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Medium adds Bloomberg and other publications to subscription service
In a push to monetize its publishing platform, Medium added a $5 Netflix-style subscription last March. The system includes a way for members to "clap" different posts to give creators a percentage of their membership fee as well. Now Medium is bringing professional publications into the fold with curated selections from the likes of The New York Times, Bloomberg and Rolling Stone tucked behind the subscription paywall.
Watch NYT's immersive stories on Samsung Gear VR
Virtual reality is proving an accommodating medium for the art of storytelling. Even beyond gaming, a diverse pool of creatives (including award-winning filmmakers) and companies are exploring this brave new world. Among them The New York Times, which became one of the first major news outlets to launch a VR push in 2015. Two years later, its app for all things virtual is now heading to the Samsung Gear VR. Owners of the headset can grab it from the Oculus Store right now. According to the Times, most users will be able to watch the films in 4K resolution.
New York Times picks an AI moderator over a Public Editor
In a surprising move, the New York Times announced to its staff on Wednesday that it will immediately eliminate the position of Public Editor at its publication. The role will instead be filled by an expanded comments section -- one that is moderated by artificial intelligence.
Scribd's all-you-can read service adds major newspaper articles
Scribd's transformation into an all-you-can-read subscription-based service hasn't always been smooth-sailing, but it's truly moving farther away from its PDF roots. The company has just announced that it's teaming up with its first newspaper partners and a few popular news brands, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Financial Times, NPR and ProPublica.
The Engadget Podcast Ep 31: Look Inside America
On this episode a trio of out-of-towners -- managing editor James Trew, senior editor Aaron Souppouris and senior editor Mat Smith -- join host Terrence O'Brien to talk about the latest tech news. First they'll discuss Consumer Reports decision to start considering security and privacy in their ratings. Then try to figure out just what the hell the New York Times is thinking by putting tweets in the print edition of the paper. Then lastly they'll talk about the latest out of Wikileaks and yell a whole lot about what a terrible person Julian Assange is.
The New York Times bundles Spotify to entice subscribers
After building up plenty of new subscriber momentum during the election, the New York Times is making a surprising move to encourage people to pay up: Bundling Spotify's music streaming service with unlimited access to its news offerings. The NYT will offer the new joint subscription for $5 a week -- 20 percent less than the current NYT unlimited pricing, which comes in at $6.25 a week -- and will include unlimited access to Spotify's premium offerings (which typically costs $10 a month).
How artificial intelligence can be corrupted to repress free speech
The internet was supposed to become an overwhelming democratizing force against illiberal administrations. It didn't. It was supposed to open repressed citizens' eyes, expose them to new democratic ideals and help them rise up against their authoritarian governments in declaring their basic human rights. It hasn't. It was supposed to be inherently resistant to centralized control. It isn't.
Apple pulled New York Times' news app from China's App Store
China has imposed its will on Apple to remove anther app from The App Store. Except this time, it isn't one of Cupertino's own. The New York Times reports that its news apps were pulled from the Chinese App Store without warning in late December.
Brood with Hollywood's finest in VR film noir
As part of a magazine celebrating this year's best actors, the New York Times has put together a murky, monochromatic set of film noir vignettes. The kicker? They were all shot in 360 degrees, giving you complete freedom over the camera angle. You're also a participant of sorts -- a mute character, watching as Hollywood's brightest stars talk to you in flowery, cryptic tones. (The conversations are rather one-sided, of course.) In each video, you take on a different role -- a bartender, a reporter, or a cheating husband, for instance -- and get just a couple of minutes to piece together what's been happening. They're all short, but powerful scenes.
ICYMI: Mobility scooters that autonomously get around
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: MIT's Computer Science and AI Lab have cooked up another autonomously driving vehicle, but this one is a disability scooter. In this newly posted video, you can watch as the scooter navigates around human obstacles when taking a person on the way to their destination. In other AI news, Google and Blizzard Entertainment are teaming up to use Deepmind to train the system to autonomously play Starcraft II. If you, too, have a fondness for Big Mouth Billy Bass, the singing fish trophy, you need to see how one was hacked to be the voice of Alexa. It's pretty terrifying. And if you haven't yet played the New York Times' Voter Suppression Trail, you're missing out on both nostalgia and maybe sadness. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
The New York Times is free to read for the election
Some things are more important that profit. This election is one of them. As such, the New York Times announced on Thursday that it will eliminate the paywall to its website from November 7th to 9th. This move will give the entire internet, not just NYT subscribers, access to the site's reporting. The promotion will run 72 hours, from 12:01am Monday through 11:59pm Wednesday. During that time, the NYT plans to broadcast live election election coverage, as well as a Facebook livestream on election night and a call-in show hosted by the crew of the The Run-Up podcast.
New York Times is making daily VR videos with Samsung's help
The New York Times isn't just dabbling in virtual reality for the occasional special presentation -- it wants to make 360-degree videos as commonplace as the crossword puzzle. The newspaper has launched The Daily 360, a feature that (shocker) offers "at least" one VR video every day, whether it's from a major news story or simply an interesting experience. The first Daily 360 illustrates the aftermath of a Saudi airstrike in Yemen (see it below), but other clips will cover everything from the final days of the US presidential election to Fashion Week.
NYT's curated news app will shut down next month
Just about two and a half years after launching its NYT Now mobile experiment at South by Southwest, the New York Times has announced it will be "officially shelving" the app. After August, NYT Now will no longer be be available for download, but many of the features have already been rolled into the main NYTimes app or the paper's other digital platforms.
RadioPublic aims to capture the 'Serial' podcast crowd
Public Radio Exchange (PRX), the non-profit that delivers podcasts like The Moth Radio Hour, is launching RadioPublic, a company that aims to capitalize on the popularity of podcasts like Serial. The first goal for the organization is to build an app that helps users find and listen to audio programs, including "spoken-word stories, news, information, journalism and entertainment," according to the company. Investors include some serious media players, including the New York Times, Graham Holdings and the Knight Foundation Enterprise Fund.
NY Times sends 300,000 Google Cardboard viewers to subscribers
After last year's rollout of the NY Times VR app, the 165-year-old paper is sending out another 300,000 Google Cardboard kits to digital subscribers. This year's promotion coincides with the release of the Times' new virtual reality film "Seeking Pluto's Frigid Heart." The film actually debuted earlier this month at the Tribeca Film Festival but will hit the NY Times VR app on May 19th. When it lands, users will be able to virtually fly over the "rugged mountains and bright plains," or stand on the surface of the dwarf planet while the moon Charon hangs in the sky. The film is a joint project between the newspaper, the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the Universities Space Research Association, and the data used to create the virtual Pluto was gathered in 2015 by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. The Times will be selecting Cardboard recipients based on how long they've been subscribers, so if you're just signing up today for a trip to Pluto, chances are you'll get left behind. Don't fret, though: You can still catch a modified 360-degree video version when it drops in May.
NYT: Apple engineers may quit before cracking the iPhone
The spirit of anarchy and anti-establishment still runs strong at Apple. Rather than comply with the government's requests to develop a so-called "GovtOS" to unlock the iPhone 5c of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, The New York Times' half-dozen sources say that some software engineers may quit instead. "It's an independent culture and a rebellious one," former Apple engineering manager Jean-Louis Gassée tells NYT. "If the government tries to compel testimony or action from these engineers, good luck with that."
VR video brings you closer to presidential candidates
Sure, you can watch political debates and rally replays to get a feel for a presidential campaign, but what's it really like to be swept up in the fervor of a meet-and-greet or stump speech? The New York Times might help you find out. It just released a video for its VR news app that takes you inside campaign events for Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. In each case, you get a better sense of what it's like for the audience, not just people on stage -- you can see who's attending and how they react to key moments. Even if you don't care for the speeches themselves, this could help you understand the vibe around a given candidate just as well as if you were really at the venue.
Facebook should know by now what's news and what's spam
Late last week, The Guardian published an interview with a survivor of Obama's first drone strike, which occurred in tribal Pakistan on his third day as president. It detailed the impact the attack had and raised concerns over the civilian damage these drone strikes can cause. But as important as this story sounds, you would not have been able to share it on Facebook. If you tried to do so, Facebook would have blocked you.
Experience the Paris vigils using the New York Times' VR app
The New York Times launched its virtual reality news app last month, and in the wake of the Paris attacks last week, it's giving readers a glimpse at the heartbeat of the city. The NYT VR app allows viewers to experience the vigils taking place in Paris, offering people in other parts of the world a look at some of the stories unfolding in the days following the tragic events. While The New York Times' use of VR is still in the early stages, it's already showing its potential. NYT VR provides a platform where readers are better able to relate to events and stories by stepping inside them rather than simply reading about them. "Our mission as journalists is to answer questions," an article accompanying the video explains. "In this case, we sought to answer the question of how a city gathers itself and begins moving forward." If you don't have access to a VR headset, you can watch the interactive piece via 360-degree videos on both Facebook and YouTube. [Image credit: LightRocket via Getty Images]
The New York Times VR app took me inside the news
I'm standing in the center of a rubble-filled classroom. The floor is ankle deep in books with overturned desks jutting up like volcanic islands in a sea of literature. At the chalkboard, a young boy is writing something. It's difficult to see what he's writing on the one item that establishes that kids used to learn in this room. I do know that the boy's name is Oleg and he's one of three child subjects of the New York Times' VR app (NYT VR) lead story, The Displaced. He starts telling me his story and I'm spinning trying to take in the virtual environment the publication has dropped me in. Everything is fuzzy at first while I adjust my iPhone in the Google Cardboard headset. Then after a few adjustments, everything lines up. It's not crystal clear, but the story starts to unfold without the technology getting too much in the way. That should be the end game for The New York Times. Tell stories without the tech getting in the way. The app is a good -- yet gimmicky -- start, but it'll need more adjustments to bring it into focus and really change the way we get our news.
