A few months ago I told you guys about my favorite customizable magazine App Zite. At the time it was only available on the iPad and an iPhone version was on my list of things that I wished they would have. I guess someone was paying attention to our pleas because last week Zite released an iPhone version of this wildly popular App, and it lives up every bit to it's iPad counterpart.  As I said in my review of the iPad version, this App has the best of everything. From Customizable content, to an easy to use interface, and an "auto learning" feature this is hands down the premier digital magazine on the iOS platform.

Auto Learn

Just like with the iPad App, Zite for the iPhone offers an auto learning feature for first time users. Zite asks you for access to your Twitter, and Facebook accounts to learn what you are interested in. It searches for keywords in your posts indicating what you like read and talk about. Just like anything "automatic" Zite doesn't always find everything that you're looking for. To address this, Zite allows you to customize your content by adding keywords and topics that interest you. Zite isn't the only App that allows this type of content selection, but Zite is the best by far at gathering items related to your custom topics. From Toads to Space shuttles if you can think of a topic, Zite will deliver articles about it.

Displaying the Content

One thing that i really enjoyed about the Zite for iPad App was the way in which the content was displayed. Small thumbnails with a little bit of the accompanying article displayed next to them. This format has been carried over to the iPhone version. The thumbnails are smaller, but you still get the same description (also shorter) next to them describing a little bit about what is in the article. To access your different topics (seen at the top of the iPhone screen) simple left and right swiping gestures are employed. Different articles are displayed by scrolling up and down under each topic selection.

Helping Zite Learn

Under each article you will find an intuitive "thumbs up" or "thumbs down". This is your way of telling Zite if you like the article or not. This helps Zite learn what topics you specifically like to read about, and which you don't like. The more you give your opinion, the more personalized your magazine becomes.

Share your favorites

Just like with the iPad version, Zite for iPhone allows you to share your articles with the world. The three major options are showed first. Facebook, Twitter, and Email are by far my favorite places to share the things that I've found, but if you want further options tap the more tab. This expands your options to Evernote, Google Reader, Instapaper, Pinboard, and more… Also at the top of the screen is the option to view the article on Safari, indicated by the small world icon. The third option at the top of the screen is text size and style. Don't like the way the text is displayed on your screen, you can customize is (although limited to only a couple of options).

The Bottom Line

Zite is by far my favorite digital magazine App. From the seemingly limitless content options to the easy to use interface, you can't go wrong with this App. It's always on the top of my "must have" lists when a friend asks me what Apps I recommend.

You can get Zite for the iPhone from the iTunes store for free here:
You can get Zite for the iPad from the iTunes store for free here:

If you're anything like me, you're busy. As busy as I am I don't want to spend my time searching through all sorts of sites looking for the latest news that interests me. Admittedly I really like the Zite iPad News Reader App on the iPad platform. I have been hoping for an iPhone version to read my content in both places but unfortunately they haven't launched the iPhone version yet. With no iPhone version, I started using News360 to keep up with the latest news and headlines.

Features You'll Love

News360 is a feature rich App that provides thousands of different content sources from which to pull its content. One of the biggest, and best features contained within News360 is the manner in which it figures out what you want to read. Sure, you have the option to manually select the content that you would like to see. News, Auto, technology etc., but the developers have come up with a much faster way to get deeper integration with what you really want to read about. You are presented with the option to connect to multiple sites where you already have accounts to let News360 search for the content that you prefer. The options are Facebook, Google+, Evernote, Twitter, and Google Reader. News 360 searches through each of these services to find exactly what you are interested in and provides like content. In a few seconds it does automatically what it would take literally hours for a user to do manually. It's a real time saver.

Another feature that I really like on News360 is the offline content feature. Save articles to read later even when you're offline. News360 saves the article to your (free) News360 account and to all of your devices with the App installed. This is great for when I don't have a signal, such as in an airplane, a subway, etc. Speaking of the News360 account, it allows you to sync your preferences and content selection across all of your platforms. This is a really nice feature. Sign up once, on one device to setup your content, then just sign in on your other devices to transfer your content to them. Very seamless, very easy.

Topics are broken down into sections, Gadgets, Software, Computers, etc. Under each section there are multiple stories presented for each topic. The topics are totally customizable by the user. For example I didn't see an "iPhone" topic after the initial automatic content loading so I added my own. If there is one area where News360 falls behind it is in this category. I searched for "iPhone Apps" but got a "no results found" message in return. Also under my user generated iPhone category there seems to be less stories than in the other automatically generated sections. This I found to be a little limiting because these are topics that I am quite interested in. 

The bottom line

For all around information on most any subject, News360 does a great job. It allows you to sync and read the same content no matter what mobile platform you are on, and it is user customizable. To me this makes News360 a staple in my News Folder on both my iPad and iPhone.

You can get News360 for the iPhone from the iTunes store for free here: 
You can get News360 for teh iPad from the iTunes store for free here:     

The other day I was having lunch with David Ziser and he was going on about his favorite new iPad App, Zite. After hearing him talk about how much he liked it and how it blew the competitors away, I figured I should try it.  Zite is a customizable magazine App for the iPad. Not the first of it's kind but definitely the best. With custom content addition, auto learning, and an awesome interface this is my new favorite Magazine App.

Auto learning

The first thing that struck me as different about Zite was it's auto learn feature. Not really auto learning so much as it takes your interests from either Twtter, or Google reader (whichever you decide to log in with) and creates custom content for you. You don't have to sign in with these services to to use Zite however. You can skip this step and choose your content categories manually.  I signed in with my Twitter account and Zite determined that I like Gadgets, Macs, Photography, Social media, technology, etc.. All of these things were correct. I was thoroughly impressed with this feature, and could have spent hours reading up on the content that it provided without and addition input from me.

Choosing More Content

While the auto learning feature did an outstanding job of picking categories and content that I enjoy, there were still a few things that I wanted to add from their list of sections. Doing so was easy. At the bottom of the sections list on the right side of the screen is a customize option. You are then presented with a list of different popular categories. I added Fashion (something that I want to keep up on for fashion photography), and Sports.

The second part of adding more content is adding custom content. Under the same "customize" option on the right side of the screen you find a "enter your own" box. This box allows you to type your own content interest and search it. I added Adobe, Photoshop, iPad, iPhone, iOS Apps etc.

Quality User Interface

One of the nicest parts of this App is the user interface. It has a distinctive magazine feel to it. Articles are laid out in Top Stories format (all topics mixed up), or by section. Choosing a specific section will get you expanded content on that particular topic that may or may not be covered in the Top Stories section. The transition between articles is smooth and the page turns are precise and handled well within the App. There aren't a lot of unneeded buttons or tabs to clutter the screen. Zite has done a wonderful job with this setup.

Conclusion

The auto learning feature, coupled with the ability to add custom content, combined with the slick user interface makes this my new favorite custom magazine App.

You can get Zite for the iPad from the iTunes store for free here: 

Since 2005 Mashable.com has been the go to news source for me about technology, social media, startups, and gadgets. When I got my first iOS device Mashable! was one of the first Apps I went looking for. I thought I loved Mashable! before, but the iOS App, particularly the iPad version is THE best way to view the content from the site.

The UI is Made With You in Mind

The user interface of the Mashable! App is designed with the end user in mind. The default content view is ALL when you fire up the App. Because the App is iOS4+ compatible it will "remember" what section you were in if the App is just running in the background. I prefer the All view because they have such a wide array of content I'm afraid that I would miss something important if I were constantly viewing content in just one section. The content sections are divided into 11 different tabs. Each well thought out and containing content worthy of it's very own area. The titles range from social media to startups. If it's important in the world of technology, they cover it.

Other Sections

There is an "Other Sections" area of the Mashable! App that I find very useful. The first tab is Trending. This includes just what you would expect, the trending, or popular articles on Mashable!. I like this section because content is constantly being updated on the App and sometimes I miss it. If it was a particularly good article, or something that was really important, it will be in the trending articles.

The Lists tab holds exactly what you would expect. Mashable! is always creating lists for it's viewers. So many in fact that they need their own section. These lists will reside under the main topic that their content places them in, but the Lists tab will house all of them. These lists range from "8 tips for nailing your next startup job interview", to "57 new digital media resources you may have missed".  I love lists. I love this section

We've all read how to articles. Wouldn't it be nice if you could find all of your favorite how to tech articles in one place? With the Mashable App you can! The how to's range from job interviews, App creation, business, etc. Pretty much anything you can think of in the tech or social media world, they have a how to for it.

The next two tabs are great resources. They are Twitter, and Facebook guidebook's. Everything you need to know about Facebook and Twitter is housed in these guidebooks. The best part about these guidebooks is their fluidness. If things change on Facebook or Twitter(they always are) the guides change. Great resources.

The last two sections aren't all that useful to me. The announcements, and Twitter List Directory tabs just don't usually hold a whole lot of content that I'm interested in. The Twitter List Directory didn't even work for me the last time I clicked on it, so I really don't find it useful.

Conclusion

Chances are if you're reading this blog you're a tech person. At the very least you're interested in what's going on in the world of mobile devices. There is so much good content to take in on Mashable! that this a "must have" App. There's a reason it made the Top 100 of the year list.

You can get Mashable! for the iPhone from the iTunes store for free here: 
You can get Mashable! for the iPad from the iTunes store for free here: 

I've been a reader of Macworld Magazine since, well since day one in 1984. Even to this day I get each monthly issue delivered electronically to my Zinio App. The only problem is having to wait a whole month to read it. In each Macworld issue I can usually find at least one tip or product that I didn't know about and having been a Mac user since 1984 it's rare that I can find a new tip (that I need). While I do follow the Macworld website via my RSS reader App, it's just not the same. So I was more than a little interested when I saw the announcement for their new Macworld Daily Reader App for iPad. It's a free App and I downloaded it on the spot.

Nice UI, but…

The App is pretty In other words like the magazine it's easy on the eyes with a good use of color and graphics. Upon 1st launch the App populates with the latest content from the site. Now keep in mind that this is not a replacement for the Magazine and at the same time there really isn't much here that you couldn't get from their website. It's just nicely packaged in an App taking advantage of the capabilities of your iPad. While the App delivers, it was a tad slow when it came to loading content. Also if you don't have an internet connection you be constantly warned of that fact even when you go to view articles that you've bookmarked. What I would love to see is the ability to load up the bookmarks area with a bunch of interesting articles to read off line while on a flight or train if I didn't have an internet connection and yes I know that there are other solutions out there for that, but we're talking about this App at the moment.  The article I bookmarked was there even in Airplaine Mode, but I still got the warnings about not being online. While you can share an article via email, Twitter and Facebook, I don't see a Print command. While I could care less about printing in general, I know that many of you like to print.

Lastly sometimes the layout gets in the way. There was one article I wanted to read but by the time I got past the large picture at the top and the table at the bottom there was only about one inch of height left over for the article in the middle. 

Yes there are Ads – I know that some of you are annoyed by Ads in your Apps. This is a Free App with no paid option and you're not only going to see Ads here, but they are going to popup at random. I tapped on a article and an Epson Printer Ad loaded first. I thought I had tapped on the wrong thing at first. While I get the need for Ads, I like to see them not be a surprise and for a paid option to eliminate them.

The Bottom Line

If you're a Mac user or an iOS user then this is a nice App to have on your iPad. With a few simple refinements it can be a great App. 

You can get the Macworld Daily Reader App for Free here from the 

Online content is growing exponentially every day. Every morning when I turn on my computer, fire up my iPad, or look at the news on my iPhone, there is not only a greater amount of information to intake than the day before, but there are many more ways to view, or consume that information. There are new social media sites, new blogs, and new streams to follow. At times it can get a little overwhelming. For this reason, any time I can combine those media streams to one source for viewing, I do. This is exactly what Flipboard for the iPad does. It takes updates, pictures, posts, and news from your favorite sources and puts them all in one place for your viewing. Best of all, it does it in a format that is easy (and fun) to use!
If you’re anything like me (and if you’re reading this I’m sure you are), you have multiple accounts that you follow every day. I have two twitter accounts, a Facebook, a Linkedin, and a Flickr account that I check at least once a day if not multiple times. Not to mention the 20+ blogs and 50+ websites that I follow. Flipboard takes (some) of these accounts and content and places it all together for you to view easily. What makes Flipboard special is that it formats it like a magazine. You have titles, larger full page articles with pictures, smaller articles with pictures, and even smaller yet (and in the case of the Twitter feeds single lines) text only articles. There is no real indication of how it decides what content deserves a full page, and what is limited to small, or text only articles. As best I can tell it’s a random selection.

The first thing you’ll notice when you install and launch the app is the two squares in the top left corner to add your Facebook, and Twitter accounts. When you tap on these squares you are asked for your information (user name, password). Once you have entered that you get a message telling you that you have been placed into a cue to be added. This process takes about 3-5 days(at the time of my submission it took 3 days, but your wait time may vary depending on requests) and you get an email when your accounts have been added. At that time you will be able to access the content of these two accounts. With Facebook you get the content you would have from your news feed. You are shown videos, comments, status updates, and pictures. The one thing that you are not shown (thankfully) is the add-on applications to Facebook such as Farmville.

When it comes to Twitter content, this is where Flipboard really shines. You see tweets as you normally would, but you also see the images (instead of an image link). You also get the content on the other side of the shortened links. For example if someone posts a link to a newspaper article, that article shows directly below the tweet! It makes reading and keeping up with your twitter info a snap. With Flipboard you also have the option of adding a box for specific groups, or lists that you follow on twitter. I have quite a few people that I follow on twitter, but sometimes I only want to see what my family is up to, so I have a list for that. With Flipboard, you can open only that list and be shown only that content. (If you’re not using lists, I highly recommend that you look into them).

Along with Twitter and Facebook, you can add many different news streams to your Flipboard digital magazine. Flipboard has some suggestions for you, but they also have a whole (searchable) list for you to browse and add content from. There is content available from popular sources such as Wired magazine, E! Online, and USA Today.
While Flipboard is constantly adding the media sources available to you, selection may be the biggest downside of this application. There isn’t a large enough variety available yet for me to ditch my traditional RSS reader. There is no Flickr addition yet, no Linkedin, and no way to add your own custom content (I think the custom content may be more of a formatting issue for each source so I don’t know if that will ever be possible). I would also like to see the number of sources you are able to have at one time raised. Right now you are limited to 9 sources. For me this is not enough. I have more than 9 twitter lists that I would like to be able to follow individually.

Overall I think Flipboard is a wonderful app for media consumption. It is my favorite way to keep up with my twitter updates, and a great way to see my Facebook news feed. If they increase the media sources to choose from, as well as the number of available spots in your “magazine”, this would be a great all in one application.

Download Flipbook here from the 
 

I seem to be going through RSS readers on my iPad like water. This week I'm now hooked on Reeder for iPad. Reeder is a popular RSS reader on the iPhone and they have released their iPad version. This reader does the all important sync with Google Reader so that when you read posts on one device such as your iPad, they are automatically marked read on your other devices such as your computer or iPhone. The last reader I reviewed was Mobile RSS HD and I liked it a lot. So what makes Reeder for iPad my new default reader? As I've said in the past when all things are equal it comes down to UI (user interface), while I do prefer Mobile RSS HD from a visual standpoint (I like the pictures of each post showing down the side), the thing that bugged me was having to hit the Load More Items button without actually knowing if there were more unread items or not? That isn't an issue with Reeder. It shows you all of your unread items at once!

The Photos App Approach

Rather than show you a lists of articles down the side, Reeder for iPad delivers your news as thumbnails. Just like the Photos App you can pinch to expand any given folder to drill down on its contents. While I think this approach is cool, I do which the thumbnails would display the first image of the post instead of either being blank (most of the time) or displaying the website's icon. This would be my only knock of the App. Reeder for iPad supports all the features I use of Google Reader including Google Alerts. So while I do think that MobileRSS HD looks better, I find Reeder for iPad easier/better to use. If Reeder for iPad displayed images more often than blank thumbnails I'd give it 5 stars!

You can get Reeder for iPad here from the 

I couldn't imagine using the internet without RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds. RSS saves me so much time each day. I can see any updates to my favorite sites in one spot without having to go to each site individually that I follow. Although my favorite RSS reader for the iPhone is ByLine, they have yet to release a native iPad version. I'm finding that a lot lately. I have favorite Apps on the iPhone that haven't gone iPad native yet and I end up using alternatives in the meantime. If these "favorites" of mine take too long to update, the alternatives may end up becoming my favorites. While Google Reader works fine in Safari on the iPad, having a native App provides a better and easier experience. Also having a native App means that the feeds can be cached to the device for offline reading. I choose Google to manage my RSS feeds because I can then read the feeds/posts on any device and have it sync to the cloud so that when I go to the next device/computer I don't have to wade through dozens/hundreds of posts that I already read.

MobileRSS HD for Google RSS Reader looks GREAT on the iPad

Not only did they do a good job taking advantage of the larger iPad screen real estate, they implemented full support for the Google Reader features, plus adding some links to the things you'll want to use outside of Google's Reader. For example, I often come across content that I want to share with others via email, Facebook and/or Twitter. There are also ties to both InstaPaper and ReadItLater. You have the option once you see a post that you want to see on the actual website that it exists on, of clicking the arrow in the upper right corner to show you the actual website right in the App (including copying the URL, which is often missed by many apps). MobileRSS HD also supports Google Alerts. So if your tracking things by "keywords", you can view any posts about those items too. Text can be selected and copied to the clipboard as well as images being able to be copied or saved to your Library. The App is also bandwidth conscious. You have the option of Filtering out Advertisements and only downloading images while on WiFi.

You can get MobileRSS HD for Google RSS Reader here from the 

The Bottom Line

I can't find much to complain about in MobileRSS HD for Google RSS Reader. It looks great and seems to function well. Probably the only thing that kinda bugged me was that If I had more than default number of "new" items to read, when I get to the end of the list I have to tap the "Load More Items" button. I would just like to have it continue to load "ALL Unread Items" in the background while I scroll. As it stands now I don't know if tapping the Load More Items will reveal any more posts that I hadn't read or not until I tap it. There should at least be a second button called "Load More UNREAD Items." Other than that one thing, this App is a winner!

Although I don't read books very often, I do love to read magazines when I travel. One of my favorite magazines is Macworld. It's one of the few that I look forward to each month. I have a subscription to the printed version, but I'm excited to see it now on my iPad via the Zinio App. I tried out the Free issue first and now I'm hooked. I'm seriously considering subscribing to this electronic version. One advantage the electronic version would have is that I would't have to wait until I got home to get the latest issues. As soon as its available I could download it no matter where I am in the world and start reading it. 

Navigation and zooming

Navigating the pages is done by swiping and you can pinch to zoom in and out just as you would expect. The screen refresh is really fast and responsive on the iPad. The pages also auto adjust for either portrait and landscape viewing. It also remembers where you left off if you leave the app. Definitely a GREAT experience for reading.

Buy one issue or subscribe

Just like in the printed world, you can use Zinio to buy or try a single issue of a magazine or you can subscribe and have it delivered electronically each time its published. 

There are two things that will keep Zinio from being a total smash hit. One is the number of available titles. They're bringing on more titles all the time, but it may be hard finding some of your favorite magazines. The second and probably bigger problem is the price. As you can see above Zinio charges $6.99 for a single issue of Macworld and $19.97 for a subscription. The subscription price is not bad at all (it's the same as the printed version though), but the single issue price is killer. Keep in mind that there is no printing here, yet they are charging as much as a printed issue. You do get the entire issue including the Ads. But wait, aren't the Ads supposed to pay for the printing? Don't get me wrong, I actually would rather have the exact same layout as I get in print, but you're paying the same price as you would for the printed issue, so it would almost seem that the advertisers are getting a bonus here.  Perhaps they price their advertising accordingly. However, it would be nice to have an option to turn off the ads if you didn't want to see them.

You can get Zinio here from the App Store: 

Switch your Macworld subscription over to Digital

I idid a little more research on this topic and as it turns out MacWorld in particular does allow you to convert your existing subscription over from Print to Digital (Zinio). So I'll be doing that for sure! Here's the info from their site:

I wouldn't dare start in on the "are newspapers dead" debate. I will say that the only time I actually touch a physical newspaper is when I pick the one up on the floor outside my hotel room on the way out. It's not that I don't like to read newspapers, it's just that they are not my first (or second or third) source for news. With that said, I get most of my news over the net like many of you. However, just because I don't necessarily read the daily paper, I do appreciate much of the reporting that's done by the same organizations.

USA Today on my iPhone

Most major newspaper agencies have mobile friendly websites. It's almost a give that users catch up on the latest happenings on their smart phones. While a mobile friendly site is nice on the iPhone in Safari, a native app is even better. USA Today is probably my favorite paper to read when I travel. So it's only natural that I would want to check out their App. I have to say that it's very well done. The design of it compliments the physical paper, but also takes advantage of the iPhone OS. I can quickly jump to a story that interests me, read it OFFLINE if I'm on a flight and I can easily share it with others via social networking sites and via email or text messaging.
 

More than just articles

The USA Today app also features weather in the cities that you want to keep track of and the latest sports scores, photos and news snapshots

If you choose to setup the social networking features you can configure it for Facebook and your favorite Twitter app. I use Tweetie 2 and it works great.

The Bottom Line

If you like USA Today, then you'll like the USA Today app. I love the scrollable bar across the top that let's me jump quickly to the category that I care about. This freebie is worth the download.