The Boston Globe announced yesterday that it was following in the footsteps of other newspapers and launching an ePaper edition for online and print subscribers, according to boston.com. The ePaper version, which mirrors the format of the print paper, can be read on a laptop or downloaded as an app for smartphones and tablets, the article said.

The “replica edition” contains additional digital features such as page-turning, navigation scrolling and bookmarking, the article said. The new version also features a “text-to-speech” option, which can read selected articles or the entire newspaper aloud.

According to the description from the iTunes app store, users can choose a setting in which Apple Newsstand automatically downloads the paper daily, just like a print version would be delivered each day. The description also states that users can click on articles to access embedded links or share those articles on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Subscribers can obtain the ePaper from bostonglobe.com or download the app from the iTunes store, while non-subscribers can purchase single issues for $0.99 or in-app subscriptions for $14.99 per month, the article said.

The Boston Globe announced that it would start a new paid Web site in the later half of 2011. The web site, called BostonGlobe.com, will be in addition to the existing, Boston.com, which the company calls a "two-brand" strategy, New York Times reported in a blog.

The new site will include all news and feature stories published in the print edition, while Boston.com will remain free and offer local news and classified advertising, but access to full stories, commentary, features and other content will be limited, The Associated Press reported.

Readers' registration for either site will be required, but at different points.

Boston.com will provide a limited amount of content to be viewed before asking readers to register. BostonGlobe.com, however, will require readers to register and subscribe immediately for its paid service. Those who subscribe the printed edition will receive a free BostonGlobe.com subscription, New York Times reported.

Top executives at The New York Times Co. yesterday told Boston Globe staffers that thanks to lower pay and increases in price, the Globe is on course to be profitable, and the paper will not need to be sold if acceptable offers are not found, the Globe reported Thursday.

Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and Chief Executive Janet L. Robinson expressed gratitude for the sacrifices made by the employees of the Globe.

Although the company has hired investment banking firm Goldman Sachs to oversee the sale of the Globe's publisher, the New England Media Group, and has received a number of bids, Sulzberger said the newspaper was no longer in a position "where we must absolutely sell the Globe or the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for the good of the company," Sulzberger said.

At the meetings both Globe and Times Co. executives said cost cuts were not finished, but did not reveal any specific plans for cost cutting in the future.

The Boston Newspaper Guild last night overwhelmingly voted to accept a new contract that includes US$10 million worth of wage and benefit reductions that will help keep the Boston Globe alive and facilitate its sale, Boston.com reported Tuesday.

The newspaper's largest union voted 366 to 179 to ratify the contract, Robert Powers, a spokesman for the Boston Globe, told Bloomberg. The new arrangement includes a 5.9 percent salary cut, more unpaid days off and no health coverage for retirees older than 65.

The decision to approve the proposal end months of negotiations and frees union represented staff from a 23 percent pay cut imposed by owner the New York Times Co. after the last concession offer was rejected. The new contractual arrangement includes the repayment of some of the lost wages with the health fund concessions.

Guild president Daniel Totten said, "It has been a long and difficult period for everyone, and we hope we can now work with prospective buyers to help The Boston Globe and Boston.com to carry on with its vital mission to promote good journalism and protect free speech.''

Analysts believe the agreement will help facilitate the sale of the Globe by the Times Co.