The New York Times just launched a new way to read the paper's stories online. With Times Skimmer , which first launched as a prototype application earlier this year, the New York Times is trying to bring the feeling and serendipity of reading the physical newspaper to its online presence. Users can choose from seven different layouts. Most of these are based on a grid-based design, though some also mimic the feel of an RSS reader with stories organized in chronological order, or based on editorial ranked feeds. Sponsor Besides the different layout options, the New York Times made some major changes to the prototype we looked at in February. The navigation menu has moved to the right, for example, and clicking on a headline now opens the article in a pop-up window that is nicely integrated with the rest of the application. The app feels somewhat similar to the paid Times Reader application - especially if you use an application like Fluid or Prism to pack it into a standalone app. One nice feature of the app is that it smartly rearranges stories according to the size of the browser window. Times Skimmer also features keyboard shortcuts. Times Skimmer features a separate section for blogs, as well as a section for collections of articles about special topics, e.g. swine flu, credit crisis and bacon. According to Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer at the New York Times Media Group and general manager of NYTimes.com, Times Skimmer is meant to give "online readers another way to view the latest news and updates in a choice of formats that best suit their preferences."

If you ever wanted to quickly share or collaborate on a simple sketch online, here is a fun new tool to try. With FlockDraw , you can draw simple sketches collaboratively in your browser in real-time. Up to 50 people can draw simultaneously on a single whiteboard. FlockDraw doesn't limit the number of people who can watch. FlockDraw feels a bit like a pre-Windows7 version of MS Paint and isn't anywhere close to being a replacement for a full-blown design app like Balsamiq or a browser-based image editing suite like Aviary . The service, however, makes it very easy and fun to create simple drawings and sketches in real-time. Sponsor Not a lot of Features - But That's the Point FlockDraw offers a simple set of basic tools: freehand drawing, lines, eraser and text. You can also change the color and size of your font or pencil. There are no fancy tools here, but what is there is more than enough to draw a quick sketch. It's important to note that these FlockDraw rooms are meant to be disposable - once the last person leaves the room, the image disappears. Two features - embedding the whiteboard and saving files - are currently disabled, though Blake tells us that they will soon return. Users will be able to save files as JPEGs and embed the whiteboard on their social networking sites or blogs. Overall, the service, which was founded by Dan Blake (of TinyChat fame) and Ryan Hileman , is extremely easy to use. Just head to the front page and click "Start Drawing." You can also start a new FlockDraw room by simply appending more than 3 characters to the FlockDraw URL ( http://flockdraw.com/rwwwhiteboard , for example). Discuss

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FlockDraw: Collaborative Drawing Made Easy

Dell has just released a customized version of Chromium OS, the open source code behind Google's new operating system called Chrome, in a build designed specifically for Dell Mini computers. According to a blog post on the Dell Community site , several company employees were inspired create this custom version after seeing Engadget's video showing Chrome OS running on a Vostro A860 netbook. After tinkering around with the code, they were able to create their own version of Chromium OS, complete with functional Wi-Fi drivers, and have made the build available for download as a USB key image file from the Direct2Dell blog . Sponsor About Google Chrome After last week's sneak peek at Google's upcoming operating system dubbed Google Chrome OS, tech enthusiasts everywhere have been playing with the open source code which Google released to the community on the day of the press conference. This code, called Chromium OS, lets anyone take the basic building blocks of Google's operating system and customize it for their own purposes. Going the open source route isn't just an example of Google's desire to "not be evil," but protects the company from anti-trust, anti-competitive claims surrounding the new project - a project which is basically an OS that runs only one web browser: Google Chrome . In fact, Google's browser is the operating system in its entirety. No desktop applications will be supported on this web-based, Wi-Fi only machine. As Google's VP of Product Management, Sundar Pichai, said during the press event, if any other browser maker wants to build their own version of the OS using their own browser, they can. Since the launch of the Chromium OS source code, there have been a number of articles explaining how to run the operating system in a virtual machine on your own computer as well as how to boot the operating system from a USB flash drive . But up until now, these efforts have been steered by enthusiastic technology users and not those associated with any large computer manufacturer such as Dell. And while the Dell Chromium build isn't exactly an "official" company product, it's noteworthy for the fact that it was designed by company employees, posted publicly on a Dell website, and is customized to run specifically on Dell Mini computers. Dell's Chromium OS Build According to the Dell blog post , the USB key image file (available here: http://linux.dell.com/files/cto ) only works on Dell Mini 10v computers . Most importantly, the build makes the built-in Broadcom Wi-Fi adapter on these machines functional, a feature needed when running a web-based OS. After all, what good is a cloud operating system if you have to be tethered to an ethernet cable? The blog post includes instructions on how to copy the USB image file to a USB flash drive, but unfortunately the directions are aimed only at those who have access to another Linux machine. We're not sure why Windows and Mac users couldn't just modify the instructions found on this website to make their own Dell Chromium OS USB keys by substituting the Dell build for the one hosted on that site. In addition, if you're interested in trying out the Dell version of Chromium OS, there are a couple of things you should know: You'll need a hefty USB key drive - 8 GB minimum. It may take 5-10 minutes for the Chromium OS network connection manager to "see" the Wi-Fi access points. Some issues with the connection manager are still present. If it gets hung, reboot and try again. And by the way, there's no "reboot" - you have to press the power button on the Mini laptop. The Dell build is unsupported and minimally tested - use at your own risk. If you're still feeling brave, the download is available here . Discuss

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Dell Releases Customized Version of Chrome OS

Earlier this morning, Mozilla released the fourth beta version of Firefox 3.6 . Besides over 140 bug fixes , the new beta also introduces support for HTML5's local file handling API. This feature gives web apps the ability to access and handle local files selected by the user. A photo site that implements this feature can now work with images locally, for example. You don't have to upload your images to the site - instead, the web app can just manipulate the photo through the browser locally and an upload is only necessary if you want to store the image remotely. Sponsor The development of Firefox 3.6 has fallen behind schedule, though barring any major bugs in this latest version, Mozilla will likely release the first release candidate next month and the final version should arrive early next year. Local File Handling Another example that Mozilla uses in its documentation is photo thumbnails. Normally, you would have to upload the image to the site's server before you could see a thumbnail. Now, developers can easily render and display these thumbnail before the file is uploaded. Support for the HTML5 file handling API is the only major new feature in this latest beta, though Mozilla also made some tweaks to how extensions integrate with Firefox, which should improve stability. Help Mozilla to Test Add-Ons Mozilla also recently launched the latest version of its Add-on Compatibility Reporter tool . If you want to help out Mozilla and your favorite add-on developers, this tool will send back information about how an add-on performs in whatever version of Firefox you have installed on your machine. About 70% of all Firefox add-ons are already compatible with Firefox 3.6. Discuss

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New Firefox 3.6 Beta Enables Local File Handling

This Monday we're releasing our latest premium research report, entitled The Real-Time Web and Its Future . You can pre-order this in-depth report for just $200 . One of the 50 interviews we conducted was with Ted Roden , a Creative Technologist at The New York Times. In this post, an edited extract from our new report, we explore how Roden works with real-time data at The Times. We also discuss the creative real-time development he's doing on a side-project called EnjoysThings . Pre-order now: The Real-Time Web and Its Future, $200 if you order before 30 Nov ; check out the Table of Contents (PDF) and a sample chapter (PDF). Sponsor The primary contributions Ted Roden makes to understanding the real-time web include articulating: the material benefits of going real time the importance of user experience the changing landscape in analytics and advertising We had a conversation with Roden about what happened after he added a real-time feed to EnjoysThings; he articulates well some of the biggest advantages of a real-time infrastructure. EnjoysThings is a visual bookmarking site, like Delicious for images and other media. Even text snippets bookmarked are highlighted visually. User experience is a key consideration in all the site's developments and the service is a lot of fun to use. This summer Roden added a premium subscription option to the site, called Joy accounts. Joy accounts cost $20 per year for access to all the current and forthcoming premium features, or users can pay $5 for a single premium feature like disabling ads on the site or being able to view NSFW content. One of the features Joy account holders get is access to a real-time view of new content shared. That real-time stream can be viewed in any browser but may be best served up via a Firefox sidebar. A real-time feed as up-sold value add? That's remarkable and Roden says the response has been positive. The sidebar is simple but compelling. New content is pushed live into the side of the browser as soon as it's shared on the site, including images. At first Roden said he used AJAX set to poll his site every few seconds. Then he switched to a Comet implementation. He says he's using the open source infrastructure Tornado , from Facebook, for his real-time prototypes at the Times. EnjoysThings is still very small but the implications of adding real-time to this site could likely be incurred by sites of any size. 1. INCREASED TIME ON SITE "People leave it open all day long," Roden said of the sidebar. "Time-on-site has seen a huge increase. It's like when the new content comes in on the Facebook Live Feed, if you know it's about to pop in 5 seconds you'll stick around." There are a number of different factors that are making time-on-site an increasingly important metric on the web, compared to pageviews. Increased consumption of video is the best known, but as real-time streams of aggregated content become increasingly common, increased time-on-site will be an important measurement of how successful an implementation is. 2. DECREASED SERVER COSTS After implementing real-time infrastructure, Roden reports that "my site runs a lot more smoothly, I'll probably move the whole site to that technology because deep down it's much easier on the database for me." "I used to get hit by Stumbleupon and [the site] would start to crawl. Then I changed to some of this real time stuff and I've reduced the number of servers. Instead of the users sitting on the page and refreshing, I push it out to them. My EC2 bill has gone way down." Roden's experience compliments the story that Google's Brad Fitzpatrick told us about using PubSubHubbub push feeds to deliver shared items in Google Reader to FriendFeed. Changing from polling to real-time push cut traffic between the two sites by 85%. Likewise, magazine-style feed reader Feedly says that the part of its service that now consumes PubSubHubbub from Google Reader has seen a 72% reduction in bandwidth. ...(continued) To read the rest of this sample chapter, see the PDF download . You can also check out the Table of Contents and pre-order the full report at a discounted price of $200. Discuss

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Case Study: The Real-Time Web at the New York Times & EnjoysThings

One of the first social networking aggregators to take advantage of LinkedIn's brand-new API is Sobees , whose two client applications both now offer LinkedIn integration in addition to the other supported networks. A challenger to similar services like TweetDeck, Seesmic, and PeopleBrowser, Sobees is a social networking aggregation tool originally launched as a desktop app back in 2008 with a web app version added earlier this year. Like its competitors, Sobees' clients use a columnar interface to display real-time updates from sites like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. Sponsor Sobees essentially functions as a social networking client for the sites it supports, each site with its own column and separate set of functions and tabs. For example, in the Twitter column, you can switch through tabs to see replies and direct messages and you can use buttons on the side to create groups or view your favorites. Meanwhile, the Facebook column offers Facebook-specific features like the ability to view photo albums and status updates or check out profiles, friend lists, and your inbox. Sobees Adds LinkedIn Similarly, the newly-launched LinkedIn functionality will include features specific to LinkedIn. At launch time, those are as follows: Update your status View connections View profiles Get updates (connections updates, status updates, application updates, jobs posted, groups joined, recommendations and profile changes) Search or search with advanced functionality While the desktop version of the program is Windows-only, the web-based application is built using Microsoft's Silverlight technology which works on any operating system, even Linux . When you go to set up the web version for the first time, you'll be presented with the four supported services and a button reading "connect." At first, clicking the connect button seemed to have no effect but that was because the browser's pop-up blocker was turned on and Sobees launches the authorization screens in a separate window. After navigating past this small obstacle, the rest of the set up process was completed in a matter of minutes. At this point, you're now presented with multiple columns containing the services you authorized during setup. You can also choose to add a real-time search column if desired and you can re-arrange the columns into a number of different layouts using the "change layout" button at the top. FactFinder API Integration Lets You Know if a Link is Worth Clicking Besides simply displaying the most recent updates from the various services, Sobees also offers a unique feature other social networking applications don't have - Factery's FactFinder API integration. ( Read more about Factery's API here ). In short, this API allows the Sobees client to instantly and automatically parse the URLs posted in Twitter links to help you determine whether or not the link is worth clicking. Using the FactFinder toggle button to the left of the column, your Twitter stream is filtered to show only links with Factery data. Once switched on, tweets with links are appended with the source URL and various "facts" snipped from the article being shared. Depending on the amount of info the API pulls, a "more..." link may appear at the bottom of the facts displayed. Click this link to see more facts - aka snippets - from the article in question and then click "less" to once again collapse the window. Anyone who has switched to Twitter as their primary source of news will love this sort of feature as you can get the gist of an article without ever leaving Twitter. If you're interested in trying the updated Sobees clients, you can download the desktop version here or load the web version at sobees.com/web . Discuss

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Social Aggregator Sobees Adds LinkedIn Support

Firefox gets distributed social networking and identity management. The good people who work on the revolutionary, open-sourced, and occasionally maligned browser have been hard at work on making cross-site navigation and portable IDs a solvable problem. A discrete button to the left of the URL that can tell users whether or not they are logged in to a particular site and allow them to log in without further navigation? Accuse us of punning, but definitely sign us up. Google Chrome: Start taking notes. Sponsor Our friends at Mozilla posted this teaser back in the spring, when they touted a way to eliminate clicks and keystrokes between navigating to and being recognized by a given website. Our own Marshall Kirkpatrick enthused, "Earlier this week, we argued that browsers and social networks were fast converging, and that with more users and some feature advantages, Firefox could be the best real competition for Facebook... This is just one more chapter in a much larger story - but look how easy this makes OpenID to use!" But now, Mozilla's UX chief Aza Raskin has posted more updates to his personal blog that indicate new hotness is coming soon. The new feature will harness the power of Mozilla's Weave to make your online identity something that's stored in your back pocket more than it's stored in your cookies or a third party's server. Decrying redirects and iframes , Raskin tells of a brave new world where an in-browser button that defies navigational difficulties allows for something closer to true identity portability than we've seen yet: Identity will be one of the defining themes in the next five years of the Web. Nearly every site has a concept of a user account, registration, and identity. Searching for "sign in" on Google yields over 1.8 billion hits. And yet, the browser does nothing to make this experience better save for some basic auto form filling. The browser leaves websites to re-implement identity management, and forces users to learn a new scheme for every site... Your identity is too important to be owned by any one company. Finally! They said it! And now, we give you screenshots: So, what's the verdict, readers? Does this surpass Chrome's identity-porting capabilities? Does this create massive privacy issues for users who don't want their personal traffic tracked? Discuss

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Firefox's Plan to Kick the Login's Butt