On Instapaper and the NYT Paywalls

Marco:

Most people add NYT pages from the “Read Later” bookmarklet or the new in-app browser. Pages added from both of these sources are unaffacted by paywalls and login requirements since they both save copies of the page as the viewer sees it.

In other words, if you can see it, Instapaper can save it for you with the bookmarklet or in-app browser. So you’ll still need to pay for a NYT membership if you exceed their monthly thresholds for viewing.

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New York Times Announces Metered Paywall

David Folkenflik at NPR:

The Times has embraced what’s called a metered approach — readers can click on as many as 20 different articles, slideshows, or videos a month without paying a cent. A page click through a Google search or a friend’s referral via Facebook or Twitter won’t count against you.

But as of March 28, the paper will charge digital readers who view more than 20 pages per month $15 dollars each month for web access and an iPhone application; $20 for access on the web, iPad and other tablets; or $35 for access on all three platforms. The model does not yet incorporate e-readers such as the Kindle, for which the Times has ongoing subscription plans.

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iOS Wordpress App Updated

Dan Roundhill:

The main focus of this release is to improve the app’s performance and reliability. The app has been moved to Core Data, which is a much improved way of managing information locally on the device. Also, the methods used to communicate over XML-RPC have been updated to better handle communication issues and increase reliability of the app. In total there have been 117 changes in this release.

We’ve cleaned up the Post Editor interface to make it easier to write and edit posts and pages. Simply select the icons along the bottom of the post editor to edit post settings, view attachments and add media. You can also now upload multiple media objects at once!

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On the Next iPhone

Joshua Schnell:

Stephen and I have been going back and forth about the next iPhone for a couple of weeks now. I tried to convince him to hold off on the Verizon iPhone 4 until Apple announced the new iPhone, and he argued that the iPhone 5 would be similar to the iPhone 3G to iPhone 3GS update. Neither of us have any inside information on what to expect, but he may have just scored the first point in our ongoing battle.

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Donate an iPad to Teach for America

Apple:

Donate your old iPad at an Apple Retail Store, and Teach For America will give it to a teacher in a low-income community.

TFA is a wonderful program. I have several friends doing it here in Memphis, and they really are on the front lines in some rough parts of town. This is great.

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On Great Tech Writing

Shawn Blanc:

If you run a tech-centric website, then, so far as I see it, there are two paces of posting schedule that your site can take: (a) the breaking news, real-time schedule; or (b) the schedule and pace that you set on your own. Most tech-centric sites opt for the former.

[…]

By making an intentional decision to not pursue a real-time schedule with my site it allows me the space to think and breathe and therefore write things which are more thought related than they are time-sensitive.

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