Gizmodo: times

TimesReader 2.0: Best Way to Read Newspapers on a Computer Gets Even Better

matt buchanan — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:20:00 EDT

Forget Kindle DX: I liked the TimesReader a lot—it echoed the experience of a newspaper in a way that exploited the best parts of reading it on a computer. Version 2.0 is better.

Maybe the idea is slightly anachronistic, but the experience was solid. Version 2.0 is built on Adobe AIR, which makes it truly multi-platform—although that brings it own set of issues, like resource intensity and non-native app behavior. And I would really like it to use multitouch trackpad gestures, like for moving between articles. But, the navigation and UI are a lot cleaner than before—a sidebar on the left replaces the older top-centric navigation, and it has some neat (if laggy) UI tricks, like splitting articles into windows a la mobile Safari.

While $3.45 a week ($15/month) is cheaper than an actual paper, the Reader is still a pricier wrapper for Times content than Firefox ($0). But maybe that's a small price to pay for something that's much closer to the future of newspapers than the Kindle—and certainly paper. Unless you think the newspaper's future is simply bankrupt.

Update: Hey check this out, it's like the web version wrapped up in a pretty package too. [TimesReader 2.0]

17,000 Square Foot LED Billboard Flipped On at 1 Times Square, Wraps Around Entire Building

John Herrman — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:34:32 EST

When we first wrote about this comically huge Walgreens LED sign — the largest of its kind in the world — construction was just getting under way. That was May, and now they're done. D3 LED, the firm behind the sign, finally turned on this 17,000 square foot, 340ft tall, three-sided tribute to technical and commercial excess — and what timing! But before we start challenging the rationale behind displaying 300ft moving Tampax ads, it's worth looking at the extraordinary tech inside this thing.

The display, which wraps around the three most visible sides of 1 Times Square, is capable of playing contiguous video using all of its surfaces at once. Made up of a mix of 13 60in plasma TVs and over 12 million individual LEDs arranged in diagonal panels, the screen is purported to display a resolution of "20 times the resolution of standard HDTV," though it's not completely clear what that's supposed to mean. As far as the back-end goes, to play just 30 seconds of video calls for 150GB of data sent from 30 computers, all of which, I hope, one day conspire to make the greatest BSOD of all time. The sign was flipped on officially last night, though the trial run, featuring the awesome test pattern picture in this article, took place on Wednesday. Check out the local news report below for some more background and neat little renderings to put the whole thing into perspective. [NYT, image from Gothamist]

Media Watch: Bogus Trendspotting from the NYT on Vista Launch

Matt Buchanan — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:30:53 EST

Today the Times is running an article with a now familiar trope: the Vista launch was a solid "meh," rather than an exuberant "wow." This kind of piece was fine before the launch when they said there was no hype. It was fine the day after the launch, when they said there were no lines. A week later, surely they have something new to offer, right, since we already knew that the launch was far from explosive? Like, you know, numbers showing how "not wow" the launch was?

Shnope. Nothing. Not a single statistic—other than the number of stores that carried Vista (39k)—is offered in the piece to back up the assertion. It does little more than rehash an article that ran five days ago. This is shoddy trend reporting through and through. We're watching you, NYT. Next time you run this piece, you better have some numbers. – Matt Buchanan

Microsoft's Vista Debut Wasn't Nearly So 'Wow' [NYT]