This is the Web's new portal with the obligatory local weather reports and other widgets to push all types of info that we would normally consider. There may be a problem with that in this ADHD-driven online world. It's finally moving the Times from the broadsheet format to something more suitable to browser organizing and reading.
They give you a head start with the RSS feeds by having their journalists suggest feeds, which is not a bad idea, but if you're finding out about Engadget through David Pogue, you've really been out of the tech loop.
At the top you have tabs, much like the iGoogle portal. "Home Page" is the old splash page which is click-this hell. I still see the gray and orange TimesSelect logo linking to content behind the cash wall. I thought they were going to do away with this.
"My Times" is in it's beta version, but it doesn't differentiate itself from most other personalized portals. They do have a Flickr slide show widget that shows all photos tagged "New York." You can edit the tag, so that if you want, you could have your photos showing.
"Today's Paper" (tomorrow's recyclable) will show you the front page layout, and then they have more links to the various stories by section.
"VIDEO" mercifully doesn't start each piece with an ad. On the bottom of the page are video ads you can click. Yeah, right.
"Most Popular" are lists of the most: e-mailed, blogged, searched, popular movies, so you know what your Web mates think is important. Their searching for "modern love," "india," "sex," "castro," "china," "iraq," "immigration," "obituaries," "bush," and "the war as we saw it." Love, war and death seem to be the major areas of interest.
"Times Topics" is a listing of everything you wanted to know about.... Clicking on Michael Vick you can read all of Times stories and catch links to other sites as well as his personal Web site. "Jenna Bush" and "Global Warming" are other Times' topics.
Does this replace the experience of sitting down with a copy of the paper with the early morning light streaming in while you drink your coffee--you know, where you can turn each page and discovery items that you never imagined searching for? A click-free morning is such a relief. You won't get it with My Times.
My Times - New York Times
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