Ever tried reading a newspaper on a plane? I bet you kept bumping into your neighbour, didn’t you? Have you ever tried locating an article that you read last Wednesday in a stack of newspapers? Well… Now there’s an app for that (did I just violate a trademark/copyright?).

Times Reader.jpgThe New York Times just released the new version of their New York Times Reader application. This new version is built on Adobe AIR, so you can run it on any Windows, Mac, or Linux machine. Going forward, you will be able to install the app on devices that implement support for AIR.

I’ve been using the new NYT Reader application for a few weeks now and absolutely love it. It is built using Flex Builder and the Flex Framework and utilizes the new Text Layout Framework available in Flash Player 10 and AIR. The new Text Layout Framework does reflowing text, supports multiple columns/containers and the text itself looks absolutely stunning. The application automatically reformats itself based upon the available screen real estate and thus looks great on any screen whether it’s on a MacBook Pro or a small Netbook.

The application is free and gives you free access to the front page, business section, breaking news, most emailed, news in pictures, news in video and even a crossword puzzle from their archive. Go and grab it now on http://timesreader.nytimes.com.

I’d love to see other newspapers use a similar approach to bring their publications to my laptop, desktop and in the future even to devices. If my local newspaper of choice would launch a similar service, I would get a subscription immediately… I’m even considering subscribing to the NYT because it makes consuming their news and articles so easy… Food for thought for all newspaper publishers, if you ask me.