[sfk]

Is there an authoritative link for this? The article is written in a way that suggests that the feed is an integral part of Pulse.

One of the comments says: "Pulse actually ships with the NYT built in."

Without having cleared this up, it's difficult to judge the matter.

EDIT: If wired.com is not grossly incorrect, I do think that the feed was built in:

"The developers of Pulse, Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta, are bemused, and are planning to contact Apple to fix the problem. They’ll do this by removing the NYT’s feed from the app ..."

[donohoe]

To: ahoythere "By that logic, Safari ships with Apple and CNN "built in"."

Yes - but you bet Apple did actually ask CNN and others beforehand and CNN said Yes. That has been my experience.

[albemuth]

More like CNN and others pay to be included, NYT is getting how much traffic for free here?

[donohoe]

No, not really. I personally think this whole mess is because they pre-packaged NYT RSS feeds and also used that in their screenshots (don't know that last point for sure, but I think thats the case?), and then they make it a commercial app.

Is one thing for a user to add a RSS feed, its another to pre-package it in a commercial app.

Its not about 'free traffic' its about saying 'hey, thats not cool' IMHO. I would also add, until his all came up I wouldn't have guessed it was an issue until I thought about it more.

Disclaimer: I do work for NYT but have nothing to do with this whole drama. I'm just as interested as anyone here. Oh, and all this is my personal opinion and not necessarily that of blah de blah blah blah....

[DrSprout]

It's a link. It's no different from being in the default set of bookmarks. If that's "pre-packaging," anyone who distributes a link to the NYTimes with paid software is guilty of the same thing.

[donohoe]

Lets be clear. It is NOT a link.

It is a Headline and Summary with a Link. Completely different. I doubt that changes your point or your mind, but lets be clear on whats going on.

I would also add, that this in itself (IMHO) is harmless, but there is also the issue of using NYT content etc in marketing materials (screenshots) for a paid app.

I think that the RSS link/headline&summary by itself is harmless, but that together its a bigger deal.

BTW I don't necessarily disagree with you. I just feel that people are dealing with each issue isolation and losing the overall context.

[DrSprout]

>Is one thing for a user to add a RSS feed, its another to pre-package it in a commercial app.

The only thing they are pre-packaging is a link. Yes, it displays the content, but it's no different from any other piece of client software in that regard. They do not pre-package any NYT content, which was what I mean when I said it's only a link.

The ad material is the only place where the NYT might have a case, but it seems pretty clear that was not their issue, or they would have objected to the ad, not the software.

[smackfu]

It's enabled by default.

It wasn't even a very good example, since Pulse is all about showing headlines with photos, and the Times feed didn't have photos in it so it was just a wall of text.

[ahoyhere]

"Built in" and "included as a preset in the default set" are entirely different animals.

By that logic, Safari ships with Apple and CNN "built in". Along with a bunch of other undesirable bookmarks and feeds.

[cabalamat]

If i was Apple, I'd release a new version of Pulse identical to the last, except that the NYT RSS feed was missing. Then the NYT would have no legitimate grounds for suing Apple.

[pixelbath]

Pulse is not an Apple application.