The New York Times Launches Circuits Technology Section

Posted on February 19, 1998

The New York Times has announced that it will introduce a new national, four-color weekly section on February 26 devoted entirely to digital technology. The comprehensive guide will be written for both technophiles and technophobes and will cover everything from cellular phones to software. Circuits will complement The Times's daily technology coverage as well as the specialized coverage currently seen in Business Day on Mondays, in Science Times on Tuesdays and in CyberTimes on The New York Times on the Web, at www.nytimes.com.

Circuits will appear every Thursday in all editions of the newspaper -- the Metropolitan, Northeast and National editions. Circuits is the first new section to appear in its entirety in the National Edition of The Times since that edition started, nearly 20 years ago.

"If it has a chip in it, we'll cover it," said Joseph Lelyveld, executive editor of The Times. "In Circuits, we'll focus on the ways technology affects the everyday lives of people. You don't have to buy a laptop, play video games, surf the Net, use a baby monitor or program a VCR to be touched by technology. One way or another, technology reaches into your life. Circuits will be a reliable -- and entertaining -- guide."

In addition to entertaining feature stories, each Thursday in Circuits, readers will find "Library," a review of technology products including CD-ROM's, software, on-line publications and books; a weekly "Q&A" column that answers reader questions about technology; a "Sound Bytes" interview or profile of a prominent player in the field of technology; "Downtime," featuring articles on recreational technology; a "Productivity" feature on technological developments that can improve your work performance; a "how it works" column focusing on a technology product or phenomenon; a games column; a computing column, and "Screen Grab," a mini-essay on a newsworthy cyberspace development of the past week.

On Tuesdays, Science Times will continue to cover technology research and computer science, while on Mondays, Business Day will remain focused on the companies and issues that drive the technology and media industries.

The editor of Circuits, James Gorman, will draw upon the talents of his own dedicated reporting staff as well as the technology writers whose articles appear in Business Day and Science Times. The section's full-time staff will include Peter H. Lewis, formerly Personal Computing columnist of Science Times, and Katie Hafner, the author of "Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier," with John Markoff and "Where Wizards Stay up Late: The Origins of the Internet" with Matthew Lyon.