~~ Parkway (thanks, Will!) - I can't think where else you'd encounter this many tollbooths. Tap the corresponding number when a gate lights up or an overhead sign alerts you which one will open.

At the same time, you'll need to mouse over your Grayberry and respond to incoming text messages from your friends, who want to take you out to dinner and Broadway show (or movie). At the end of the game, you'll be shown a chart that details the effect of texting on your responsiveness.

I may have done slightly better than the average Times reader in my trial, but I completely failed to notice the gray silhouette of a woman at any point during the game. The .2 second texting reduced my reaction time could well have caused me to bounce her off my front bumper.

Trying to grab a screenshot threw my numbers off a bit as well, but I'm not going to argue with the Times on this one. To quote Emmanuel Goldstein, "That's universally stupid, man!"

Tags: cell-phone, driving-safety, new-york-times, nyt, texting, txt

Filed under: Developer, News, Search

NYT Explorer shows off New York Times Article Search API

by Jay Hathaway Feb 23rd 2009

At a time when a lot of newspapers are shutting down or finding themselves forced to come up with a smarter online strategy, the New York Times is evolving its web content with improvements like the Article Skimmer and an Article Search API. The API can be used to build interesting applications on top of the Times' huge database of articles and information. Taylor Barstow's NYT Explorer is one early example of an app built on Article Search.

When you search for a topic on NYT Explorer, it quickly delivers a list of the relevant articles, sorted by date. For example, a search for software turned up about 40,000 results. That's a lot of articles, but not to worry: NYT Explorer's sidebar has a bunch of quick ways to refine your results and get what you want. You can check a person, a specific column in the paper, a subject, or a location to narrow your results down. All of these categories are sorted by the number of times each item appears in your results. It's an efficient, unfussy way to browse through a mountain of news.

Tags: API, new-york-times, news, newspaper, NYT, NYT-explorer

Filed under: Utilities, E-mail, Productivity, Google

Checking your email obsessively? It's costing you money, time, and probably sanity

by Drew Olanoff Jun 16th 2008

Check this out y'all:

A NYT article says that Americans waste $650 BILLION dollars over-checking their email obsessively. BILLION. Not Millions. Not Thousands. BILLIONS. Crazier? We waste $650 BILLION dollars trying to get back into the groove of work after checking our email obsessively.

Why do we do it? Are we that afraid of missing something?

Some of us here can say that we too check our email obsessively. Even going so far as to click on the Gmail logo over and over to refresh the page. Does this sound familiar to you? If so, you're apparently not alone.

How do we stop? How do we combat this problem? Do we love email that much? We hear people complaining all of the time about information and email overload, so maybe we're trying to get a jump on controlling it before it controls us?

Many questions and not a lot of answers, but if these numbers from the NYT are true, oh boy do we have to change some things.

First things first.

Stop. Look, and Listen.

Stop checking your email so often
Look and notice that Gmail already refreshes itself
Listen for emails to come in automatically via POP or IMAP

You won't miss something.

What's your favorite way to catch email? We find that checking email on the mobile slows us down a bit. Unless you get too obsessed with that...can you say Crackberry?

Lets hear your thoughts in the comments.

[via silicon valley insider]

Tags: billions, email, gmail, money, nyt, productivity, time, tweet-this

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Blogging, Productivity, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

New York Times adds Mixx button to the mix

by Danny Mendez Mar 12th 2008

Mixx, a young social news site similar to Digg, just scored a button under "SHARE" next to the articles on the NY Times site. But this is hardly important news, so what's the big deal?

The Digg-clone is only about half a year old, and as you can see in the picture on the right, only the the most established of social sites get a mention. Yet del.icio.us, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Fark, and other bigger, older, and more established sites haven't made the cut.

This NYT-Mixx button is money for the young company, and you can bet you'll hear (or read) the word "Mixx" getting mentioned more often in the future. Now, in order to complete the site's initiation process into the world of established bookmarking sites, we need to turn its name into a verb

ex: Did we Mixx this article? Yes, we love Mixxing stories (for the record, DLS has no official preference as to whether or not its members like to "Mixx" posts).

Tags: mixx, new york times, NewYorkTimes, ny times, nyt, NyTimes, social bookmarking, social bookmarks, SocialBookmarking, SocialBookmarks

Filed under: Business, Internet

The New York Times pay for content service bites the dust

by Emily Price Sep 18th 2007

As of midnight tonight the New York Times pay to view Select Service is no longer. The Times began the subscription service exactly 2-years ago and charged users $49.95 a year or $7.95 a month for the ability to access specific content online. Overall they managed to get 227,000 paid subscribers which made for a profit of close to $10 million a year.

In their announcement the Times said more users were now coming to the site via search engines and links on other sites than they were at the service's launch. These users couldn't get to the content (since they were not subscribers) but were unlikely to pay for it just to check out one piece on content. By allowing everyone access, the New York Times stands to dramatically increase their page views and make more money in advertising revenue than they were off of subscription fees. For those subscribers who have already shelled out some cash for Time Select the NYT is planning to reimburse them on a prorated basis.

What do you think about the Times decision to drop their subscriber service? Could this be the beginning of the end for subscriber based web content?

[via TechCrunch]

Tags: new york times, newspaper, NewYorkTimes, nyt, paid content, PaidContent, subscriber service, SubscriberService

Filed under: Internet, Web services

Free TimesSelect for Higher Education

by Dan Lurie Mar 14th 2007

One of my favorite parts of being a college student is the fact that I have access to pretty much any and every scholarly journal and article database on the planet. That's why was so excited to read about The New York Times' decision to provide their premium TimesSelect service free of charge to anyone with an .edu email address. TimesSelect offers exclusive Op-Ed columns, early access to the newspaper's Sunday edition, and access to up to 100 free archived articles (dating back to 1851!) per month.

True enough, I could probably get all that through the databases I already have access to, but the ease of being able to simply log into the NYT site to view an article instead of having to look it up in a database goes a long way.

Unfortunately, it seems that @alumni.school.edu and similar addresses are ineligible for this offer.

[via Consumerist]

Tags: education, free, nyt, timesselect

Filed under: Business, Design, Finance, Internet, Text, Windows, Web services, Microsoft, Freeware

New York Times Reader (beta)

by Jason Clarke Dec 4th 2006

The New York Times has a dedicated reader program that has been in open beta since September 27th that allows users to read the Times on their computer in a way that more closely matches the experience of reading the dead-tree newspaper. Although I'm not a huge newspaper fan, I downloaded this application and it really is enjoyable to use. The New York Times Reader software relies on Microsoft's new .Net framework 3.0, which can make the installation take a bit of time if you don't already have it installed. I already had .Net 3.0 installed, so the reader installed in about two minutes.

Once it launched, it failed to synchronize with the server, but shutting it completely down (including the system tray icon that stays running) and restarting it fixed that problem. The layout is well optimized for reading, splitting content into rows of a reasonable width. It also does a very good job of dynamically optimizing the text layout based on how large the window is sized. Ads are included in an unobtrusive way, and I've found that when reading in a smaller Times Reader window, ads are removed to make more room for content.

The download (and use of the software) requires a free NYT account.

Thanks to Download Squad tipster Bob Rudis for the link.

Tags: .Net 3.0, .Net Framework, .net3.0, .netFramework, Microsoft .Net, Microsoft.net, New York Times, New York Times Reader, NewYorkTimes, NewYorkTimesReader, NYT, NYT Reader, NytReader

Filed under: News, Web services

NYT announces coming of Web 3.0, everyone groans

by Jordan Running Nov 13th 2006

Yesterday's New York Times included an, um, interesting article by John Markoff about the next generation of the web. He says that computer scientists and start-ups want to "add a layer of meaning on top of the existing Web that would make it less of a catalog and more of a guide--and even provide the foundation for systems that can reason in a human fashion." He says their effort is "referred to as Web 3.0." That's nice, John, but why does your article have everyone who actually knows what they're talking about scratching their heads? Everyone who's been paying attention will identify that new "layer of meaning" as what people have been happy calling the semantic web for a few years now, but nobody but Markoff, and maybe a few overenthusiastic marketers, are calling it Web 3.0, and that bit about reasoning "in a human fashion"? Well, AI isn't new to computer science, and Hollywood got over it five years ago. I'm not sure what Markoff's excuse is.

Predictably, the blogosphere is all over the Web 3.0 meme, with notable responses from Nick Bradbury who says "The Semantic Web may happen, but if it does, it's going to be a helluva lot messier than the architects would like," and ex-Microsoftie Robert Scoble who proposes "Web 2007" as a much more hypeworthy name, Tim O'Reilly ("I was surprised to see Markoff referring to this as "Web 3.0", when that very fact is the heart of what we've been calling Web 2.0."), and, of course, Dave Winer.

Tags: dave winer, DaveWiner, John Markoff, JohnMarkoff, New York Times, NewYorkTimes, nick bradbury, NickBradbury, nyt, robert scoble, RobertScoble, semantic web, SemanticWeb, tim o'reilly, TimO'reilly, timoreilly, web 2.0, web 3.0, Web2.0, web20, Web3.0, web30

Filed under: Business, Developer, Video, News, Web services

RealNetworks awarded patent victory

by Victor Agreda, Jr. Apr 24th 2006

In a hard-fought battle, RealNetworks appears to have won a major patent victory to protect their technology. This is a patent that already faced a struggle with the Patent Office itself, just to get filed in 1999 (and it took 5 years to do that). But it now looks like the "streaming through a congested network" magic is owned by RealNetworks... Despite a previous patent by Apple for the same thing used in QuickTime. Personally, I always thought Real had better streaming, QuickTime had better downloadable quality. The billion-dollar question: who cares? Will this really affect Real's bottom line? Rob Glaser (CEO of Real) has essentially said he's not going to go after the "big hair porcupines" in the industry using the technology. Hm, that would probably be Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe. Who does that leave, YouTube? Developers aren't rolling their own codecs, for the most part, these days. During the go-go 90's I saw all sorts of wacky streaming implementations, but you don't hear a lot about this now that broadband keeps growing. You do hear about different protocols (like Bittorrent) for moving data, but streaming tech this old doesn't get headlines. Yet that appears to be what Glaser is hoping for, as in the New York Times he's quoted as saying, "We're hoping that people will say, 'Oh, I get it,' and that this will boost the identity of Helix." Well Rob, one can dream, eh? This sounds a little like those patent-to-profitability games dying tech companies play. They're bleeding money after innovating, so they sue everyone on old patents to make some cash. Sounds like Real doesn't want to play that game, but will they have to?

Tags: intellectual property, IntellectualProperty, legal, nyt, patent, real, realnetworks, rob glaser, RobGlaser, streaming

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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