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Aside from wondering who will pay more than the cost of a Wall Street Journal subscription in order to subscribe to the New York Times, my biggest question right now is how the NY Times spent a reported $40-50 million writing the code (Bloomberg; other sources are consistent). Google was financed with $25 million. The New York Times already had a credit card processing system for selling home delivery. It already had a database management system for keeping track of Web site registrants. What did they spend the $40-50 million on? A monster database server to keep track of which readers downloaded how many articles? They should already have been tracking some of that for ad targeting. In any case, a rack of database servers shouldn’t cost $40 million.

Amazon has just announced that Kindle users who subscribe to The New York Times on their device will receiving access to news site for free. The date in which this access will hit has not been determined, according to the release. As we reported last week, the New York Times announced its paywall, which allows for free access to a set amount of content across digital platforms. The Kindle subscription for the New York Times costs $19.99 per month, and these users will not have to pay for any content when accessing the NYTimes.com.

Fixed! @ TWiT Cottage

The big meeting. Adding IT and studio equipment layers to the set design. @ New TWiT Studios

Finally - Comic Sans Pro!

The Dickbar is dead

With these figures, and Twitter's claim of 175 million accounts, a little subtraction shows us that there are 56 million Twitter accounts following zero other accounts, and 90 million Twitter accounts with zero followers.

Thereafter I was contacted by Google, which said the story was pure conjecture and completely wrong. Google told me it was based on facts and statements that were extrapolated out of context by the CNN reporter. Google was getting a retraction from CNN and asked if I would update and clarify my article based on the new information. I did. I rewrote the story. Here’s where it gets strange and interesting. I just got a statement from CNN saying that Google was full of it: Google’s claims do not fit the facts of the situation. This interview was prearranged – on the record – and staffed by a Google PR rep, who raised no objections at the time and did not deny what the engineer said. Additionally, we have an audio recording of the interview, as does Google. We stand firmly behind Mark’s reporting.

Four of the big studios are rolling out a “premium VOD” offering, where renters at home can pay extra to see films that were just in theaters but aren’t yet out on DVD.

An April fools gift from my staff. @ TWiT Cottage

Those affected may see a popup appear that informs them that there is malware on their computer and urges them to use a web-based antivirus program called "Windows Stability Center." However, first the victim is asked to pay for the scan, which obviously would do nothing more than install malware on the users computer

Good news @brookstravis @pdparticle - G4 is doing podcasts: . Right up your alley!

RT @WNOX1003: @leolaporte- The Tech Guy- is live on WNOX. Be sure to tune in here!

RT @WNOX1003: @leolaporte- The Tech Guy- is live on WNOX. Be sure to tune in here!

RT @ibookery: RT @leolaporte @sarahlane @SaiPang This is a fabulous flashmob, I defy you not to smile: (via @fional ...

(1) Is it really the 119th anniversary of the Ice Cream Sundae? Some say yes, and some say no. Wikipedia documents the contested origins of the date but says today is the date it was first documented.

Bill lives in Santa Rosa - lighting expert

So Mr. Topolsky and as many as eight of the more prominent editorial and technology staff members at Engadget have left or are leaving AOL and are about to build a new gadget site by joining forces with, yes, you guessed right, their old friend Mr. Bankoff, who now runs a federation of sports sites called SB Nation.

A first grade teacher at School 21 in New Jersey has been suspended from her job for posting a status update that said she felt like a warden overseeing future criminals, the New York Times reports. The teacher, whose name has not been disclosed, was suspended with pay from the Paterson, N.J. school district after "a significant number" of parents who saw the Facebook post showed up at the school, clamoring for her removal.

Milk will ideally help give life to between four and six bigger, more ambitious businesses. According to TechCrunch, the Digg co-founder expects most of the ideas to fail, but ideally he hopes to see one or two "become viable companies that have a big impact." "We've been upfront with investors that the lab's companies are going after big ideas, not launching continuous small projects," he said. "There is so much opportunity to disrupt old media and old business."

With so many locations throughout the U.S., Dish could use free or discounted Blockbuster rentals as a value-add to its pay TV subscribers. It could leverage the movie chain’s physical presence and brand in marketing efforts aimed at Blockbuster customers. But the more interesting opportunities could lie online: Blockbuster also holds streaming rights to a number of video titles that Dish could use to expand its own streaming offerings, perhaps rolling the Blockbuster licenses into a Dish-branded online VOD offering.

Faucette says channel checks find that sell-through trends for both the Xoom tablet and the Atrix smart phone – that’s the one that you can plug into a laptop-like companion device to take the place of a more conventional notebook PC – “have been disappointing.” He says the Atrix in particular has been hurt by competition from the $49 price points for the Apple 3GS and the HTC Inspire, keeping sales “well below forecast.”

The deal is worth between $75 million and $100 million, people close to the situation said. That means Netflix is paying close to $1 million per episode of the series, which "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner said last week would run seven seasons. Each season has 13 episodes, which Lions Gate licenses to cable network AMC.

The campus will resemble an urban streetscape, with cafeterias by Roman and Williams, the New York design firm behind the Ace Hotel and its Breslin and John Dory restaurants.

Wondering what Google's answer to Amazon's cloud music player for Android will look like? Then it would seem you now have your answer --the Tech From 10 website somehow managed to receive a developer version of the Android Market, which allowed it to download Android Music 3.0 and try it out for themselves. That site's unfortunately down at the moment (along with the download of the app itself that it was providing), but it doesn't look like there's too many surprises to be found. Things are almost identical to the existing Android Music player in terms of appearance, while the settings menu has expectedly been augmented with various streaming-related options.

Sulzberger also declined to offer any numbers when it comes to subscribers, saying it was too soon but that the company would provide some details eventually. At another point, asked about complaints that the pay plan is too complex, he urged people to be patient. Noting that the company was able to tweak the system between the laucnh in Canad and the U.S.-global launch 10 days later, Sulzberger said: “We’re going to learn, adapt, make it simpler. But I don’t agree that it’s too complex. It’s new. Let it breathe for a little bit before you make judgment.”