Tag Archives: Facebook

Taptu: DJ’ing Your News On Your Time

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Taptu is the app of the week. Their slogan is “DJ Your News” which is appropriate for their feature list. First and foremost, upon downloading the app you are given the option to log in with Facebook, Twitter, or your Google account. Logging in with Google would begin the sync from Reader. So anybody looking for that functionality, Taptu has it. Taptu’s user interface is pretty good. It has a mosaic look that I personally love about Pulse. Once you click a story it is expanded full screen for better reading. Once a story is open there are multiple sharing options including the standard Facebook, Twitter, and email. Probably the coolest part about Taptu is the “DJ” feature. Taptu can handle multiple RSS feeds, and searchable sources from their databases but the “DJ” feature allows for categories. The user can select multiple predefined categories such as “Android or Technology and Gadgets”  and they are added to the “DJ” feature. Once the DJ button is used Taptu becomes a virtual newspaper allowing the user to receive news stories under certain categories from thousands of sources. This allows for discovery of new news sources and areas of interest. Overall Taptu is on the right track. It has one of my must have features of a companion website that syncs with the app. Taptu is absolutely worth the try and it’s available for so many different platforms. Check it out, you may just leave behind every other app. Visually and functionality, yeah, Taptu has it all.

Pick it up from the Play Store for Android, or App Store for iOS devices. It is also available online at taptu.com

Check out this video by the developer using Taptu on the iPad.

 

-AJ

Flipboard: Difference of Opinion

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This week the app in focus is called Flipboard. Flipboard originally launched only for iPad but has not spread to iPhone and Android smartphones. Flipboard, like the rest of the apps I have previously reviewed, is really good with news reading and takes it’s own intuitive approach to the user interface. I’ll keep this review short and sweet and point the difference that make Flipboard standout from the rest. First and foremost, no scrolling is need for this app. It’s take on reading is like a magazine, you flip through pages to continue reading stories, similar to Google Currents, but with a cool little transition effect. As usual, RSS feeds as well as most other websites and things can be added to your feed to make your news reading experiences more personalized. One of the biggest things that separates Flipboard from the rest of the apps previously mentioned is that it has heavy integration with social media. For instance, by adding the Twitter or Facebook source options, Flipboard will automatically find what stories, websites, and videos your friends are sharing and place them front and center for you to see. You can basically flip through your friends recent shared stories like a big magazine of your life. It’s a cool idea and it’s definitely caught on. It’s a great interface, and if you’re digging it’s comes at the whopping price of totally free. There’s integration with Google Reader, as well as with social networks, however there is no desktop companion site at the moment. There is a website that explains information on the app and development. Overall I like Flipboard, and it’s definitely a winner among users looking for a quick news reading fix with the ability to interact with friends across their social media life. Flipboard is worth the tour and worth the time to try it out.

Grab it from the Play Store for Android, or App Store for iOS

Also check out this video the developers made to introduce the app back in 2010.


-AJ

Pulse News: The Best of the Best

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Next up in the round of news reader apps is one of my personal favorites for many reasons. I use it on a daily basis and I dare to say at the moment it has some advantages over Google Currents. The app i’m referring to is called Pulse. Now Pulse is an extremely powerful news reader with exceptional user interface, extremely easy setup, and really good connections to social media networks. To begin with Pulse is available for iOS (iPhone and iPad) as well as Android, both phone and tablet.  It is also available for the Kindle Fire and the Nook. The view of stories can be arranged by categories much like how folder act in Reader. However Pulse provides a graphical interface much like Currents. Squares are dedicated to each story and typically display a featured image if one is available for the particular story. As said before, not unread counts, and locating stories from your favorites sources is easy. Pulse even provides the option to add their own trending sources from various topics such as fashion, technology, and others. With these, top stories from multiple sources will display as your discretion. If you’re a Google Reader user and you want to transfer over all of your currents feeds, no problem. Pulse can do that too. Currently it can only sync any feeds you have in Reader now, it will not sync read stories, or add or delete stories you have in Google Reader. My favorite part about Pulse (besides how pretty it looks) is that Pulse is so far the only news reader i’ve found with a companion website. That’s right, sign into your account via the Pulse website and you’re instantly connected to all of your news sources currently syncing with your smart phone and tablet. Update are always being pushed out and new features are always being added. I’ve tried using other news reader apps before and I continually return to Pulse. Pulse takes the beautiful graphical interface, improves social connection through Pulse.me, syncs from just about anything, and on top of all that contains a companion site just in case you’re on your PC and want to check what’s trending. Hands down Pulse has got it all. Take it for a test spin, I guarantee you’ll love it. Oh yeah, best part about this app, it’s free. Completely, one hundred percent free to you. Just download and enjoy. I firmly stand behind Pulse and its developers. Try it, you won’t be disappointed.

Grab it for Android from the Play Store, iOS App Store, Amazon App Store for Kindle, or visit pulse.me to sign up.

Check out the video by the developer:

-AJ

The Age of the User

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I have found that it is increasingly difficult to keep up with breaking news and updates about things that most interest me. I am an avid skateboarder of eleven years and a die hard Windows user. As of the past few years I have also taken a huge liking to the Android platform. The biggest thing that I use my technology for is to keep up with the things that I want to keep up with. Now, I could watch the local news; scour every website for information about the things I want to know. But that would take way too long. I have used RSS readers, and they’re neat. Applications like Google Reader  offer a great service to the people that choose to have their news brought to them. However, at times, Reader can be a bit overwhelming when feeds build up. It’s almost as if you’re drowning in the local television news show at six o’clock.

What I plan on presenting and talking about over the coming weeks are different mobile application that bring the news to the user, as RSS readers do, but with different variations that are visually more appealing, functionality is way better, and news is however long or short as you want it to be. There is a myriad of applications that allow great ways to stay connected to the news that the user chooses. Organization levels on these mobile apps is top notch and social media integration is a huge step forward for discovering new sources for information and new feeds to subscribe to. Once set up, these apps are powerful in helping people stay updated on important news in their interests. I can also imagine that people in the professional world could benefit from these apps as well. The news presented is tailored to fit the needs of the user.

I believe we are in the age of the user. The user controls the content and the buzz. RSS made a great leap in bringing in the idea of instant news with a click. These mobile applications have utilized RSS in a way that makes sense and that drastically improves on the way people get their news. A big reason why these new web 2.0 applications are so abundant and successful is because of their integration with today’s social media. Every story, every feed, every source can be shared to almost every platform with a single click. Facebook can be your library, Twitter can be your newspaper, Instagram can be your magazine. These app developers have realized this and aimed at creating applications that tie everything together. I think almost all of these applications are very useful in everyday experience and it makes news reading enjoyable again. It gives the people waiting in line for coffee, the lunch breakers, the students and teachers an alternative to reading their news in less than a minute. Staying behind the current news is no longer an option and with the ease of learning new information it’s no wonder why mobile platforms are doing so well. Overall, I hope my reviews and recommendations are insightful and helpful, and even if you disagree with the use of these apps, learning about new technology is never a bad thing. These apps are not something that will change the news world, solve climate change, or fix the economy. But that’s not their goal. What they will do is provide the user with insight to any topic or subject they want at their command.

-AJ