Microsoft Corp. and Hearst Corp. jointly presented a software device that allows readers to download newspaper stories and read them offline. The News Reader is already available to readers of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Through a simple click on a desktop icon, readers can automatically download a newspaper’s stories onto their computers.

The service is free, but not all stories are available through it – for full access users must subscribe to the paper’s online edition.

“We are constantly looking for new ways to reach our readers. It is clear that digital delivery and consumption are critical to the future success of the newspaper industry," said George Irish, president of Hearst Newspapers, which owns The Chronicle.

Thanks to the News Reader, users connected to the Internet can get updates every hour.

"Everyone is obsessed about how newspapers are going to stay in business as they go paperless," said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley technology forecaster. "The idea of a downloadable electronic paper is not a new idea, but it is a good idea and it's good that we're starting to see experiments like this.”

So far, the News Reader is designed to work exclusively on computers using Microsoft Windows XP or Vista operating systems…

Source: SFGate.com