I know I shouldn’t admit to that – in a newspaper – but I’m an avid newshound. I want to know what’s happening right now, so I reach for the iPad instead and dive into the news of the day.
At first, that meant visiting a handful of websites on Safari, Apple’s Web browser that comes installed on the iPad. It hit the usual suspects – my local paper, the Weather Channel, ESPN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and CNN – before checking Twitter feeds to see what everyone else was reading.
After a while, I started downloading dedicated applications from these news organisations, but I was put off by having to open and close so many apps just to check headlines, scores, traffic and the weather. It was more efficient to access the sites on Safari. Then I discovered a bevy of news apps on iTunes – Flipboard, Pulse, SkyGrid, Taptu, Fluent News, Flud and News360 – that gather the news and display it in a form a newshound can be comfortable with: the flippable pages of a magazine.
A new one pops into the App Store every week or so. Most are created by small startups, but AOL has created one, and Google is said to be working on one, too. CNN just bought one called Zite.
I love to open Flipboard to see pictures from different sources, like The Daily Beast, Flickr and Lonely Planet. It even has catalogues. Or, I’ll put News360 into its random 360-degree mode, watch the photos scroll by and try to guess why those subjects are in the news. The other day I saw a photo of SpongeBob, so I tapped it. The headline from The Daily News of New York: “‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ causes learning problems in 4-year-olds: study.”
Most of the apps are free, and they provide feeds from hundreds of news sources geared to your interests. Like cooking and technology? You can create a magazine with that content. Many also stream social media like Facebook or Twitter along with photos, so these newsmagazines become one of the most enjoyable – and efficient – ways to get through a Twitter or Facebook feed. My interests immediately blossomed beyond just news, sports and weather.
On Zite, I selected photography, wine and pets. On Flud, I delve into technology, small business and advertising. Flipboard sends me to a host of lifestyle pages for travel, style, food and entertainment. I set SkyGrid up to follow my favorite sports teams. It is also a centralized stop for CNN, CNBC, Yahoo, USA Today and other top news providers.
The newest kid on the block is Editions from AOL, a free download from iTunes. Each morning, right before my eyes, a newsmagazine is created based on my interests. I can request national, international and local news, weather and sports, and in what order they are presented.
The best one? You’ll figure that out for yourself in short order; everyone’s tastes are different. Some apps require a bit of work to set up, with passwords and the like, and news streams need to be whittled down to eliminate redundancies and Kardashians. Nothing is set in stone, and that is why the news apps hold my attention in a way print media and even television news do not.