The Times

Digital subscriptions to the Times and Sunday Times top 150,000

This article is about how 'The Times' and 'Sunday Times' have topped 150,000 digital subscription and therefore in total they have 350,000 subscribers to print and online editors. Notably, News UK stated that this includes 200,000 who receive a daily newspaper on subscription the 150,000 figure  have grown 20% since February, when 12,000 people had signed up. Furthermore, according to the company, the digital subscribers for The Times Newspaper now makes up 25% of the paper's total paid-for-sale. Subscribers to the the print and digital editions also contribute to half of it's sale.

News UK stated that the print subscribers to both of the papers have grown since July 2010 because of the pay wall. 

Agree: 

Steveattufnell

18 October 2013 12:47am

Because The Times is a very good newspaper, free of an overtly biased political agenda and employing Columnists and leader writers from across the political spectrum. In my opinion it is the best newspaper in Britain, by a mile. All in all easily worth £4 a week (The Sunday Times website is a bit of a mess, but it too is a good read.)

I agree with this comment because he is saying that the newspaper is worth giving money to because of the content they provide. I think people should pay because they provide good amount of content for everyone reading their newspaper.

RationalArgument

17 October 2013 9:39pm

The Guardian probably will need a paywall eventually, but being one of the last ones to change is actually a good strategy as it will allow them to build a big market share of readers before they start charging"

I agree with this comment because he is trying to say that it is a good way of making money and getting more people to read their newspaper, he is also saying that the Guardian should start charging as well.

focsle185

"Paying for any online journalism is 'borg' like. If I wanted to limit myself to one type of view possibly a good idea. As it is the internet provides a fertile platform for discovering news from many sources. I prefer to use my own filter than that proscribed and provided to me by the self appointed types at the times and ST"#

The reason why i agree with this comment is because he is trying to say that by paying to one news corp, you will just be getting information from one journalist rather than getting it from loads on the internet.



EMComments ryeats

17 October 2013 11:35pm


Why should journalism, which costs money to do properly, be free?" Why should any business believe that, just because it is expensive to produce its product, anyone will be wiling to pay (much) for it?"Does the Guardian earn anything from me?" Yes, but not very much. Page impressions to pay (just like old-style display advertising) just not nearly so well

The reaason why i agree with this comment is because i believe news shouldn't be free because journalist would be losing money and what is the point of them becoming a journalist. There would be less jobs if everyone starts providing news sources themselves. 

Disagree: 

cheetah43

18 October 2013 4:59am

150,000 subscribers to online papers! Laughable. And they lured the first 120,000 at £2/week. Since then they doubled the subscription rate to £4/week. All in all, they are claiming annual revenue from the online papers of £30m. So what is there to boast about when their journalists are addressing only 150,000 people on the WWW enjoyed my hundreds of millions?

I disagree with this comment because by having a pay-wall companies can generate loads of revenue from it which would help the company and other people because it would provide more jobs for people. It could also increase more subscribers because they are getting in a new and triditional way rather than going to the shop and buying a newspaper.

FatFrank

17 October 2013 8:09pm

The paywall is too restrictive. The Times loses the marketing benefit of giving away a few articles a month (like the FT) and showing a bit of ankle. Are they also hidden from Google, as per Rupert's instructions? Let people see a bit for free and they might be more likely to pay. The digital Times is largely invisible to non-subscribers.

The reason why I disagree with this comment is because pay-wall gives the option to the consumer that do they want to pay or not, if they do then they would get the news, if not then no one would give them the news for free.

Yossarian02

17 October 2013 10:12pm

I subscribed and then pulled out when I got really bored with the content, and pissed off with the heavy censorship that applies to posters.

I disagree with this comment because he is just trying to use the company, he paid them then he pulled himself out after he got the news and after he got bored with it. No one should ever do that because then the customers who want to subscribe would not and the company would lose money.



lawsonrob printerink

19 October 2013 12:56pm

No we won't. Paywalls are already coming down. It was a bad idea that they tried for the second time and it's failing again. Personally, I like the Telegraph paywall. View the site in a incognito window and it works perfectly

I dont think that pay-walls would come off because the generate loads of money and that't how jobs are created by journalist writing and giving out news. 

Comments on the news story

Angry Birds Go! will be fully free-to-play for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry.

I think that Anita has made a really good that Angry Birds would be much more successful than Mario Kart because it is played by a much younger demographic. The reason for this because it is Angry Bird is free on Android. This could also appeal to a wide range of audience because it is free and who doesn't like free things. Now most of tablets are owned by Google which means it would have Android on them which means Angry Bird would be free and would be played by some many people. 

BBC to create CBeebies Land

I think this is a really interesting story which Samuel has found because it involves billions of pounds of investment. I think they are making a really good decision and the investment is going to be really successful as millions of children watch Cbeebies everyday and to keep them happy their parents would take them to the resort as well if it was their.

20 best Android apps this week

I agree with the point Gagan's made that the audience should be able to give their opinion about the game. The game would be really successful because it is free on Android and it would have a wide range of younger demographic playing the game.

Web 2.0 articles

Six questions about the media and participation

The professor at Loughborough  University claims that the advent of social media has brought a much broader media revolution. He says that before the media use to be controlled by specific people but now that happen anymore, everyone has power of the media. He says that online blogs and forums give an opportunities to ordinary people to give their views about the people in power. Everything which happens online is done by ordinary people, which people could have access to it anytime, anywhere. It is all created by user generated content and there are much more citizen journalists out there. Everything on the internet do not depend on editors or gatekeepers, its all user generated content.
The new technology could be dangerous for everyone because its not controlled by one person, its not being under the control of a gatekeeper. The impact of it depends on who uses it. He says that the most richest money making online corporations are Google and Facebook. Loads of people are debating that will media 2.0 save democracy. The professor himself thinks that it is good to debate about this because he believes everything has changed.

Key information:
* Everything has changed because of the new technology
* Ordinary people are in control of the internet
* There are no more editors or gatekeepers in control
* People get to say their view on internet to millions on people
* Google and Facebook are the most money making corporation online
* People make their own videos which could be accessed everywhere around the world
* Much more user generated content on the internet

Participation debates

One of the most biggest debates at the moment is that has Web 2.0 and the explosion in social networking really opened the opportunity for democracy? Democracy is simple a form of government in which all eligible people have an equal say in the decision making. The way that this relates to the debate is because people are now getting the chance to give their equal say online. People are debating that will this change the democracy because then everyone will be able to give their say as social networking lets them. Before people had to do loads of things to give their view, but the new media revolution has given the opportunity to people who use to be the audience of the internet the right to give their views globally through social networking site.
Some commentators have claimed that the uprisings in Egypt and Libya couldn't have happened without the use of Twitter and Facebook.  The internet has empowered its user by giving them instant access to news from a wide range of sources.  The questions which are raising is that is traditional journalism dead? Is citizen journalism the future?

Key information:
* Most of the news before being aired on News channels is on social networking sites because of      citizen journalism, people are providing eyewitness of the incident taking place.
* Are normal people empowered fully with the internet?

precipitation or hegemony? 

Nick Lacey explored the issue that has Web 2.0 been really democratised our access to the media and has it switched the power from producers to the audience. She says that Web 2.0 allows the audience to become producers of media texts, they can use blogs, YouTube channels and other aspects of the internet to do so. People these days do not need to rely on professional organisations to act as the gatekeepers. Most people find this very beneficial because know they don't have to pay for certain things which they use to because they are relying on thousands of individuals to do so.

Key information:
* No more gatekeepers
* Audience's have become producers
* Individuals relying on individuals

Weekly story...

Argos Launches £99 table to compete with Tesco Hudl


http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/15/argos-mytablet-android-tablet-hudl-kindle-nexus-7

Argos have launched their own Tablet called My Tablet, they have kept it for a very low price of just £99 only. They started selling it from the 16th October and it is in full competition with loads of other tablets such as Google's £199 Nexus 7, Amazon's £99 kindle Fire, Tesco's £119 Hudl. Compared with the recent launch of the Tesco Hudl, My Tablet has very low advancements than the Hudl for example it has half of the storage battery life, it has low resolution screen. Argos's tablet has full access to Google's Play Store and to the 850,000 Android apps. The tablet sale has increased since the last half of the year and it is still taken in consideration that it will accelerate even more in Christmas. Argos's My Tablet is available in two colors pink and silver.

Key statistics:
* First half of 2013 6m tablets were sold in the UK
* Nearly 230m to be sold in 2013
* 75% of the UK's population is still without one
* Tablet devices are overtaking the PC sales

My view:
I personally believe that as results are showing that 6m tablets sold just within the first half of the year then Argos's My Tablet will be very successful. I think they have given it a very good price to compete with the Tesco Hudl, but the functions could have been better and more advanced. overall i still think that My Tablet would bring a good amount of extra revenue for the business and it will carry on selling because the demand of tablets have increased.

Weekly story...

Asda offer 3D printing in store

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/10/asda-3d-printing

Asda are trailing a new in store 3D printing service for customers, this service would allow the customers to scan and replicate anything in ceramic. This service is going to be launched on the 15th October in the company's York store. If this trail goes successful, then Asda are going to launch in out in all of their stores in the nation. It takes 2 minutes to scan the whole surface of the object. Anything could be scanned and then it could be made into models. They could get models with any color they like. 

Once the model has been scanned in the system, it would then be sent off to the specialist 3D printer, so that it could be recreated in ceramic. The prices start up from £40 and would be ready for next weeks shopping and they would be ready in store for pick up. Asda say that they should be popular for cake toppers. 

No statistics 

My view: I personally think that most people in today's time would not be interested in this because people don't waste money just like this. Unless people who are interested in models and want something like that as their display in their home, then they might buy it, but i think that this concept of gaining extra revenue would not work for Asda. People would not be interested to just give a way money like that, unless they get something interesting. 

Citizen journalist

News stories:
There is a lot of impact on news stories because of the rise of UGC and because of citizen journalism. The impact of new stories is that in today's developed generation and due to all the development in new and digital media ordinary people are posting up videos of the news and creating debates about the new news. Ordinary people are giving the news out for free to the world out here. Most of the news is spread across the social networking site, any news stories which is released or takes place would straight be on social networking site. It's done by ordinary people they like to spread the news out to everyone. If a news is recorded by someone and is posted up at the time, they are referred to citizen journalists. The reason they are called this is because they are ordinary people, they record a piece of news and they would put it on social media and everywhere else so that others can see.

An example of an citizen journalism is the Rodney King incident which was recorded by an ordinary man and he then spread the whole story to everyone around the world. The man is know known as a citizen journalist as he gave out an very hurt touching news to everyone. An example of UGC is the channel on YouTube, Sourcefed. This is a channel in YouTube who provide news every single day and they won't just posts the news up, but they would make it enjoyable for the audience to watch. They keep each video very short because the longer it is the boring it is. The development in the new and digital media is giving a lot of power to ordinary people to do whatever they like on the internet.

Ordinary people can do whatever they like on the internet post videos, debate about things. The media lets the people out there spread things on social networking site which young people can adapt very quickly. The reason why they adapt more through the social networking site is because it gives them the power to contribute in the story which is taking part. They have the power to fight against and for the news which is taking place.

News agenda is what is news and if it would be shown as a piece of news. News is taken in consideration if it is a serious news, and if they want to get the news out to the audience. The impact of citizen journalist on news agenda could be a lot because most of the news would be posted by the ordinary people. So even before the news agenda is made the news would be already out their by ordinary people.

A14 to become Britains first internet connected road

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/02/super-highway-a14-internet-connected-road

The highway which is very busy at most times because it goes to Birmingham, A14 would be Britains first road to be connected with the internet. Networks of sensors will be placed along a 50 miles stretch of the A14, in a collaboration between BT, the department for transport and the Cambridge star up Neul. This would create a smart road which can monitor traffic, by sending signals to peoples mobile phones when they are driving on the A14.
This new technology could even pave the way for government to automatically control the car speeds.
The watch dog Ofcom also said that this could be used to directly communicate directly with the cars, directing them with diverted routes so they can avoid congestion and also monitor there speed.
Computers would be essentially be able to overdrive the driver, imposing maximum speed on the vehicle by controlling the breaks and the engine.

Satistics: The highway agency are proposing to spend £1.5 billion so that they can improve the A14, all of that could be paid off by toll. As they are going to charge lorries £3 when the use that route.

My view: I think this is a really good idea because it would cause less traffic problems and it would allow people to get quicker to their destination. I also think that it would stop accidents from occurring on busy occasions. I think this would then lead Britian to improve all his highways and it would have better impact of it, it would also be a very good thing for everyone.