Comments on: New York Times e-reading app for the iPhone and iPod Touch

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:57:31 +0000

Funny, Bill. I was just reading the NYT’s portrait of Si Newhouse, whose company happens to own the New Yorker. Let me know when AP or the New Yorker itself carries it. Actually I have heard nice things elsewhere about the AP app. How to review it, though—given AP’s war against fair use? I guess I’d better not quote more than five or six words without permission, eh?

David

By: Bill Janssen

Bill Janssen — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:29:04 +0000

Unique content? I suppose. But for news, the AP is just fine. When I want features, I’ll go to the New Yorker web site, or Arts and Letters Daily, or NYRB. Though I do read Mark Bittman’s column…

For some reason this reminds me of the time Andrew Sullivan called The Economist “a kind of Reader’s Digest for the overclass” in The New Republic…

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:37:17 +0000

Hey, Bill, the AP app is said to be better technically. But you’re forgetting a little detail. The Times’ unique content. I do not consider their better writers to be commodities.

Thanks,
David

By: Bill Janssen

Bill Janssen — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:15:59 +0000

I prefer the Mobile News app from AP to the NY Times app. AP has a very nice Local News feature which you can personalize with the zip codes of the places you care about, along with the major news stories. The Local News comes from members of their Digital Coop.

Boring icon, though; a brown fedora with what I presume is a press card stuck in the band.

By: HeavyG

HeavyG — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:03:34 +0000

The problem with a lot of the graphics in Kindle versions is that they take a looooonnnnngggg time to render and really is quite annoying.

I don’t find the very slight lag for text page turns bothersome (really don’t even notice it) but frequently a graphic will be a page unto itself on the Kindle and that lag while it renders is bothersome.

All in all I’d rather the graphics be left out. One day the tech will improve - perhaps the rumored letter sized Kindle2 will have a bit more horsepower and rendering graphics on that size page might be a more enjoyable/useful experience. We’ll see.

By: Daniel Udsen

Daniel Udsen — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:31:11 +0000

UMTS(3g) can handle upto 3mbits so no you dont actually need wifi just a UMTS line, GRPS(standard gsm data) can handle upwards of 56k so for mostly text you can browse them on any phone. And as with both samsung and LG, having touch screen phones on the market and with the exelent work on small screen web readability displayed in the OperaMini browser it becomes more posibly to read on the commuter railways or buslanes.

But this is another issue for the ebook industry the focus on kindle and blackbox applications leaves this rather huge market outside of the equation.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:56:37 +0000

Heck, HeavyG, there’s a bit of a USA Today reader in all of us. I would hate the graphics if they displaced the text, but they don’t. The full stories are still there. Meanwhile graphics can be a quick way to communicate the essence of the story or set the atmosphere. I plead guilty to caring a lot about the TeleBlog’s looks.

Thanks,
David

By: HeavyG

HeavyG — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:31:19 +0000

“I love the colorful graphics. Kindle subscribers, weep!”

Why? Frankly, my dear I don’t give a damn! So to speak.

The vast majority of the stuff I read does not have or need graphics to begin with. On my handheld reading devices (Kindle and Axim x50v) when I want to read a book or newspaper I prefer the “lighter weight” of a graphics free delivery. If graphics are an integral part of the material I’ll want to view them on a much larger display anyway.

Good ole ASCII text is fine with me!!

By: Mike Cane

Mike Cane — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:55:12 +0000

>>>Kindle subscribers, weep!

Hahahahaha.