NewsFlash is a relatively new breaking news and headlines RSS reader app for the iPad and iPhone. It uses quite a simple interface and offers breaking news and top stories from around the world and in a number of languages.

I have a clear favorite RSS reader app for the iPad, River of News, and use Twitter and notifications from a handful of news apps to attempt to keep up with breaking news – but I’m always on the lookout for more good news and RSS sources, so I’ve been giving NewsFlash a try over the last several days. The short story here is that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how much I like this app. Hit the break for the reasons why …

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Read the rest of NewsFlash – a Very Clean, Fast News & RSS Reader for iPad (557 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad app reviews, iPad Apps, iPad news apps, NewsFlash

River of News for Google Reader, as the name might give away, is an RSS reader for the iPad for those who use Google Reader to keep up with their favorite feeds.

I’m a big consumer of RSS feeds as a major part of how I keep up with news each day – whether it’s iPad and iOS news, general tech news, or just news in general. I also follow Twitter, Google+, and news magazines like Flipboard, Zite, Google Currents, and others to keep up with what’s happening – but tracking my 200 or so favorite feeds in Google Reader is still my most used and most effective way to try to keep up with the daily information overload we’re all faced with these days.

I’ve tried other RSS apps on the desktop but Google Reader in a browser has remained my favorite for years on the desktop. It was my favorite on the iPhone for a long while too – even after the App Store opened and many decent native RSS reader apps came along. These days I do most of my reading on the iPad, so finding a great RSS app for the iPad was a priority from Day 1. Happily, River of News hit the iPad App Store a few months after the iPad was released – and it has been my favorite RSS app ever since.

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Read the rest of Review: River of News for Google Reader for iPad (557 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2012. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad app reviews, iPad Apps, iPad news apps, iPad RSS apps

Instacast HD is the iPad version of the popular podcast client that was first available as an iPhone app. The iPhone version, Instacast, has been around since March of this year – the iPad app was released in late November.

iTunes on iOS has always handled podcasts, but only in a very basic way – with very few features to help you discover or enjoy podcasts. So there’s always been a need for really good podcast client apps on iOS.

I’ve been using Instacast since its release back in March and have been a big fan of the app ever since. Of course when I saw there was a new iPad app version I had high hopes for it and installed it right away. The short story on Instacast HD is if you enjoy podcasts and own an iPad you need to go get this app right away. For lots of good reasons why that is so, hit the break …

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Read the rest of Review: Instacast HD for iPad (749 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Instacast HD, iPad app reviews, iPad Apps, iPad podcast apps

Editions by AOL is a new iPad-only magazine from the folks who pioneered CDs as coasters for our coffee mugs. It’s the latest social, highly customizable news magazine style app for the iPad, following in the footsteps of Flipboard and others that have lead the way in this category.

Here’s a little of its App Store intro:

Editions by AOL is a beautiful, new, daily magazine that reads you.
It learns what you like (and what you don’t) and delivers a magazine that’s personalized just for you, each and every day. … Whether you’re into Entertainment, Tech, or Fashion, or just want to keep up with business news or local happenings, Editions connects you with the best stories that match your interests.

I’ve been trying out Editions today and I have to say I’m quite impressed so far. Right from first launch it prompts you to start personalizing it by connecting to Facebook, Twitter and AOL/AIM (does anyone really still use those?).

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Read the rest of Editions by AOL – New iPad Magazine Looks Promising (467 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Editions by AOL, iPad Apps, iPad magazine apps

U.S. News Weekly for the iPad is the new iPad edition, or ‘digital magazine’ from the editors of U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News & World Report is the latest long-established, blue-chip name in the world of print publications to launch an iPad title.

The good news for iPad-owning fans of U.S. News & World Report is that there is now an iPad edition and it’s only 99 cents for a month’s subscription. The bad news is that the quality of the iPad edition is nowhere near the quality of the print title.

Of course the content is good, but there is very little about this app that feels anything like a real iPad edition.

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Read the rest of U.S. News & World Report Launches an iPad Edition (449 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad newspaper apps, U.S. News & Weekly Report iPad edition, U.S. News Weekly for the iPad

The screencap above is what a page looks like in Feedly on the iPad if you choose to turn your iPad into landscape mode. Feedly doesn’t recognize landscape mode at all, so you’re forced to use the app always in portrait mode. I think that’s a very bad design decision for any app that involves reading on the iPad. The way we choose to read on the iPad is both a very personal thing, and something that may well change depending on where you are, what time of day it is, and so on. 

This is just one of a number of very disappointing aspects of Feedly on the iPad. Another major one is that the app makes it very difficult to see all of your feeds, if you have more than ten. I have over 200 subscriptions, so seeing only 10 in the home page’s Featured area is really not much use at all. And there is no ability to choose which feeds show up in the featured section. So we’re forced into portrait mode and forced to go with whatever the app thinks is the right list of featured feeds. Very lame.

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Read the rest of Feedly for iPad – Very Disappointing (292 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2011. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Feedly for iPad, iPad Apps, iPad news apps

OC Register for iPad is the iPad edition of the Orange County Register local newspaper. In amidst the big national titles on the iPad, it’s a ‘little’ title with big ambitions. In the welcome note to readers for the iPad edition, the editor promises:

We have taken a different path from others. What you see is not the newspaper in tablet form, but a new ,more lively, entertaining, and engaging experience.

That’s quite a bold statement, especially from a local newspaper. I’m a big follower of newspaper and magazine titles for the iPad, so any time I see an iPad edition with these sort of strong ambitions I’m interested straight away, excited even to see if the title can live up to them.

So I’ve been checking out the OC Register for iPad over the last couple of days – and I’m impressed …

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Read the rest of OC Register for iPad: Local Newspaper Shows The Big Guys How To Do an iPad Edition (1,107 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad magazine apps, iPad newspaper apps, OC Register for iPad

Flipboard for iPad has set the bar quite high for up and coming news aggregating iPad apps who aim to imitate their secret formula: a simple clean elegant UI, fun and compelling to use, one that makes you keep coming back for the experience. I recently discovered two apps – Zite and Hitpad – that both aim to please in much the same way as Flipboard does, bringing news you can use in an iPad-friendly smart-swiping way. The two have slightly different approaches – I can’t help wondering which one will find a permanent place in my app habits.(...)
Read the rest of A look at Hitpad & Zite for iPad (617 words)

© AliciaB for iPad Insight, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: App, Flipboard, Hitpad, News, review, Zite

The Onion Tablet brings The Onion, or ‘America’s Finest News Source’, to the iPad. It was released on the iPad App Store on April 1st, a fitting date for the most scathingly satirical news title to hit the iPad. Here’s a little of its App Store intro:

This is the official iPad application of The Onion, America’s Finest News Source. It is the last bastion of unbiased, reliable, and definitive news in a world dominated by superficiality, mediocrity, and non-Onion news outlets.

I’ve been trying out The Onion Tablet over the weekend, closely comparing its news coverage with that of the CNN, New York Times, Times of London, and Washington Post apps. That last part is completely untrue of course, but I have been giving the new Onion app a look …

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Read the rest of America’s Finest News Source Hits the iPad – The Onion Tablet (325 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad news apps, The Onion on iPad, The Onion Tablet

The Daily – the first ever iPad-only newspaper – was released just about a month ago, by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. The company poured millions into the app leading up to its launch and has assembled an experienced and respected team of over 100 people to run it. Here’s part of the elevator pitch for The Daily, from its launch day press release:

The Daily is built from scratch for the iPad by some of the best in the business to bring you a package that’s smart, attractive, and entertaining.

The first digital news publication with original content created every day exclusively for the iPad®. Built from scratch by a team of top journalists and designers, The Daily covers the world: breaking news, sports, pop culture, entertainment, apps, games, technology, opinion, celebrity gossip and more.

The Daily has the depth and quality of a magazine but is delivered daily like a newspaper and updated in real-time like the web. Great stories, photos, video, audio and graphics come alive the more you touch, swipe, tap and explore. The customized sports section allows you to follow your favorite teams’ scores, pictures and headlines — even players’ tweets.

I’ve been reading The Daily since its release day, pretty much every day, and I think it’s time for a review of this promising and groundbreaking title …

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Read the rest of Review – The Daily, First Ever iPad-only Newspaper (1,066 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2011. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad newspaper apps, iPad-only newspaper, review of The Daily, The Daily

El País is a leading daily newspaper in Spain. It’s a serious, quality read with a tagline of  ‘The global newspaper in Spanish’, which its broad range of coverage nicely lives up to. It’s got an iPad app, called simply El País.

Here’s a slice of its introduction and key features on its App Store page (my rough translation):

• All the latest up to the minute information: news, photos, videos
• Access to all sections: International, Spain, Finance/Economy, Technology, Science, Sports, Society, Health, Education, People & TV, Opinion, Viñetas, Culture, Movies, Music, Most Viewed and Most Shared
• The blogs of El Pais
• The latest news in Eskup (their social network area)
• Integration with Facebook, Twitter and email to share content
• Live radio with Cadena Ser and Los 40 Principales while you browse the app

My Spanish used to be fluent and I always enjoyed reading El País when I traveled frequently to Spain. I’m also always interested in looking at the iPad editions of quality publications – so I’ve had El País installed on my iPad for a while now. And of course I’ve got some thoughts on the app …

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Read the rest of Quick Look: El País for iPad (524 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: El Pais, El Pais for iPad, iPad Apps, iPad newspaper apps

USA Today for iPad has had a major new update, to Version 2.0. The big additions are two brand new sections: Tech and Travel, added in response to user requests. Here’s more detail on all the changes in USA Today for iPad 2.0:

Tech features:
- USA TODAY’s tech coverage.
- App Insider: frequent iPad app reviews.
- TechWatch: a video player which features Talking Tech reviews with Ed Baig and Jefferson Graham and other gadget, gaming and industry news.
- Week in Space photo galleries.

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Read the rest of Quick Look: USA Today for iPad 2.0 (489 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad newspaper apps, USA Today for iPad, USA Today for iPad 2.0

TweetMag is a very different – and gorgeous – sort of Twitter-related app for the iPad. It is not a Twitter client app though – you can’t compose a new tweet from it and it’s not intended as a client app at all. It’s more of a Twitter news magazine.

Here’s what it sets out to be:

TweetMag is a social magazine that reduces the noise that often plagues Twitter. It transforms Twitter into beautiful magazines of articles and media that people are tweeting about most. It’s like making a personal editorial team out of the people, lists and tags you follow.

It’s not just for your own feed either. TweetMag’s curated categories make it easy to explore and discover content outside your social network. Interested in tech gadgets? Check out a list, a user or company that tweets about it. Want to catch up on breaking stories? Load a TweetMag of your favorite news organization. The possibilities and content streams are only limited by your interests and imagination.

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Read the rest of TweetMag – Beautiful Twitter News Magazine for the iPad (398 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad news magazines, TweetMag

The Economist on iPad is the iPad edition of the weekly international news and business magazine, and the latest blue-chip print title to hit the iPad App Store. Here’s some of its App Store description:

The best way to read The Economist on your iPad.

FULL PRINT EDITION
Download the full print edition of The Economist for reading on your iPad, from 9pm each Thursday.

FULL AUDIO
Switch easily between reading and listening with The Economist in audio, fully integrated and read by professional newscasters.

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Read the rest of Quick Look: The Economist on iPad (910 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad magazine apps, The Economist iPad edition, The Economist on iPad

Newsweek for iPad has made big news itself this weekend, with The New York Times covering the announcement that the app has been updated (to Version 2.0) and now offers subscription options. Here’s the basics of the new subscription model: a standard issue of Newsweek for iPad costs $2.99; a three month subscription is $9.99, and a six month subscription is $14.99.

Subscribing does not get you access to back issues, but starts with the current issue and continues as new issues are released for the length of your subscription.

Considering that there’s a new issue every week (so in 3 months you’ll get around 12 issues), the subscription plans seem a good deal. And they absolutely would be, if the magazine issues were worth paying for. Sadly, they aren’t – unless you are happy paying those sort of amounts for magazine issues that are the equivalent of reading Newsweek in a mediocre-to-bad PDF viewer.

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Read the rest of Good News: Newsweek for iPad Offering Subscriptions –Bad News: It’s Still Not Near Worth Paying For (706 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad magazine apps, Newsweek for iPad, Newsweek iPad edition

You won’t believe me, but I swear that I bought Pulse, an app that displays RSS feeds in a horizontal/vertical graphic navigation, completely by accident.

No, it’s never happened before. I was innocently browsing around the iPad RSS reader apps in the store when, before I knew it, my finger had already clicked and clicked and I saw the familiar “purchasing…” message in iTunes. Hmm. Now that I had it, I might as well check it out. I then proceeded to purchase NewsRack, because of good reviews I’d read about it. Now was my chance to see how which app would feed my feed addiction (get it?) in a better way. The result is quite surprising.(...)
Read the rest of NewsRack vs Pulse News Reader: 2 RSS apps for iPad (275 words)

© AliciaB for iPad Insight, 2010. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: feed, feeds, iPad, newsrack, pulse news reader, reader, rss

USA Today for iPad was one of the very first major newspaper apps to come out for the iPad, hitting the App Store in time for the the April 3rd release date.  It took me a while to get around to checking USA Today for iPad out, as it has never been a favorite of mine among print titles.

I’ve been running the app for several weeks now though, and I’ve been happily surprised to see it become one of my favorite everyday news sources thanks to this stellar iPad version.

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Read the rest of Review: USA Today for iPad (920 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2010. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad newspaper apps, USA Today for iPad, USA Today iPad edition

The Times of London for iPad is the latest app for a big-name newspaper to hit the iPad App Store.  It’s also another high-profile title that has chosen to go with a very hefty price for its iPad edition – &16.99 for each 28 days worth of issues, with the Sunday Times not included.

Is it worth over $200 a year for its iPad edition?  Pumped full of custom-designed, take maximum advantage of this powerful new medium goodness?  No, not even close …

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Read the rest of Review: The Times of London for iPad (778 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2010. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad newspaper apps, The Times of London, The Times of London for iPad, The Times of London iPad app

Newsweek is one of the latest well-know, mainstream magazines to hit the iPad, with its Newsweek for iPad app.  If you’d like the very short version of this review, it would be something along the lines of …

It’s crap – don’t waste your time.

If you’d like a little detail on why I say that, by all means read on …

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Read the rest of Newsweek for iPad – How NOT To Do a Digital Magazine (517 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2010. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad magazine apps, iPad news apps, Newsweek for iPad

Wired Magazine for iPad has been one of the most eagerly-awaited apps for the iPad, and it hit the App Store last week.  I’ve been looking forward to Wired’s digital edition ever since we first started seeing sneak peeks of it, and I grabbed a copy of it as soon as I saw it hit the App Store.

So … after all the anticipation, I’ve spent nearly a week now browsing and reading this first iPad edition of Wired, and of course I’ve got some thoughts on it to share …

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Read the rest of Review: Wired Magazine for iPad (1,180 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2010. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad magazine apps, Wired, Wired Magazine for iPad, Wired Magazine iPad Edition

NetNewsWire for iPad is an RSS reader app for the iPad that provides sync with Google Reader and with a full-featured desktop app on Mac and Windows.  On a Mac it syncs with NetNewsWire for Mac.  On Windows the sync partner is FeedDemon.  Both desktop apps are free / ad-supported.

NetNewsWire (NNW) is among the best-known apps in the RSS reader category.  I’ve used it before on the Mac and the iPhone, and found it capable though at times frustrating.  It was one of the very first major RSS apps to bring out a full iPad version (at or near launch day) – and I was very keen to give it a try. I’ve been using it for two weeks now, and have some thoughts on the app in general and how it lives up to its premium reputation and price.

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Read the rest of Review: NetNewsWire for iPad (1,062 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad RSS apps, NetNewsWire for iPad

There’s been a lot of talk of the iPad being a sort of ‘savior’ device for newspapers and magazines.  Time is a leading magazine title – here in the US and even worldwide I believe. What better way to discover the new Time Magazine for iPad than to purchase the April 12 issue of it, with its cover leading on Steve Jobs and the iPad.

I hadn’t even realized Time were already producing individual issues just for the iPad, until this morning – and as soon as I did I grabbed up this issue (which was sold out in all the newsagents near me).  I’ve spent a good amount of time with Time this morning – and have some thoughts and lots of screencaps to share below …

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Read the rest of Review: Time Magazine on the iPad (564 words)

© patrickj for iPad Insight, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: iPad Apps, iPad magazine apps, iPad magazines, Time Magazine for iPad