Recall that the NY Times now has a paywall. That entitles you to 20 free articles a month. So it's four days into April and I'm hitting the wall.

I have a number of computers I read the Times on. It turns out that I used a bunch of different email addresses to log on to the NYT site at each of the computers. On one of them, my main desktop, I have a complementary account thanks to Lincoln. On the others, no free account. So one by one I'm hitting the 20-article limit. And learning some the quirks of the paywall.

For example...

They have a rule that says if you come from a social media site, the 20-article limit doesn't apply. That means that if I click on a link to a Krugman piece from my news aggregator, I get through. But, if I click on a link in Krugman's article to another NYT piece, I hit the wall.

Ironically, if I click on a link from the same Krugman piece to a story on the Washington Post site, it goes through. Not exactly what the Times wants, I assume. I wonder how Krugman will feel about linking on-site vs off-site.

Screen shot that illustrates.

Anyway, I'm going to leave some of my computers this way so I continue to experience the effects of the paywall.

 4/4/2011; 10:05:29 PM.   .

Lunch today was on 18th St off Union Square.

Walking back to the square to catch the 6 train uptown, I spotted this shiny new statue on the corner of 17th and Broadway. It's Andy Warhol, with a Bloomingdale's shopping bag and Polaroid camera.

Here's what Rob Pruitt, the artist, has to say about it.

 4/4/2011; 4:31:43 PM.   .

In the tech blogosphere this morning there's news that the Engadget team, that dribbled out of AOL over the last few weeks, has re-assembled at a sports blog called SB Nation. Once there, they will start a gadget blog that competes with Engadget.

In various accounts, including the blog post by Joshua Topolsky, the former editor of Engadget and the new editor at SB Nation, a sophisticated editorial system is mentioned as a reason for the move.

Topolsky says: "The people at SB Nation share my vision of what publishing looks like in the year 2011. They think that the technology used to create and distribute news on the web (and mobile) is as important as the people who are responsible for the content itself. And that's not just pillow talk -- SB Nation is actively evolving its tools and processes to meet the growing and changing needs of its vast editorial teams and their audience communities."

Hey -- it's not pillow talk! I like that...

In other words, lurking in the shadows is a content management and/or delivery system that beats the one at AOL, at least. Not too hard to imagine, considering those tools have barely advanced in the last few years. And remember, publishing tools are as much a part of the tech industry as search engines and social networks.

I, for one, would like to know more about these tools.

 4/4/2011; 8:45:38 AM.   .

I like the Mayor of New York. A lot of people say he's a bum, and of course this is NY so they're entitled. But I like him. He's his own man, he's smart and he thinks like a businessperson, because he is one.

Anyway, here's my idea for Hizoner the Mayor.

I'm going to a meeting uptown later today. It's a fifteen minute bike ride. A half-hour subway ride. The weather isn't good enough yet, but in a couple of weeks it will be. I'd like to ride my bike. And I know that the mayor wants me to too.

So how about offering a tax break to office buildings that provide on-site bike checkin and checkout. I'm not good enough at locking these things up when I get there to be willing to take the chance on losing my bike. But I would love to ride there if I knew in advance that they would hold my bike downstairs while I went to my meeting upstairs.

Maybe no tax break is needed, if there's a surplus of office space in NYC. It could be a differentiator. Locate your company here because you'll hire healthier employees.

 4/4/2011; 5:30:46 AM.   .