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NY Post Goes App-Only For iPad Users

Posted by samzenpus on from the jumping-through-hoops dept.

bfwebster writes "Browsing the web this morning, I discovered that the New York Post is blocking iPad users from reading its website via Safari. Instead, iPad users must download and use the NY Post App instead. That app previously required a paid subscription (which is one reason I didn't use it); however, the version I downloaded this morning isn't making any demands for payment. Yet."

31 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Not to worry... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just spoof the user-agent string...

    Oh, wait. Sorry. Enjoy the walled garden!

    1. Re:Not to worry... by Superken7 · · Score: 2

      It's not about the walled garden at all. It's more like "there's an app for that". Maybe Safari won't do it, but I'm sure there are a couple browsers out there that can.

      While circumventing something as simple as an User-Agent string protection can be, I'm sure it "works" for the majority of people since only the geeks will know or care about how to get around it.

    2. Re:Not to worry... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

      The current headline for the NY Post is "Prolific sperm donors find they have fathered dozens of children". This isn't a walled garden, it's a hydroponics setup for Zombies.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    3. Re:Not to worry... by thechink · · Score: 2

      Install Atomic Browser on the iPad, it has the ability to change the user agent string.

    4. Re:Not to worry... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2

      Congratulations. You passed the test!

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    5. Re:Not to worry... by Tharsman · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, you can with one of many available browsers in the App Store. With Opera Mini you don't even need to tweak anything, the site just does not seem capable of identifying it as an iPad browser. With Terra, my personal favorite browser (and free) for the iPad, allows me to set a permanent setting to identify as iPad Safari, OSX Safari 5, Internet Explorer 6 or Firerfox 3.6. There are a bunch of others with many different features that Safari does not have, like user agent change, full screen mode, ad blocking, social media integration, themes, bookmark syncing, download managers and built in emailing of files, etc etc.

      iOS may be a walled garden, but the walls are nowhere near as tall as some Apple bashers like to think.

    6. Re:Not to worry... by nospam007 · · Score: 2

      From your sarcastic tone, I presume that there will be no cake?

  2. And so it begins... by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, the walled garden got built awhile ago. The moral? Don't buy into walled gardens.

  3. Resistance is futile by arcite · · Score: 5, Funny

    So all the smartest people in the world (Apple Users) will now be the best informed. ;)

  4. Alternate browsers available by thomasdz · · Score: 5, Informative

    even within the "walled garden", there are other browsers available which will let you spoof the user-agent string.
    I use the "Atomic" web browser on my iPad and iPod Touch

    --
    Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
    1. Re:Alternate browsers available by Raenex · · Score: 4, Insightful

      even within the "walled garden", there are other browsers available which will let you spoof the user-agent string.

      For now. Apple has a history of booting apps that work around restrictions.

    2. Re:Alternate browsers available by assertation · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think the point was that people who use other systems don't have to keep reading about alternative software, hacks and jailbreaks to do what other people do. No disrespect.

    3. Re:Alternate browsers available by priceslasher · · Score: 2

      I thought the point was - the more you abuse your customers the higher value they will ascribe to your services. Texbook cognitive dissonance, next you will have to insert your newscorp cd or something.

    4. Re:Alternate browsers available by Tharsman · · Score: 2

      Sending the server the User agent is part of a standard HTTP request. Here is apple's documentation on how how to create your own mutable NSMutableURLRequest_Class request. It has been supported since iOS 2.0

      http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#DOCUMENTATION/Cocoa/Reference/Foundation/Classes/NSMutableURLRequest_Class/Reference/Reference.html

      Just use setValue:forHTTPHeaderField to set the "User_Agent" for the request.

      Here is an example on how to use it:

      - (BOOL)webView:(UIWebView *)webView shouldStartLoadWithRequest:(NSURLRequest *)req navigationType:(UIWebViewNavigationType)navigationType {
      NSMutableURLRequest *request = (NSMutableURLRequest *)req;

      if ([request respondsToSelector:@selector(setValue:forHTTPHeaderField:)]) {
      [request setValue:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ Safari/528.16", [request valueForHTTPHeaderField:@"User-Agent"]] forHTTPHeaderField:@"User_Agent"];
      }
      return YES;
      }

      As you can see it's just use of documented and supported APIs.

    5. Re:Alternate browsers available by node+3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Um, I'm not sure which Slashdot you've been reading, but Apple hatred is rampant on this one. I have no problem with people not liking Apple, or criticizing their policies, etc., like you claim you are doing, but much what passes for "Insightful" and "Informative" on slashdot is borderline insane.

      Taking this specific story as an example, Apple isn't even doing anything, yet this is cited as a problem with the "walled garden". WTF? It makes no sense. Especially since Apple's "walled garden" has alternate browsers which allow one to spoof their way through the NY Post's paywall.

      But then *that* has to be spun yet again, and people stating that Apple will just pull these browsers from the App Store get modded up, even though that makes no sense whatsoever.

  5. Re: Walled Garden by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why is it, nobody appears to be aware of iCab Mobile? It's available for the iPhone and iPad.
    A full-featured web browser with tabbed browsing, ad blocking and USER-AGENT SPOOFING.
    Details on iCab Mobile on iTunes

    Has been available for quite some time.

  6. heh by Osgeld · · Score: 2

    safari and ipad ... do you also have a target painted on your back?

  7. Blaming the wrong people by Calos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All the posts thus far are taking shots at Apple. That seems really misguided. It's the NY Post that is restricting people from accessing the same content over the same internet, simply because of the device. They're the ones making you download an app to get the content you want, probably allowing them to get higher-profit ads. This isn't Apple's fault, for not letting you spoof the user agent string. No one should ever have to spoof a user agent. All it should be used for is to tell the server what you're running so it can serve you better. The NY Post is using it to ignore the fact that you have a perfectly functioning and capable client in order to suit their desires. I know that in the tech world, we often jump to tech solutions to problems. But that doesn't fix anything, really, nor for most users. The target of ire here should be the NY Post and their abuse of internet standards and openness. The focus should be on getting them to behave better, to set a precedent so others don't do the same thing. A work-around that will help the 1% of us tech users is insignificant. OT: New poster here. How do I add linebreaks in my posts? Simple carriage returns seem to get eaten.

    --
    I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
    1. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Calos · · Score: 2

      And just to clarify - I don't like Apple's ecosystem and I wouldn't buy into it, because I like to tinker. Most people don't. Sometimes I lost sight of that fact, posting on and reading tech websites. But it comes rushing back when talking to family members and friends with technology problems. They don't know how things work, they don't care, and they don't want to have to mess with it. To many, what Apple offers is attractive for precisely that reason. And because of that, I can't, in good faith, claim that Apple is good or bad for what they do - it really all depends on your needs.

      --
      I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
    2. Re:Blaming the wrong people by hackertourist · · Score: 2

      OT: Select 'Plain old text' instead of 'HTML Formatted'. You can still use HTML tags, but CRs don't get filtered out.

    3. Re:Blaming the wrong people by Calos · · Score: 2

      Awesome. Thanks.

      --
      I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
    4. Re:Blaming the wrong people by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And if the NY Post did the same thing with mobile IE so that you had to buy the WP 7 app and subscription it's all MS' fault too. If it did the same thing with Android browsers, it's all Google's fault?

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    5. Re:Blaming the wrong people by node+3 · · Score: 2

      I did read, you are applying blame to Apple for something the NY Post has done.

    6. Re:Blaming the wrong people by zuperduperman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > . They don't know how things work, they don't care, and they don't want to have to mess with it.

      To be honest, this is a little bit of a myth. Yes, most of them don't care until they one day happen upon a restriction that bothers them. For example, my mother who wanted to copy an audio book from her friend's computer onto her iPod Touch. Suddenly she is calling me up saying "I thought I could plug in my iPod and just copy it there but it doesn't show up and iTunes has scary messages about deleting everything!". And all I can say is "there's no good reason for it, but Apple doesn't want you to copy anything onto your iPod unless you do it through iTunes on your own computer. That way they make more money." And then she suddenly cared. So in most cases it's not that they don't care - it's that their lack of technical knowledge shields them from the reasons to care.

  8. NY Post by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Informative

    part of rupert murdoch's IQ lowering propaganda empire

    and no, this isn't a swipe at conservativism, it's actually a swipe at china's power:

    The Post has been criticized since the beginning of Murdoch's ownership for sensationalism, blatant advocacy and conservative bias. In 1980, the Columbia Journalism Review opined that "the New York Post is no longer merely a journalistic problem. It is a social problem – a force for evil."[31]
    Perhaps the most serious allegation against the Post is that it is willing to contort its news coverage to suit Murdoch's business needs, in particular that the paper has avoided reporting anything that is unflattering to the government of the People's Republic of China, where Murdoch has invested heavily in satellite television.[32]
    Ian Spiegelman, a former reporter for the paper's Page Six gossip column who had been fired by the paper in 2004,[33] said in a statement for a lawsuit against the paper that in 2001 he was ordered to kill an item on Page Six about a Chinese diplomat and a strip club because it would have "angered the Communist regime and endangered Murdoch’s broadcast privileges."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Post#Criticism

    or the power of Saudi Arabia, take your pick:

    WASHINGTON—Accuracy in Media (AIM) is urging a full inquiry into a report that a Saudi billionaire caused the Fox News Channel (FNC) to dramatically alter its coverage of the Muslim riots in France after he called the network to complain. The Saudi billionaire, Al-waleed bin Talal, is a friend of News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and controls an influential number of voting shares in the company.

    “This report underscores the danger of giving foreign interests a significant financial stake in U.S. media companies,” declared Cliff Kincaid, editor of Accuracy in Media.

    The controversial comments came at an Arab media conference featuring representatives of Time magazine, USA Today, PBS, The Wall Street Journal, and other news organizations. The conference and the Saudi Prince’s growing influence in News Corporation are among the subjects of a new December-A AIM Report that has just been posted at the AIM website (http://www.aim.org). The report raises the specter of Arab money influencing News Corporation and other U.S. media companies.

    http://www.aim.org/press-release/saudi-billionaire-boasts-of-manipulating-fox-news-coverage/

    do yourself a favor and stop reading the NY Post. it is a tool of a man who is evil immoral corporate influence incarnate

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:NY Post by gmhowell · · Score: 2

      I suggest this documentary about Rupert Murdoch. It covers at least some of the story about his relationship with China, but doesn't cover the Saudi issue mentioned at the end of your post.

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  9. Re:Yet ... by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 2

    If it is awkward to read the news, then I'll simply head elsewhere.

    --
    Jumpstart the tartan drive.
  10. Re: Walled Garden by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Possibly because the intersection of the set of "People who use an iPad and browse dumb sites like the NY Post" and "People who understand what a User-Agent String is" is pretty much a null set.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  11. Re:worry... by node+3 · · Score: 2

    You can leave a garden (so-called by the owners) as easily as enter it. Since iPad users are prevented from leaving, it could as easily be referred to as a jail by its inmates.

    When iPad users say things like, "I just can't stop using it", that's not what they mean. When you buy an iPad, you are allowed to use other systems, if you so wish.

    Those who would pay for confinement inside a walled jail must really fear the outside world...

    When you talk like this out in the "real world", don't you ever wonder why people don't take you seriously?

    People pay for things they enjoy and that meet their needs. Jails are things that people do not like to be in and are rather unenjoyable. iPads are things people seek out to buy and use, and are quite enjoyable. Well over 20 million of them have been bought to date, all voluntarily.

  12. A move against iOS5 features? by leenks · · Score: 2

    To me this reads like it is meant as a move against Apple over the reader feature that is built into the upcoming iOS5 (which works surprisingly well).

  13. An Industry of Cool by TheMiddleRoad · · Score: 2

    I'm a former Macintosh worshiper. I subscribed to Guy Kawasaki's email list when he was an official Mac evangelist. I have bought, sold, installed, repaired, played with, tweaked, upgraded, and done just about everything else to a Macintosh from System 6 through OSX. I loved the superior quality, excellent interface, and freedom to play. I loved the sheer geekiness of being a Macintosh person, not a PC person.

    Then Apple opened their stores, squeezed out the independents, and began creating tied-down, lowest-common-denominator devices that were more style than substance. To quote Lester Bangs, Apple turned computers into an "industry of cool."

    Screw Apple, screw the Macintosh, screw the iPhone, screw the iPad, and most of all, screw Steve Jobs. Screw the walled garden. Screw the NY Post. Screw them all. Give me tweakable, fun, unrestricted technology or get the fuck out of my face.