NY Times to release gesture-controlled news app

The New York Times plans to release a Top News app for Leap Motion, the soon-to-be released app that will allow users to interact with computers using gestures, TechCrunch reported last week.

Through this app, the Times’ users will be able to browse articles by moving their hands left or right with headlines and images being presented in a card format. If the user finds an article interesting, the user can tap on the card and read the full article. You can also scroll through the article by making a circular motion and you can shake your hand to return to the Top News menu. This app currently is not integrated with the newspaper’s paywall system, and will only include top stories.

The Times will be the only branded news app available to Leap Motion users at the time of the product’s launch. The lightweight app features a continuously updated Top News feed where articles appear in card format. Each card displays the article headline, summary and the primary corresponding image, according to the press release. The app also features advertising capabilities that allow brands to connect with New York Times readers using motion-controlled ad units embedded as cards between articles.

“Leap Motion’s groundbreaking touch-free technology allows users to navigate and explore New York Times content in a brand new way,” said Denise Warren, executive vice president, Digital Products and Services Group, The New York Times. “This preliminary app is a first step. We look forward to exploring other ways to deliver our world-class journalism to the growing Leap Motion customer base as we continue this ongoing collaboration.”

This app has been developed by The New York Times’ Idea lab, a division for experimentation with the company’s advertising group. By releasing this app, Paul Smurl, The Times’ general manager of core digital products said it aims “to appeal to those early adopter kinds of tech-focused folks that are obviously very influential and can make or break a trend.” The company meanwhile also eyes commercial motives and potential, though not at the onset. This app will be available at Leap Motion’s Airspace store on July 22, the day the controller is expected to launch, according to a report by TechCrunch.

The Leap Motion Controller works with OSX 10.7 and 10.8, and Windows 7 and 8, laptops and desktops. The New York Times application will be free to download and will not require a digital subscription for access to content at launch.

By: Savita V Jayaram

U.S. media advertising by type - Video's all the hype

Video advertising and sponsorship advertising are on the ascendancy among digital advertising units in the United States, however, search advertising remains king, having grown from US$15.1 billion to $17.58 billion from 2011 to 2012, a 16.4 percent surge.  Video advertising is showing particular promise for local publishers and broadcasters looking for lucrative revenue streams for their content businesses. Video advertising fetches sometimes ten times the value of ordinary banner advertising.

Meanwhile, banner ads continue their stronghold in the No. 2 spot, growing from $7.55 billion to $8.68 billion, a 0.6 percent increase.  Rich media and lead generation also grew in the double digits, albeit from a small baseline, according the Pew’s State of the News Media research in 2012.

The data set is a part of a collection of 500 revenue and usership trends in mobile, social, Internet, tablet, video and other digital categories, published in the 200-page Global Digital Media Trendbook 2013. GDMT, in its eight year, is to be published by World Newsmedia Network, a not-for-profit media research company, in September 2013. To subscribe to the PDF report and/or the tablet edition, go to www.wnmn.org, or contact mstone@wnmn.org.