Filed under: Software, Internet Tools
Times Reader coming to the Mac
I live in Philadelphia, but I'm a native New Yorker, and for my money there is no better newspaper on the planet than the New York Times. The Times has really embraced the new realities that the digital age has foisted upon the newspaper business by trying a number of new things (running a great website included).
Sadly, it seemed that the Gray Lady was ignoring Mac users when it first released the Times Reader. The Times Reader, for those who don't know, is a dedicated application which displays the last seven days of the New York Times. It has many of the benefits that one gets from reading nytimes.com (changeable fonts, searchable content, ease of printing) with the added benefit of not requiring an internet connection. The Times Reader syncs content on your computer, and lets you take it anywhere.
Luckily for me (and I am betting there are some other New York Times fans out there) the Times will be launching the Times Reader Beta for Mac at some point this month. The Times Reader for the Mac is a native Cocoa application powered by Webkit and Silverlight (yes, you'll have to install Microsoft's Silverlight to use this app). This is not the same as the RSS reader called Times which Mat posted about last week.
This is a beta, and so there are some features that the PC version has that aren't in the Mac version:
- Resizeable windows: yep, the Times Reader on the Mac only has 4 preset window sizes at the moment.
- Copy and paste of text: this is a pretty big feature that I hope they sort out sooner rather than later.
During the beta the Times Reader for Mac will be free to use, but once the beta is over it'll revert back to being free only for New York Times subscribers (though you can subscribe just to the Reader service for $14.95 a month). Check out the blog post for more images of the app.
As soon as I get a chance to look at the Times Reader for Mac beta I'll post an in depth review.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
FoundInTheFlood said 7:15AM on 5-13-2008
The first time i hear someone using that silverlight crap ... i use many apps for my mac, i'm really a geek in testing stuff, but i never heard of a useful app that needs silverlight? Can someone tell me of a few?
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David said 7:16AM on 5-13-2008
Silverlight kills it for me. Silverlight will never sneak it's way onto any of my Macs.
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Tom said 7:30AM on 5-13-2008
I'll most likely be ridiculed for be such a nitpicker, but... "The Times" != "The New York Times".
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Simon Brunning said 7:44AM on 5-13-2008
Working as I do at http://www.guardian.co.uk, I'm going to have to take exception to your "no better newspaper on the planet" comment. Ever tried non-US based media? Worth a look.
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dogdogdog said 7:53AM on 5-13-2008
BOOOO SILVERLIGHT!
Not letting that buggy and next to worthless garbage near my Macs.
See the netnewswire guys blog for more, it causes Safari to crash quite often.
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Tom said 8:06AM on 5-13-2008
"native Cocoa application powered by Webkit and Silverlight"
Putting Cocoa in there doesn't take away the fact it's Silverlight!
That aside, it is nice to see applications like these being ported to the Mac.
Again, that is pretending that Silverlight wasn't used and this was a full Cocoa app.
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smarty said 8:10AM on 5-13-2008
What's wrong with these people?
What's wrong with Silverlight..
Hmm....
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Charles R Hamilton said 8:17AM on 5-13-2008
NYT+Silverlight=double fail.
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Charles R Hamilton said 8:17AM on 5-13-2008
NYT+Silverlight=double fail.
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Yaphi said 8:45AM on 5-13-2008
Add my vote to the "No silverlight" column.
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Jay said 10:22AM on 5-13-2008
It's hard not to comment on that "best newspaper on the planet" remark. The NY Times was pretty darn good - once upon a time. I cancelled my subscription about ten years ago (having been a subscriber about the same amount of time). Renewed after a year, then quit again a year later. Periodically I check in with newsstand copies and am still disgusted by the paper's lack of objectivity and lazy ass reporting.
The paper has gone from being all the news that fit to print to being editorialization from cover to cover. If you want to read nothing but the far left world view and opinion, then by all means subscribe. But if you want a balanced world view then read from, watch and listen to a multitude of sources - then do your own independent research where necessary.
That said, the NY Times is good for wrapping fish and cleaning windows.
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Sam said 10:49AM on 5-13-2008
The video on their mobile site is also iPhone compatible, unlike that flash stuff on the main page. I don't remember seeing this mentioned, but I haven't looked very hard.
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Christopher Vigliotti said 11:42AM on 5-13-2008
silverlight = no thank you.
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gil said 12:05PM on 5-13-2008
Add me to the no Silverlight crowd out of spite. Or is it not digging the entire 'I crash your browser' daily flash plugin that Silverlight might remind me of.
As far as the 'Times' comment, I find it a bit New York Snobbish to. A fine newspaper but when I read that I think of my local fish wrap the LA Times, or even the London Times. BTW, the Guardian is fine rag.
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akatsuki said 2:09PM on 5-13-2008
Let's evaluate the threefold path of FAIL:
1. short-sighted business model that assumes that internet access will not be ubiquitous within a couple of years and is for a lot of people already - FAIL
2. crappy single-purpose mac app that can't even do basic things - FAIL
3. requires Silverlight for whatever reason instead of actually using built-in native libraries for a native feel - FAIL
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