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| gromit |
 Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 3:26 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Just ran across a short article about evading the NYTimes semi-paywall.
http://gothamist.com/2011/03/28/nytimescom_paywall_is_up_there_may.php
Quote:
- You can delete the end of the URL—everything after the ".html" or anything that starts "&gwh="—and access the article.
- Another suggestion, via Twitter: "'Private browsing' in Firefox seems to disable it, as does switching browser."
- Also clearing browser caches might work because of session cookies.
The second one I'm not familiar with and the third sounds iffy, but the first is easy to do.
But if it's cookie-based, it sounds like you can get 20 articles free on Firefox then another 20 on IE plus another 20 on Chrome.
Also, you can just type the name of the article you can't read, find a link on a google (or another search engine or blog) and go to it for free.
I'm not sure if I read 20 NYTimes articles a month.
Probably I'll just go to Krugman's blog twice a week instead of every other day. So they'll get half my usual hits. And on and on. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 3:58 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:49 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6948
Location: Black Hills
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| Earl, Gromito -- well, I access the NYT through a university network PC, and it clears cookies and other personal info out between user sessions, so I don't think it's a problem here. Another approach is to access articles only through Google and you get 5 free per day. You can go to the homepage, see what you want to read, then jump over to Google and type in the article heading. That gives you a lot more than 20 free/month. More like 150/month. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 9:28 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I knew there are ways around the Times paywall, but I'm no techie and I'm also a browser--besides checking the opinion page every day, I check out the science and health sections and the Sunday magazine and the Week in Review and whatever else seems to be interesting at the time, as well as clicking on various "most e-mailed" links, which often lead to fascinating articles I'd never have noticed otherwise. Besides, I'm a journalism grad--I believe in newspapers! Don't let them die! If subscribing to the Weekender will have the same effect as applauding for Tinkerbell, I'm there. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:09 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Wow, thanks Marc. Is this the player you own? |
Last edited by Joe Vitus on Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:15 am; edited 1 time in total
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-Topher |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:13 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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gromit wrote: Joe, also make sure whatever machine you buy plays PAL (the Euro standard). I would think that any region-free player almost has to, but best to ask and make sure.
I'm assuming every region-free/all-region player automatically handles the region coding and plays both NSTC (US standard) and PAL. But doesn't hurt to ask and be sure.
If possible, you can go to the store armed with a Euro R02 disc -- either buy the one you want, borrow one from someone, or rent if available -- and you can test it out in store.
I've been looking online, and as I understand it, they do play both NSTC and PAL. But bringing a disc is a good idea. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:50 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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I was looking at an opera dvd in a shop just now and it had some complicated rigmarole about being an NSTC region-free disc designed to play on PAL systems in Africa, Japan ....
I mention it because I noticed that they called such an NTSC and PAL playable disc as "dual standard" -- a term of art which probably applies to players as well. So if a store agrees it plays both and if they say (or the info says) "dual standard" anywhere, that jibes.
If you are going to buy a normal region-locked player and hack it to freedom, you probably should do a quick google on the brand/model + region free hack, in order to make sure it is easy and there are no problems later. The hack may void your warranty. And sometimes later firmware updates might reset and block your region-freeness on some models. Then again, I've never updated firmware on any player I've ever had, and barely have an idea how or why I'd do such a thing. Then again, I'm not much concerned about quality, I just want the dvd's to play and the film to be watchable.
I don't see how you can really go wrong with a brand name player for $50 or so, so I wouldn't waste too much time on it. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:03 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Carro, the NYT lost my trust when they rolled over and helped enable the many Bush disasters, especially the Iraq War. I am interested in news organizations and news media, but newspaper probably will and should dwindle and die. I'm sure plenty of folks lamented and missed town crier's. Change, baby.
As I understand it, the NYT wants it's wealthy/loyal readers to subsidize free content for the masses. I'm fine if that works. But they will certainly lose readers, while others jump through the various hoops to keep using it freely. I would jump through NYT hoops (or find reprints elsewhere) for Krugman and possibly Linda Greenhouse. 6 years ago I probably would have for the whole NYT. Not no more. Their previous experiment with a full paywall was a disaster and helped marginalize the paper and its voice(s). |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:24 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6948
Location: Black Hills
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| I'm all for keeping print journalism alive, whether its on dead trees, hemp paper, or 0 and 1's pumped into a computer. The key will be getting advertizers comfortable with display ads on a monitor v. the old-school paper. If people ignore online ads more, then the principal revenue source for newspapers will dry up, and paying for a subscription will be the right thing to do. That's probably where we are going, because a lot of big advertizing accounts are like Target, where you have a 4-color insert in the newspaper with coupons, and that's very portable and handy. Online doesn't offer anything quite like that. In a parallel situation, classified revenues are being lost to places like Craig's List, Yahoo, et al. So...the bills need to be paid, reporters require food and shelter, and we should pay if we like our news to be more than insipid soundbites on the boobtube. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:30 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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| Obama just can't please anyone, can he? I found it amusing that Repug Sen. Cornyn is whining that Obama went and declared "war" on Libya without consulting congress, and waited to explain what he was doing 9 days after he did it. Wait, isn't that what leaders do? We hear all this carping about "leadership," from both right and left...so the guy finally exercises some (in a coalition with European Union and the Arab League) and they act like he's gone rogue. Ridiculous. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:44 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| There seem to a number of Republicans who were complaining that Obama wasn't attacking Kuwait, who then complained that Obama attacked Kuwait without their permission, or waited longer than he should have, or isn't "leading" the attack, or whatever. The Obama-is-never-right mantra has become so monotonous that I don't think any of them can see beyond it now; they're already virtually defending obesity, pollution, nuclear risk, global warming, unaffordable healthcare, and higher unemployment, since those are what Obama is against. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:09 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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carrobin wrote: There seem to a number of Republicans who were complaining that Obama wasn't attacking Kuwait, who then complained that Obama attacked Kuwait without their permission, or waited longer than he should have, or isn't "leading" the attack, or whatever. The Obama-is-never-right mantra has become so monotonous that I don't think any of them can see beyond it now; they're already virtually defending obesity, pollution, nuclear risk, global warming, unaffordable healthcare, and higher unemployment, since those are what Obama is against. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| knox |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:21 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1245
Location: St. Louis
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Now THAT is leadership.
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:40 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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whiskeypriest wrote: We attacked Kuwait?
They have our oil.
Besides, they dress funny. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 12:48 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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R.I.P.
Farley Granger of Strangers on a Train. |
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