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Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web

New York Times launches Adobe AIR-based TimesReader 2.0

TimesReader 2.0
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]

Filed under: Business, Hardware

Amazon's Kindle DX now available for pre-order


That was fast! As soon as rumors started about a new, larger Kindle due from Amazon this week, the device appeared for pre-order on Amazon's front page. The Kindle DX has a 9.7" display that makes it suitable for reading PDFs and websites in their original layouts. As we predicted, Amazon is also pushing the DX as the ideal reader for newspapers and magazines.

The DX's screen orientation changes automatically, allowing you to turn it to widescreen for website viewing. At $489, it's quite a bit pricier than the regular Kindle, but its storage space is also more than twice that of the smaller device. No announcement on the textbook angle we were hearing about, but we'll wait and see what happens. We'll also wait and see what the DX does for newspaper readership. Can it boost the newspaper business in a way that the original Kindle couldn't, just by having a screen that might be big enough to do justice to newspaper layouts? Time will tell.

Filed under: Business, Hardware, News

Amazon to release larger Kindle for newspapers and textbooks

Rumors have been floating around this week about a new, large-screen version of Amazon's Kindle eBook reader. The New York Times seemingly confirmed that the device is for real, and it could be released "as early as this week," according to their industry sources. The Times pieces focuses, not surprisingly, on the larger Kindle as a platform for newspapers and magazines, whose pages didn't quite translate to the current Kindle's smaller screen.

As much as a newspaper-friendly Kindle might matter to the future of print journalism there is some speculation about other important uses, like textbooks. Some websites are reporting that the new device will be tested at a handful of universities in the fall. It would be phenomenal not to carry around several pounds of reading material for classes, especially if the Kindle versions of the books cost less than the paper editions.

Filed under: Business, News

Online newspapers report record viewers, trees everywhere rejoice

According to a new report from the Newspaper Association of America, online readership for newspaper web sites grew by more than 3.6 million in 2007, up 6 percent from 2006. So, in spite of traditional newspaper sales drying up, the newspaper companies are finding ways to grow their readership.

At this point, you might be asking, "what's a newspaper?" It's that simple collection of ink on thin paper that sometimes waits for you on your stoop and is often found in spring-loaded machines that will either take your quarter, or, if you're not fast enough, your hand.

Okay, so maybe we haven't completely forgotten what a newspaper is, but we do know that hardly any of us read them anymore. Why read something that's a whole day old when you can get minute-to-minute news from the web?

Thankfully, newspaper companies have gotten wind of the shift from traditional print media to online media. Many large newspapers have made most if not all of their content available online; and, as the study shows, the move has paid off. People still trust the traditional news media, the traditional news names; they just wanted the news delivered through a different, more expedient medium.

In the last quarter of 2007, 39% of web viewers visited newspaper Web sites. How about you?

[via Communication Overtones]

Filed under: Internet, News, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

New York Times adds reader comments to front page (of web site)

New York Times
The New York Times and other papers are facing a conundrum. On the one hand, people are canceling their paper subscriptions left and right. That's largely because they can get the news online for free. And when papers like the Times try to charge people for access to web content many readers just look elsewhere for their news.

Enter the brave new world of online advertising. Newspapers generally aren't making the kind of money from online ads as they did from print ads and subscriptions. But advertising revenue is going up. And if the Times can build the kind of brand loyalty online using Web 2.0 techniques as it did offline using Print 1.0, the company could be rolling in dough. Or at least it could stay afloat.

Earlier this year, the New York Times announced plans to open up its archives and make available articles that had previously only been available to paying customers. The company also embraced search engine optimization techniques, pushing its web traffic way up (even though the same move now means that Google will often return a 15 year old newspaper article as a top search result even when it's not the most relevant article by a long shot).

Now it looks like the paper is taking a major step to engage users by putting reader comments on the front page of the paper. Right under the photo of the day's top stories. Is this act alone going to save the newspaper industry? Probably not. But it shows that the mainstream media are learning a few tricks from blogs. It's only fair. Every now and again bloggers actually learn a thing or two from mainstream media, like how to cover the who, what, when, where, why, and how of a good news story.

[via Silicon Alley Insider]

Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Yahoo!

Yahoo! enters the paper market

yahoo newspapersYahoo! is following Google's lead, and entering into traditional media, specifically newspapers. Yahoo! is teaming up with seven US newspaper publishers that own 170 daily newspapers to deliver local advertising and search services to online readers. The deal allows any newspaper advertiser that lists jobs in print to also have the ability to post on Yahoo!'s HotJobs. The newspapers' sites will also be co-branded with the HotJobs logo. This partnership is aimed at creating a strong local job network to allow recruiters to reach a much larger audience. The effort is not only helping the stagnant newspaper market achieve success online, but it also might prove that Google is not the only company that can shift focus into the offline world. Succeeding at it, however, is another story.

Filed under: Business, Google

Google's big city newspaper venture

google newspaperGoogle has made it in the online advertising market, so what about offline? Google has tested the waters with newspaper ads and magazine ads, and now they are ready to go full force by allowing bidding on over 50 major newspaper spots across the US. Google Print Ads is scheduled to officially launch this week, allowing advertisers to place bids in the newspapers. The lists of the newspapers that have teamed up with Google Print Ads include the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Chicago Tribune. Bids for this iteration of the project will begin this week and run through January 2007. The big news, however, is that Google does not expect to make a profit? They why are they entering this arena? It's all about testing new revenue streams, and advertising ideas.

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