nyt
Latest
DNS hack takes The New York Times offline (update: Twitter images were affected too)
For the second time this month, The New York Times has gone offline. This time around, the Syrian Electronic Army is likely to blame, with a Domain Name System (DNS) hack crippling the news org's online operation. The NYT's web servers are still online, however, so the publication has begun tweeting out direct IP links to recent articles. Meanwhile, Twitter itself may be vulnerable. Hackers have managed to modify some of the registration data, including the contact email address, suggesting an attack on the social site may be imminent. Update: According to a tweet from the paper's official account, it's temporarily publishing updates at news.nytco.com. Update 2: Twitter has confirmed the twimg.com domain used for images and photos was among those affected. According to the post, the original domain record has been restored and no user information was affected.
With its website offline, The New York Times begins posting articles on Facebook
The news cycle doesn't stop for unscheduled downtime. With its website inaccessible due to "an internal issue," The New York Times began posting content to Facebook today, beginning with an article on Egypt. "Egypt Declares State of Emergency as Scores Are Killed in Crackdown" is perhaps the first NYT article to debut in full on a social media site before popping up on any of the news org's own online properties. The news giant is directing its nine million Twitter followers to Facebook for the afternoon's top stories, which now also include "Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Sentenced to 2.5 Years" and "Hopes of Arab Spring Dashed by Region's Turmoil." For "All the News That's Fit to Print," head over to Facebook. Update: As of 2PM, it appears that the Times is back online, though the most recent site update was nearly three hours before, at 11:07AM ET.
NYT wins Pulitzer for Apple 'iEconomy' investigations
The winners of the 2013 Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday, with the New York Times winning this year's prize for explanatory reporting. The award was for the paper's "iEconomy" series investigating the way business has adapted to the changing global economy, largely focusing on Apple. The reporting lead to changes in the Chinese factories where Apple products are made. Criticism was leveled at the reports for focusing too much on Apple, without addressing the other tech companies who also use cheap Chinese labor for production. The Pulitzer Prize is a annual series of awards given to recognize excellence in journalism and the arts.
Google shows off Glass apps: New York Times, Gmail, Path and more
Google just took some time at SXSW to show off Google Glass, and it's pulled back the curtains on some apps that are currently in the works. As it turns out, Page and Co. have been working with the New York Times to build an application. Just ask for some news and Glass will deliver a headline, a byline, an accompanying image and the number of hours since the article in question was posted. What's more is that users can tap and have the eyewear read the story's text aloud. The duo are also testing a breaking news feature where notifications regarding fresh stories will appear as they're published. Gmail also got some time in the limelight with its very own app. An email sender's image and subject line will appear on the device's screen, and users can reply by dictating their messages. Evernote and Skitch received some love from the folks in Mountain View too, with the ability to send images to the services through Glass' share functionality. Social networking app Path has found its way onto the wearable computing bandwagon as well. Not only do Google's spectacles receive curated updates from the network -- to keep you from being bombarded, of course-- but they allow users to add emoticons to a friend's post and reply with comments. Not impressed? "This is just where we started with a few friends to test the API in its early stage," says Google Glass developer evangelist Timothy Jordan.
New York Times now serving up 15 free articles a day to Starbucks patrons
This paywall is making me thirsty.
NYT reporter responds to Tesla Model S data logs, impropriety accusations
Data logs of the Model S that left New York Times reporter John Broder stranded revealed a "violation of common sense" according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, but Broder is now offering his side of the story to help make sense of the information. According to the journalist, he wasn't provided with "detailed instructions on maximizing the driving range" before his trip, and he placed roughly a dozen calls to the folks at Tesla about how he could address the car's declining range and make it to his destination. Apparently, some of the doubt-instilling data was caused by following the advice of Tesla representatives on how to maximize the vehicle's charge. For example, Broder says the auto lost a drastic amount of juice while parked in the cold over night, and a low-power one-hour charge was recommended by Tesla reps in conjunction with driving at a moderate speed to "restore" the lost power. Broder also mentions that he didn't drive around a parking lot to run down the battery, but did so since he couldn't find the poorly-lit and unmarked Supercharger at night. New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan called Musk several times throughout the day and couldn't get ahold of him, but plans to ask the company's founder to open source the logs and other information. Come Friday, Sullivan expects to have some conclusions on the matter. Click the bordering source link to see Broder's entire point-by-point response to the logs for yourself.
Google puts Hurricane Sandy on its crisis map, hopes to help you weather the storm
Just because Google abandoned its October Android event doesn't mean it's left its users out to dry -- Hurricane Sandy now has its very own Google Crisis Map. It isn't the first time Mountain View has lent its mapping tech to folks in harm's way -- survivors of Hurricane Issac used a similar Crisis Map to track the storm, follow public alerts and find shelters. Sandy's map is no different, providing locals with information on the storm's path, forecast information, evacuation routes, areas of high wind probability and even links to webcams surrounding affected areas. Google isn't the only firm lending a hand, either -- both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are lifting site paywalls during the storm, ensuring the public has access to developing news as long as their internet connection doesn't give out.
New York Times for Windows 8 hands-on (video)
While today's Windows 8 launch event in NYC didn't open our eyes and ears to anything we haven't known Microsoft's latest OS and the Surface RT tablet, we did take a few moments to spend some time with the New York Times' new app for the OS. The layout is frankly dead simple, and should be familiar to anyone who's unfolded a traditional daily edition made from that stuff they call paper and ink. Swiping from side to side lets you transition between verticals -- it becomes long-winded quickly, unfortunately -- while swiping down from the top edge gives you even more sub-sections to choose from, like photos and video. We're pleased to note that we didn't notice a hint of lag on the VAIO T13 Ultrabook and Asus tablet we tried it out on, either. Your main changeable setting is the interval between auto-refreshes and, naturally, a subscription is required for enhanced access to the NYT's content. Overall, it seems like a simple, clean and fresh reading experience. It's available now from the Windows store, and you can catch our video overview past the break to see for yourself! %Gallery-169353%
Obama, Romney get chiptuned in battle for presidential seat
The battle for the White House is an epic, intense drama to rival those of legend and myth, so of course it makes a great chiptune video game. The Gregory Brothers, creators of Autotune the News and all those viral videos about burgers and bed intruders, songified Barack Obama and Mitt Romney from the Democratic and Republican national conventions (respectively, in case you get those two mixed up).The video is titled "Patriot Game" and presents the presidential candidates side-by-side, comparing their talking points as if they were literal points in an 8-bit video game, set to an upbeat tune. Watch the piggy banks, (bleeding) hearts and American flags stack up over at The New York Times, and see who wins to be the fictional, autotuned President of Earths and Moon. It might surprise you.
NYT: EA tried to buy Valve
EA has tried "over the years" to buy out Valve, the New York Times reports. These talks, had they ever reached negotiation, would have valued Valve at "well over $1 billion," NYT says, which is most likely a ridiculous understatement.Valve is a private company controlled by founder Gabe Newell, who doesn't release any of its financials, but Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter estimates Valve is worth $2.5 billion today.Newell says it's likely Valve's employees would scatter and the company would "disintegrate" before it would be sold."It's way more likely we would head in that direction than say, 'Let's find some giant company that wants to cash us out and wait two or three years to have our employment agreements terminate,'" Newell says.
New York Times ends support for official BlackBerry, WebOS apps
Looks like the New York Times is signaling the death knell for RIM, albeit subtly. In a move that surely underscores the withering faith content companies have for the once beloved platform, the venerable Sulzberger-backed news organization has pulled all support for its DealBook Reader and NYTimes app for BlackBerry as of July 23rd. Users that attempt to access that application in the days since will find a stale content list that no longer updates and are being urged, instead, to visit the paper's mobile site for a "more complete... experience." And as if the ailing Waterloo-based company hadn't suffered enough indignity, it's been cast out of the developer pen alongside WebOS, joining PalmPre users on the reject list. Not to worry though, the Times crossword app has yet to get the axe -- that's got to be some consolation, no? You can check out the NYT's official line on its decision at the source below. [Thanks, Dhruv]
iPad "mini" drumbeat continues as NYT supports rumor of smaller tablet
You can't swing a Mighty Mouse nowadays without smacking into a major media story on the inevitable, hypothetical and incredible shrunken-form-factor iPad. Our Monday morning Rumor Roundup series has linked the WSJ and Bloomberg coverage, pointing towards a late Q3-early Q4 launch for a 7.85" (~20 cm) companion to the existing 9.7" (~24.6 cm) iPad units. We're also hearing murmurs from the developer community that there are changes in iOS 6 making it much easier to develop resolution-independent apps; different screen sizes or aspect ratios for apps should be possible. Given the highly positive response to the Google/ASUS Nexus 7 (including, amazingly enough, from MG Siegler at Techcrunch), it seems like a smaller Apple tablet product would find an audience. The Kindle Fire's sales may have slacked off, but it and other e-reader models also may be skimming off some of the iPad's potential audience. Now the New York Times Nick Bilton has weighed in, saying that "according to several people with knowledge of the project" who wisely asked to remain anonymous, Apple will indeed be introducing a 7.85" iPad this year at a lower price point than the current iPad's $499 or the iPad 2's $399. Bilton acknowledges that the iPad's current mojo means that "tablet market" really means "iPad market," but he says that a smaller device would "help Apple solidify its dominance in the tablet market even as the richest companies in the tech business are trying to figure out how to outflank Apple." Bilton's piece is light on rumor-fodder specs but long on analysis, and worth a read. Most intriguing: he quotes a product insider saying that Apple's prototypes for the iPad in the mid-2000s (which predated the iPhone's release) began in the 7-inch range. The smaller tablets did not get much traction with Steve Jobs, who suggested that they weren't good for anything besides surfing the web in the bathroom. Wondering what this sized-down iPad might be called? So are we (and so is 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman); give us your votes in the poll below and in the comments. %Poll-76399% Photo by sine-out on Flickr | cc [hat tip iDownloadblog]
Facebook to launch "faster" iPhone app in July
Let's face facts here: Facebook's iOS app is terrible. Seriously -- it's slow, the navigation is practically nonsensical, and I've even left messages and "likes" on the app that have never showed up on the big blue social network itself. It's probably the worst app I regularly use on my iPhone. The New York Times agrees, and they've gotten a few Facebook engineers to promise, off the record, that the next version of the app will be better. It's being rebuilt in native Objective-C (the current app mostly uses HTML5), it'll be faster, and it'll actually work the way it's supposed to work, letting you use Facebook as normal from your iPhone. Unfortunately, this update, coming next month, is just a behind-the-scenes revamp, so my issues with navigation are still going to be valid. But it's good to hear that even Facebook (off the record, at least) admits it has a problem. For those of us who do use Mark Zuckerberg's project, it's good to hear that work is being done.
Flipboard enters content deal with the New York TImes
The New York Times announced today that it is bringing its subscription content to the popular social reader app Flipboard. Starting Thursday, June 28, subscribers to The New York Times will be able to read full articles, browse image galleries and watch videos using the Flipboard app. This is the first time all the NYT's content is available through a third-party service. Previously, the publication only made a part of its content available outside its own digital subscriptions. Denise F. Warren, general manager of The New York Times's Web site, told Brian X. Chen of NYT's Bits blog that "We realized that we have an opportunity to enable this kind of access for paying subscribers, and we thought it was something we ought to try and see how users react to it." This is a worthy addition to Flipboard, which already pulls down content from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google Reader and other social news sources. This also is the second big news story for Flipboard in the recent weeks. After a two-year exclusive stint on iOS, the app debuted on Android last week.
New York Times sees higher circulation numbers, digital paywall smiles knowingly
Given how aggressively The New York Times pushes its digital packages -- we've long since dropped our subscription yet are still bombarded with offers -- you'd hope the paper was at least seeing some results. Well, never fear: it is. A report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) found that the Times has seen a healthy increase in circulation, with the Sunday edition selling 2,003,247 copies (up 50 percent from last year) and the weekday editions racking in an average of 1,586,757 (up 73 percent). The ABC attributes much of this gain to the NYT's addition of digital access to paper subscriptions, and we're sure the paywall, which limits non-subscribers to just ten free articles a month, has something to do with it, too.
Apple defends its tax practices in the New York Times
A recent New York Times article slams Apple for avoiding billions in state and federal taxes using common corporate loopholes. Apple didn't take kindly to this report and has issued a four-paragraph response defending its practices. The Cupertino company says it pays "an enormous amount of taxes which help our local, state and federal governments." Besides paying taxes, Apple also points out that its "among the top creators of American jobs in the past few years." You can read the full response on the New York Times's website. Also of note, Forbes magazine has pointed out that one of the key numbers in the Times story -- Apple's supposed 9.8% effective federal tax rate -- is hooey.
Talkcast tonight: Profits, taxes and WWDC at 10 pm ET / 7 pm PT
Another quarter, another blowout. While analysts and pundits imagined that domestic iPhone sales would signal an end to the gravy train, international demand pushed the handset past the 35 million mark and shot AAPL back above the $600 line. Even with the iPad refresh hitting at the end of the quarter, Apple sold almost 12 million of the tablets to get to 67 million total sales in just two years on the market. Apple's developer conference, WWDC, opened up ticket sales this week -- and promptly closed them again a couple of hours later as the event sold out. Some ticket buyers who thought they were good to go found out otherwise when Apple's overzealous group ticket restrictions cancelled their valid orders. Meanwhile, The New York Times has been focusing on Apple as a proxy for all things large and corporate lately, and the beat goes on with today's feature story on how the company uses some... interesting tactics to minimize its tax liability in the US and abroad. We'll discuss the story, and consider whether or not slapping a lowercase "i" into a headline works in favor of -- or against -- solid business journalism. That's our rundown for tonight's Talkcast. We welcome your calls, questions and comments at 10 pm ET, 7 pm PT tonight live on Talkshoe. To participate in the call, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for +5 Interactivity, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (Viva free weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free X-Lite or other SIP clients -- basic instructions are here. Skype users with dial-out credit can call in via the service, or use those free iPhone minutes. Talk to you tonight!
New York Times playable space game lets you blow up those pesky banner ads
Let's be honest here: as great as The New York Times story on casual gaming might be, it's destined to be overshadowed by the sweet interactive feature at the top, an embedded version of an Asteroids-like shooter from Rootof Creations that lets you do a number on the site's page layout, zooming across the article and blasting elements like ads and Facebook plug-ins. So, is this the future of newspaper publishing right here? We'll let you know when we figure out a way to blast that pesky paywall.
NYT: New iPad screen could be too good for the web
The New York Times points out what we (and Gruber) first saw when we fired up our new iPad -- most web images look terrible its Retina display. Companies that do business on the web now have a difficult decision to make about their graphics. Do they spend the extra cost to create, store and serve up retina-compatible images on their website or do they spend that money on a retina iPad app instead? It's a decision that'll affect the company's finances as well as its website's performance as larger images will take longer to load. It will also impact iPad owners who browse over a cellular connection and must download these bigger files. If you're an iPad owner, what would you prefer?
Barnes & Noble offers discounted Nooks with one-year subscription to The New York Times
In the market for an e-reader and a subscription to the digital edition of The New York Times? Then Barnes & Noble has a new promotion you might want to consider. From now through March 9th, it'll give you a Nook Simple Touch for free or a Nook Color for $99 if you also sign up for a one-year New York Times subscription at a rate of $19.99/month. That's a savings of $100 in both cases, and the subscription also includes access to the New York Times website in addition to the Nook version. Alternatively, you can get $50 off the Nook Tablet (bringing it down to $199) with a subscription to People, which will run you $9.99/month. Complete details are at the link below.
