In today’s fast-paced world, it can be challenging to stay on top of the latest news. With so many sources of information, it’s difficult to know where to look to get a comprehensive overview. The New York Times’ The Connect app aims to solve this problem by curating the day’s top stories from The Times into an easy-to-digest morning briefing.
Introduction
The Connect provides readers with a customized news experience that adapts to their interests over time. It collates the most important stories from all sections of The New York Times into a morning news digest. With summaries of need-to-know news, thought-provoking opinions, captivating features and more, The Connect allows busy readers to keep their finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the world.
This in-depth review will explore the key features of The Connect app, including its Top Stories digest, customizability, audio options and more. We’ll provide tips on how to optimize your Connect experience for staying informed. You’ll also find a helpful FAQ section answering common questions about using The Connect app from The New York Times.
Key Features of The Connect
Top Stories Digest
The highlight of The Connect is the Top Stories digest – a curated selection of around 10-15 top news items from The New York Times. This digest adapts to your reading habits over time to surface the stories most relevant to your interests.
The excerpts in the Top Stories digest aim to summarize the essence of each news item in a readable length rather than just the headline and photo. This allows readers to quickly get a sense of the key news narratives of the day.
Customization Options
Beyond the automatically curated Top Stories, The Connect also allows readers to fully customize their content. You can choose from a multitude of content options to add to your morning briefing:
- News Sections: Pick from sections like World, U.S., Politics, Business, Technology, Science, Health, Sports, Arts, Books, Movies, Theater, Food and The Upshot.
- Columnists: Follow specific Times columnists like Paul Krugman, David Brooks and Maureen Dowd.
- Crosswords: Get your daily Crossword fix.
- Covid-19 News: Stay updated on the latest pandemic developments.
- Morning Briefing: Get an additional news digest for a fuller overview.
- Weather Report: Add hyperlocal weather forecasts based on your location.
- Your Morning: Peruse opinion pieces chosen just for the app.
- Reader Favorites: View most emailed and most viewed stories from NYT readers.
With these options, you can tailor your Connect experience to focus on the topics and news sources you care about most.
Audio Narrations
Too busy to read? The Connect has you covered with audio narrations of key stories. Just tap the headphone icon on any article to have it read aloud to you.
The audio feature uses a text-to-speech voice rather than a real newscaster. But the robotic voice is clear and easy enough to listen to on the go.
Audio allows you to catch up on the latest news during your commute, workout or while cooking breakfast. It’s a handy hands-free way to stay informed when you don’t have time to read.
Share Stories
The Connect makes it simple to share interesting stories with friends and family. Just tap the share icon on any article to copy a link or share via email, messaging apps, Twitter, Facebook and more.
So if you stumble upon an intriguing investigation, amusing feature or conversation-worthy op-ed, you can easily pass it along through your networks.
Daily Edition Email
In addition to the app, users can also choose to have The Connect content delivered in a daily email. The Daily Edition compiles and summarizes the key stories from your custom Connect experience into an email digest.
The email lets you catch up on the news without even opening the app. And it’s formatted for easy mobile reading, allowing you to stay in the know on-the-go.
Browser Access
Don’t want to download another app? You can access your personalized Connect feed through any web browser by logging into your New York Times account.
This makes it easy to pick up where you left off reading whether you’re on your phone, tablet, computer or any device with internet access.
Optimizing Your Connect Experience
Here are some tips to help optimize The Connect app for keeping up with the latest news:
- Pick 1-2 Topics to Follow Closely: Limit your Top Stories topics to just your most pressing interests. Too many topics lead to headline overload.
- Enable Notifications: Turn on notifications so you never miss critical breaking news developments.
- Remove Unneeded Sections: Avoid clutter by trimming sections you rarely read. Add them back anytime.
- Save Longer Reads For Later: Use the “Save for Later” feature on interesting in-depth pieces to read when you have more time.
- Listen on 2x Speed: If the default audio speed is too slow, speed it up to take in info faster.
- Read Offline When Traveling: Download articles overnight on wifi to read offline when commuting or flying.
- Review on Weekends: Scan back through the week’s headlines for anything important you may have missed.
- Provide Feedback: Let The Times know if you want more or less of any topic or section.
Following these tips will help you get the most out of The Connect app and ensure you get a manageable, enriching daily news experience.
The Connect for Staying on Top of Today’s News
The Connect provides an easy way to cut through the endless stream of online news and get straight to the day’s most valuable headlines. By combining human curation with algorithmic personalization, it delivers a morning news briefing tailored to your interests.
The Top Stories digest gives you an efficient overview of need-to-know news. Customizable sections let you hone in on the topics you care about most. Audio narrations make it easy to stay informed on-the-go. And sharing options help you pass along interesting stories through your social circles.
While The Connect focuses specifically on content from The New York Times, the broader concept could be applied by any news publisher. More outlets may begin exploring similar apps and newsletters as they try to reach audiences overwhelmed by information overload.
The Times’ deep reporting resources and engaging writerly tone give The Connect an advantage in the curated news space. But its core value proposition – conveniently summarizing must-know news for busy readers every morning – is universal.
For anyone seeking to stay current without getting mired in minutiae, The Connect strikes that balance skillfully. It points the way forward for news products that understand readers’ time is precious, and quality beats quantity when it comes to daily headlines. Give The Connect a try and see how refreshing it feels to start your day informed, not inundated.
Frequently Asked Questions About The New York Times’ The Connect App
What devices is The Connect app available on?
The Connect is available as a mobile app for both iOS and Android. You can download it on any iPhone or Android smartphone. It is not currently available as an iPad app. The Connect content can also be accessed on desktop browsers through NYTimes.com.
How much does a Connect subscription cost?
The Connect comes included with a digital subscription to The New York Times, which costs $17 every 4 weeks. There is no additional cost for The Connect app specifically. Non-subscribers can try The Connect for free with a NYT one-month free trial.
How is The Connect different from other New York Times apps?
The key differentiator is the way The Connect curates and summarizes top stories into a condensed morning briefing. Other NYT apps like the core NYTimes app focus more on full articles. The Connect streamlines things into 10-15 digestible summaries.
How does The Connect personalize the news for me?
The Connect monitors the stories you read and share to understand your interests over time. It then highlights and recommends more articles tailored to those topics in your daily briefing.
Can I access The Connect as a podcast or through Alexa?
The Connect does not currently offer integrations with podcast apps or Alexa/Google Home. The audio narrations are only available through the mobile app. However, there are other NYT audio digests like The Daily available as podcasts.
Is there a way to share my Connect feed with family members?
Yes, The New York Times allows you to share your digital subscription with family at no extra cost. So you can provide access to The Connect app by adding family members through your account.
What time is The Connect briefing delivered each morning?
The Top Stories briefing is typically delivered around 6-7 AM local time each morning. However, breaking news updates may be pushed at any time as major developments warrant.
Reviewing The Week’s Top Stories
While The Connect provides an excellent daily overview of the latest news, it can also be helpful to look back on the week as a whole. Reviewing a week’s worth of top stories together gives you a more complete narrative and refreshed context.
On the weekend, take some time to briefly revisit the main headlines from The Connect over the past week. Scan back through older briefings in the app or use the search feature to re-find any major developments.
Consider making a short bullet point list of the 5-10 biggest news events and themes. Think about how each story fits into the larger ongoing news puzzles.
For example, a week may be dominated by updates on the Russia-Ukraine war, rising Covid cases, tech company earnings reports, new climate change research, political scandal revelations and more. Reviewing how each story evolved daily can solidify your understanding.
Looking back over the full week also lets you catch up on any headlines you may have missed during busy weekdays. And with some distance, you can reflect on headlines that seemed urgent early in the week but faded in significance as context shifted.
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Following Up on Stories of Interest
One limitation of The Connect’s condensed briefings is stories can feel truncated, leaving you wanting more depth and detail. When you come across a particularly intriguing headline, use The Connect as a starting point to dive deeper on that story.
If you want to follow up on a story, tap through from The Connect app to read the full New York Times article. Scan the suggested “Related Coverage” links to read additional articles about that news item from other sources beyond the brief excerpt.
You can also use the NYT website outside The Connect to search keywords related to that headline. This allows you to browse all of The Times’ in-depth coverage on a given topic. Consider signing up for topic-specific email newsletters to get ongoing reporting.
Following up on stories that catch your eye helps satisfy the curiosity sparked by The Connect. While its brevity makes The Connect perfect for quick daily scans, diving deeper provides more nuanced perspectives.
Saving Stories to The Times Website
Discovered something interesting but don’t have time to read the full piece? The Connect lets you save articles to the Save for Later feature on NYTimes.com.
Tap the ribbon icon on any story brief to save it. This adds the article to your Reading List on The Times website and mobile app for later reading.
Your Reading List acts as a personalized queue of stories. Whenever you have free time — like weekends or evenings — you can open your Reading List to catch up on saved articles.
The Save for Later feature provides a helpful way to stockpile stories during busy mornings for deeper reading later. It prevents interesting articles from getting lost in the daily headline shuffle.
Over time, your Reading List becomes an archive of saved stories for revisiting. Use it as a reference to browse The Times’ past reporting on topics of ongoing interest.
