The New York Times bestseller list is, at this point, an institution. Reaching number one is a coveted spot that not only allows you to sell more copies of your book, but also lets you put “NYT Bestselling Author” in front of your name on your next one. The prerequisite for the list, is, of course, selling lots of copies of your book. So how did a book that barely exists and nobody ever heard of manage to become a bestseller? [More]
new york times
New York Times Will Now Deliver Ingredients For Its Recipes To Your Doorstep
By 5.5.16
If you’ve read a recipe in the newspaper and quietly wondered where you would find some of the ingredients, the New York Times has found a new way to solve that problem. They’ve partnered up with Chef’d, an ingredient-delivery service, to create a branded meal subscription that combines the convenience of having your dinner delivered with the cachet of the New York Times brand, yet the inconvenience of having to cook the food yourself. [More]
12 Things We Learned From The New York Times’ Investigative Report On Arbitration
By 11.2.15
Consumerist’s first post on the subject of arbitration, back in 2007, described a dispute that was ultimately resolved in the consumer’s favor. Since then, we’ve been against the practice, pointing out when popular companies change their terms of service to add arbitration clauses. It doesn’t matter, though, because arbitration can save companies so much money that they don’t especially care what we think. Sometimes. [More]
Amazon PR And NY Times Editor Still Fighting Over Article About Amazon From August
By 10.19.15
It’s a little strange to watch representatives of two of the most powerful retail and media companies in the country have a war of words on the blogpages of the platform Medium. Two months ago, the New York Times ran an article about Amazon’s workplace culture based on more than 100 interviews with current and former employees, some of whom didn’t want to be named. Now, representatives of Amazon and the Times are engaging in a war of words over the credibility of the named interviewees, and the nature of the story itself. [More]
Starbucks Teams Up With Lyft To Give Drivers, Riders Extra Points Through Its Rewards Program
By 7.23.15
Take a Lyft, earn a free cup of coffee? Well, something like that anyway. Starbucks and ride-sharing service Lyft teamed up on Wednesday to unveil a new arrangement that gives customers – and drivers – of the car service extra perks through the coffee chain’s loyalty program. [More]
No, New York Times, No One Wants To Put Peas In Their Guacamole
By 7.1.15
The Twitter account for the New York Times learned a very important lesson today: Avocados are sacred, and as such, guacamole should not be despoiled by the likes of the pea, a food reviled by any kid ever forced to finish their vegetables before they could leave the table. Any suggestion otherwise is outright HERESY, according to the denizens of the Internet. The responses are numerous, the ire is intense, and discontent reigns. [@NYTimes] [More]
Executives For The World’s Largest Diploma Mill Arrested
By 5.27.15
Less than two weeks after an investigative report detailed how a Pakistan-based IT company allegedly raked in millions of dollars a month by selling bogus diplomas, degrees and certifications through a series of fake websites and forceful sales calls, authorities in the country say they’ve arrested the chief executive of Axact. [More]
10 Things We Learned About The World’s Largest Diploma Mill
By 5.18.15
Earning a diploma can take years, but some people simply don’t have the time. For that reason, companies have been cropping up year after year offering consumers the chance to obtain a diploma, degree or certification in exchange for hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of dollars. A new report from the New York Times details how one company allegedly rakes in millions of dollars a month by selling those bogus documents though a series of fake websites and forceful sales calls. [More]
Authorities In Five States Suing Magazine & Newspaper Subscription Service Accused Of Fraud
By 3.31.15
The attorneys general of five states have filed a lawsuit against a company they say is peddling magazine and newspaper subscriptions it isn’t authorized to sell, and charging highly inflated prices for them to boot. [More]
Would You Pay 20¢ To Read One Wall Street Journal Article?
By 3.13.15
As more news consumers have started to migrate online instead of getting their news in dead-tree form, this has caused problems for the entire business model of publishing. It raises an interesting question, though: what if there were a news equivalent of buying the one song you like from a new album for 99¢ or less? That option may be coming soon to our national newspapers like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. [More]
This iPad Ad Placement Is Most Unfortunate
By 3.26.14
On Monday, the Malaysian government announced that they are certain that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean, with no survivors. That’s an international tragedy and an important news story, and was the top story on the New York Times website. Unfortunately, Apple was running a large and beautiful iPad advertisement on the front page at the time. An ad that featured a diver using an iPad underwater. [More]
Movie Producers Love Critic’s Tweet As An Ad… After Mention Of The Competition Is Edited Out
By 1.7.14
The primary goal of a movie critic is not to sell movies, but to review them. Which seems like a simple enough idea, right? Apparently not simple enough for Scott Rudin and his fellow producers behind Inside Llewyn Davis, who not only took one of New York Times critic A.O. Scott’s tweets and turned it into an ad (which ran in the NYT itself), but edited out any mention of competing movies in doing so. Oof. [More]
NYTimes.com Goes Down, Saying It’s “Experiencing Technical Difficulties”
By 8.27.13
Since 2:24 today I’ve been trying to read an article about why I should bring my lunch to work on NYTimes.com but I can’t, and not because I suddenly lost the ability to read. Why? The New York Times Twitter says the site is experiencing “technical difficulties.” But a spokeswoman tells Jeff Bercovici at Forbes.com that: “Our initial assessment is that this is most likely the result of a malicious external attack,” she emails. “We are working to fix the problem.” [via Twitter and Forbes.com] [More]
Oh Lordy, Here’s A Bunch Of Stuff About The Tesla/New York Times Holy War
By 2.14.13 — Updated: 2.26.13
This week has seen a declaration of war between a New York Times reporter who wrote a scathing review of the Tesla S electric car and its network of free superchargers and the company’s head honcho and “product architect” Elon Musk. Being your ever faithful servants, we thought you might like a easily-digestible recap of the recent finger-pointing activity. [More]
When Critics Attack: So About That Review Of Guy Fieri’s Times Square Restaurant…
By 11.15.12
You know how when you have a choir, and you’re preaching to it and you’re all happy because everyone already agrees on what is being shouted in the congregation? Let’s say that “choir” in this case is New Yorkers who hate stepping foot in Times Square, much less any who would deign to dine in one of its restaurants. Is there a point in a high-minded restaurant critic taking down celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen and Bar, located smackdab in touristville, or is it just an exercise in elitism? [More]
New York Times All-Access Digital Subscription Means ‘Except Your Android Smartphone’
By 6.11.12
Mark enjoys the New York Times, and is happy to support their superior acts of journalism in a modern way with a digital subscription. This subscription would allow him all-you-can-read access from computers, tablets, smartphones…you name it. He owns an iPad and an Android phone, and tried to set up Times apps on both devices. The Android version refused to work, even when he reinstalled the app. His emails about the problem were answered but evidently not read. He decided to cancel his subscription…which is when the final insult came about. They offered to extend his subscription for a dollar, but ended up shortening it instead. [More]
Now You'll Hit New York Times' Online Paywall After 10 Stories Instead Of 20
By 3.20.12
Some of you may have never come close to the 20 articles it takes before New York Times’ online paywall goes up — heck, maybe you don’t even use their site. But for those who do, bad news starting in April: Now you’ve just got 10 articles for free before your free access is cut off. [More]
New York Times Accidentally Tells 8 Million Readers Their Subscriptions Are Canceled
By 12.29.11
Millions of people who had given their email addresses to The New York Times were incorrectly told Wednesday morning that they had canceled their subscriptions. The accidental email to 8 million readers caused confusion, leaving subscribers scrambling to see what was wrong with their accounts while befuddling those who didn’t subscribe. After initially declaring the email was a spam attack, the paper copped to the fact that an employee sent the email and apologized for the accident in a second mass email. [More]
