The next generation Times Reader desktop application, built by NY Times and Microsoft, has just gone live. At the end of August Read/WriteWeb published exclusive pre-launch screenshots of Times Reader, but now you can download the app and see for yourself. Note that it requires a Windows XP machine and the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0. Once downloaded and installed, you will need to login to the application using your NY Times website username and password.
Times Reader is built on WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation), which is Microsoft's advanced UI technology for applications. To check out the WPF features in Times Reader, try some of these things:
If you're interested in the technology behind Times Reader, there are more details on this Tech.Ed WPF demo page. It includes a screencast demonstrating the Tablet PC (Inking) capabilities on the Windows Presentation Foundation platform (screencast also on YouTube).
It's unclear at this point whether Times Reader will be free to use, or will require a subscription. I think the Reader itself is free and premium content requires subscription, just as it is with the website. Currently the content in Times Reader seems to mirror what NY Times offers on its website - i.e. some content is marked with TimesSelect, their premium content subscription service.
Here are some more screenshots of Times Reader in action, based on my tests:
Highlight and right-click for options
Adding notes - on a Tablet you can do this via 'inking'
Search and its heat map tile panel view
Topic Explorer
Exploring topics within a single article
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New York Times Reader Launches „?ú„?≤„ÇØ„É™„ÉÉ„ÇØ„?ó„?¶„Ä?„??„?Æ„Çπ„ÇØ„É™„ɺ„É≥„Ç∑„Éß„ÉÉ„Éà„Çí˶ã„?¶‰∏ã„?ï„?Ñ„ÄÇ„?ì„?ì„?æ„?ß„?ì„?†„Ç?„Çã„?®ÈÄÜ„?´„?Ñ„?Ñ„?™„??„?®ÊÄ?„?Ü„ÄÇÁîªÈ?¢„?ÆÊßãÊà?„ÇÑ„Éï„Ç©„É≥„Éà„?™„?©„?Æ„Éá„Ç∂„ǧ„É≥„Éà„ɺ„É≥„?åÊå?„?§„Éñ„É©„É≥„Éâ... Read More
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Does anyone know if that congoo netpass unlocks nytimes articles? I tried and it seemed to but its not listed on their page of enabled sites??
Posted by: Mark Jergen | September 15, 2006 4:21 PMMost newspapers will need to revise their strategy. Integration between different media and different platforms will be essential. This move from the NY Times looks like somehting in that direction.
Posted by: Innovation Zen | September 16, 2006 12:28 AMGood post. Just a point of clarification...the Reader does NOT seem to have gone live...the link above just points to a NYT page that talks about it, and then asks folks to input their email, so that they MAY be chosen to receive a link to a beta version of the Reader.
Ditto for the link above that says "download app".
just fyi.
Posted by: Michael Parekh | September 16, 2006 9:05 AMThanks for the update Michael. You're right, it is currently a limited beta. I was able to download the app via that link, because I was on their list of media that they gave access to. When I posted this I thought it was a general beta release.
Posted by: Richard MacManus | September 16, 2006 5:42 PMErrm, has anyone managed to get it up and running on XPSP2? It crashed for me on boot-up. All I get is a crash dialogue, but no info in Event Viewer.
Have the .NET Framework 3.0 installed.
Posted by: Juha | September 16, 2006 8:41 PMHey Juha,
Do you have a version of .Net 3.0 prior to the RC installed? (e.g. Beta 2, or July CTP?) If you do you will need to remove that first using add and remove programs.
Then try installing .NET 3.0 RC from http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/downloads/products/getthebeta and then install the NYT Reader.
Posted by: Nigel Parker | September 17, 2006 1:56 PMAyoop Nigel; this fixed it (on XPSP2): uninstalling NYT Reader and .NET 3.0 (not sure which version exactly was installed) and reinstalling it with the version from the MS Download Centre; then, reinstall NYT Reader.
Initial impression is that the NYT Reader is slow to load the content. It's been going for about five minutes now, trying to finish loading the the front page. This could be due to my being NZ based of course, but the data seems to be coming in in a steady stream so... not sure what's going on.
Posted by: Juha | September 18, 2006 1:45 AM