NYTimes.com Introduces New Features in Time for the Holidays: The Pogue-o-matic; Gadgetwise Blog; and a Personal Tech Gift Guide

NYTimes.com announced today its new Holiday Technology section with three exciting features in time for the upcoming holiday season that are designed to provide consumers with expert guidance on the vast array of electronic products available on the market.

The Pogue-o-matic (http://www.nytimes.com/pogueomatic) is an interactive product finder with video of David Pogue, The Times’s personal technology columnist, offering insights on an array of cameras, camcorders, smartphones and TVs. The Pogue-o-matic guides a gadget shopper through the key feature choices in each category, then generates product recommendations based on the shopper’s preferences. The results can be printed, sent by e-mail or relayed by text to a mobile phone.

Gadgetwise (http://www.nytimes.com/gadgetwise) is a new blog devoted to helping readers get smarter about buying and using personal electronics in their daily lives. Gadgetwise bloggers include Rik Fairlie (digital photography), Roy Furchgott (mobile technology), Eric Taub (home entertainment) and Stephen Williams (personal computing) who have each covered technology products and trends for numerous Web sites and publications. After the holidays, the Gadgetwise blog will continue as a consumer-oriented complement to The Times’s Bits blog.

The Technology Gift Guide (http://www.nytimes.com/holidaytech) is an interactive slide show offering gift recommendations from Times editors and reporters for four distinct groups: road warriors; home entertainment aficionados; outdoor and athletic enthusiasts; and preteens. There will be five to 10 gift suggestions for each category accompanied by product details and slideshows.

"Our Holiday Technology section will make it easier for consumers to make the best decisions about their electronic purchases at a time when there is an increasing number of choices,” said Damon Darlin, technology editor, The New York Times. "The Pogue-o-matic combines David’s expertise with his unique sense of humor making the gift giving process accessible, informative and extremely entertaining.”

Samsung Mobile is one of the advertisers of the Tech Holiday section.

David Pogue's technology column, State of the Art, has appeared each Thursday in The Times since 2000. Each week, he also writes the Times e-mail column "From the Desk of David Pogue” and creates a short, funny Web video for NYTimes.com and CNBC. He is also the author of a Times blog, Pogue’s Posts. Mr. Pogue is an Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS News and a frequent contributor to NPR's "Morning Edition.” He is the creator of the Missing Manual series of computer books.

Rik Fairlie has covered consumer electronics and technology products and trends for numerous publications, including The New York Times, CNET, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Computer Shopper, where he was editor in chief. He has also written extensively about the social and consumer side of the Web, as well as the business of technology. Before writing about technology, Mr. Fairlie wrote for various travel magazines.

Roy Furchgott's work has appeared in more than 100 publications, including Business Week, Forbes, Outside, Maxim and Self. A longtime journalist, he has written on a number of topics, from the role of marketing in politics to motorcycling in New Zealand. In the course of his reporting, he has flown aerobatics in a fighter trainer and lived in a retirement home, toured the sewers of Vienna and crossed Maryland on a bicycle built for two.

Eric Taub has written about technology and a wide range of other subjects for The Times and other publications for more than 15 years. He is the author of two books about Hollywood and the Ford Motor Company, and is a contributor to two New York Times books. He lives in Los Angeles.

Stephen Williams wrote about electronic gear and gadgets for more than a dozen years at Newsday, where he covered all aspects of personal technology. He is loath to admit that he has only one modest flat-screen TV in his house (none in the bedroom) but does brag about owning five computers (one in the bedroom). He contributes regularly to the Circuits section of The New York Times.

According to Nielsen Online, NYTimes.com had 20.3 million unique visitors in the United States in October 2008, and was the No. 1 newspaper Web site in United States, a position it has long held.

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2007 revenues of $3.2 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other daily newspapers, WQXR-FM and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

This press release can be downloaded from www.nytco.com