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By David Rothman

newyorktimesblogrunnerWhen the New York Times Tech Section wrote up the guy behind the Google Phone, was anybody thinking of an e-book angle?

Thanks to a smart new wrinkle at the NYT, however, its readers now know of a TeleBlog post on that very topic. The ‘Robot in the Newsroom,” as an NYT editor calls the new service, will prowl the Web looking for items from both traditional publications and blogs to augment the Times’ coverage with outside perspectives for the Tech Section. Adding to the fun, the Times has rolled out a new incarnation of the Blogrunner news aggregator it bought a while back.

Roundup on the NYT’s new capability for roundups

Let me apply the Times’ own logic somewhat—actually good, old-fashioned blogging logic—and point you to a related Google news roundup and some commentary from TechCrunch.

In case you’re curious, we’re actually getting more referrals from the Times than from Techmeme, another favorite of ours, but it’s too early to see if there’s a pattern here. Whatever the reason, the Times put us at the top of the link list for the G Phone story.

David’s NYT wishlist: Full RSS feeds, .epub edition and book review links in mobile edition

Now if the Times will only pay attention to the cry in the blosophere for full-story RSS feeds—or maybe even do an open source .epub-based reader to treat us to encapsulated editions that can be read beyond WiFi range! The Times is hipper than ever these days to the possibilities of open source, so you never know about the future. While the Times Reader has its virtues, a next-gen .epub-based effort with reflowable text fit for PDAs and cellphones would definitely be the way to go. For those insistent on a printy look, as I’ll call it, the Times could keep the current Microsoft-based reader.

Still AWOL right now from the usual mobile editions of the Times and the Washington Post: Links to the book sections. But I’ve just made discovery—a Motorola-sponsored mobile edition of the Times does include the best-seller list from the Sunday book section. More to come? Please, Times; please, Post. Connect the dots. People read who see e-book ads via their cellphones and PDAs could download the books for immediate gratification. Not all cellphones will be up to the task. But a growing number will.

And meanwhile at the Post: It appears that the Post has dumped Technorati, at least for now, and replaced it with Sphere to help people find news and blog items related to stories.

Related: What Newspapers need to do about Open Social, from Steve Yelvington.

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