I find this interesting for several reasons:<p>1. They're not seeking equity. They're open to investing in a company, or becoming a customer. They say they're doing this as an experiment, and I believe them.<p>2. The NY Times is, I think, the most technology progressive entity of old media. I think their webpage is the best online newspaper (granted, that is America-centric). They consistently have excellent interactive visuals, their recent avalanche feature was amazing (<a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4950054" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4950054</a>), and their iPhone app is actually good.<p>3. Getting access to the experience and data at the NY Times could be enormously helpful for startups in media.<p>4. I actually pay for an NY Times subscription, so I'm hopeful that they'll end up doing something that will benefit them, and in turn, me as a reader.
This is great. We discussed this way back in 2009 and am extremely please to see something like this finally get going.<p>I would urge any new venture to give this serious consideration. The NYT isn't just a media company - they touch on a lot of different areas and there is a large range of business opportunities lurking under the hood.
I applied, because more than anything I need contacts that something like this can offer. That and a lot of the feedback on my start-up is that is great for News and media.<p>However, how many start-ups can really afford picking up and relocating to NY for a 4 month incubator without having funding (which SpaceTime does not appear to offer). I hope the selected start-ups are offered some kind of funding to cover relocation/living which can obviously be experience for 4 months in NY.