The future of newspapers is now: New York Times Reader v2 released

Posted by on May 11, 2009 in AIR, Flash Platform | 10 comments

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.

10 Comments

  1. christopher
    May 11, 2009

    Isn’t this what CSS+HTML+ a web browser does? Why did they need to make this AIR? (Possible answer: because then they can use DRM or whatever and charge for it.)

  2. Derrick
    May 11, 2009

    Not free – requires home delivery account number to download

  3. Serge Jespers
    May 11, 2009

    @Christopher – Complete control over the branding of the application is something you can’t do in a browser environment. Offline access is another feature you can’t do across different platforms.

    @Derrick – There’s no need for an account. Just install and launch without logging in.

  4. Owen van Dijk
    May 11, 2009

    The future of newspapers? I doubt it…the New York Times reported a $75 million loss in the first quarter of 2009 alone. That’s a LOT of reader subscriptions to sell, no matter how slick or good the application in itself is..

  5. Serge Jespers
    May 11, 2009

    @ohwhen I’m not sure what you’re trying to say with that comment. Wouldn’t that be the same as saying that Hybrid cars aren’t the future for car manufacturers as they’ve all reported major losses? I think publishers should have had an offline presence like this ages ago!

  6. David
    May 11, 2009

    I see that they are struggling to find a way to make a profit out of it, but this ain’t the way to do it. I mean even AOL failed to do it with their own browser with the same idea. Imagine you need to open every single app for each websites, the browsers are just for that.

  7. Serge Jespers
    May 11, 2009

    @David – It’s not just a single site browser. It’s a lot more than that. The most compelling use case is offline access. You download your newspaper in the morning and access it anywhere, even when you’re offline.

  8. John Metzger
    May 11, 2009

    Go to timesreader.nytimes.com to get to a landing page that will let you download the app without requiring subscription information. We are working on getting this fixed so all paths to the landing page do not ask for subscription information.

  9. nebben
    May 12, 2009

    Here are nine ways newspapers can survive. http://bit.ly/2Smfr

  10. mx
    May 20, 2009

    i doubt if this is the future, but it is very pretty.
    i still think the future will lie in a universal technology like the itunes store. user can read an excerpt for free, and if you like it, purchase the whole article, or whole paper, or subscribe it.
    i hope i can use the dictionary on mac os with it like it works with safari.
    have i mentioned that it’s pretty?

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