Joystick City

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Signal and Noise

New circuitry: As part of an expansion and rumored acquisition phase, The New York Times will debut a new section, called "Circuits," this February, focusing specifically on the tech industry and written mostly by freelancers. While the paper has been boosting the quality of its general technology coverage, most recently with the addition of reporter Amy Harmon from the L.A. Times, the once-a-week section seems more of an advertising ploy than editorial strategy. "It's no secret that newspapers are being squeezed, so they're coming up with ways of getting more advertisers and more revenue,'' comments Steven Blinn of Blinn & Associates, an Alley public relations and marketing firm. "'Circuits' will do just that." (The New York Times refused to comment)...

Hard copy: A survey of the "must-read" news sources for new media professionals surfaced on the WWWAC list, which pits niche market against niche-market reader. Four of the magazines that topped the list (Wired, Inter@ctive Week, PC Week, Web Week) also topped "magazines that sucked."...

Click on: Joining the growing ranks of companies jumping from the Flatiron into the fire, ad network company DoubleClick filed last week to go public to raise over $26 million. The omens aren't great for Alley companies--newly trading N2K slipped three points last week and design firm K2 now trades pathetically down around $2...

Free agent: Lori Schwab, the executive director of NYNMA, will be stepping down at the beginning of the year, to be replaced by a board-appointed figure. Like many in the industry, Schwab, who spent years in nonprofit work, is now heading into ''the profit side of new media--which could be an oxymoron."

E-mail: abunn@villagevoice.com