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