Thursday, March 3, 2011

3 Cool News Apps for Android and iPad


For those who love getting all the news they like on a platter, the first generation RSS(really simple syndication) aggregators was a good bet. There was the entire gamut of RSS readers , be it desktop-based or web based that looked the same. While they were functional, they were not cool. They were bland and boring. But thanks to the iPad and the smartphone wave that shows no signs of abating, a new generation of free news and magazine apps have hit the online market. Here are three apps that make the cut from the iPad and the Android universe.

Pulse

One of the big favorites is pulse, an App developed by two Indian students from Stanford University. Their big moment of fame came at an Apple event last year when Steve Jobs, while explaining the functionalities of the iPad, spoke about the "Wonderful RSS reader". And before they knew it, Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta, saw their App spiral to the top of the iTunes chart as one of the most preferred news aggregators. There was more good news for their company, as they raised over U.S $80,000 through venture capital and moved to their own office in Palo Alto, the buzz town of Silicon Valley.

Pulse has an exciting new design that makes RSS syndication more visual and more fun. And what's more interesting is they have made it easier to gather news links that circulate on your Facebook and Twitter networks. On Pulse, users can Choose up to 60 news sources, ranging from top notches such as CNN, Wall Street Journal and New Yorker to slightly unorthodox sources such as top blogs , including Engadget, TechCrunch and Huffington Post, and get them served on movable tiles. It is both aesthetically pleasing and highly functional.

Flud

Another App that closely resembles Pulse but is available at this point just for the iPad is Flud. It is pretty much similar to the Pulse news App, save one difference. It aggregates stories based on categories rather than news sources. Otherwise, the tiling and the "feel" of the App is pretty much similar to the Pulse. Readers get to choose from various sources and individual articles open in panes. Aesthetically pleasing, Flud is another App that makes news consumption a joy.

Flipboard

The Flipboard focuses more on a personalized social magazine, drawing from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and creating a mash of recommended links and articles. The design is pretty modern as users sign into a slideshow of all the various news sources that are active on their networks. From there on, they visually scan the stories and click and pick the articles they want to read. There are also seamless integrations of friends' feeds from Facebook. If you consider what your friends do as "news" meant for consumption and don't mind the intrusion, then the flipboard is pretty handy to have.

Hope you found the post useful, Would love to know your favorite apps as well, leave your comments on them. To follow posts on facebook, Like our page here!

6 Responses to “3 Cool News Apps for Android and iPad”

Pulse News for android said...
November 23, 2011 at 12:46 PM

This rules, love the widget, could be a little faster on to load full stories. Wish there was a browser/desktop based version I could sync with so I could leave google reader. Curation on the "top ___ stories" is great too, helps keep the important stuff at the top effectively


Pulse News version: 2.6 apk said...
November 23, 2011 at 5:49 PM

Very good app. Wish it would update feeds when relaunching app and darken articles that were already read. UI could be smoother, kinda jittery.


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Anonymous said...
May 24, 2012 at 6:52 PM

If you are in UK and want simple lightweight (only 230kb) news app just go to android market and search for PortalGate UK.PortalGate UK is FREE and is simple and have all you need in one place! News, sport, weather, ,magazines, social networks, tech, media, travel, shopping... New links and features are added every week!


Pulse News version: 2.6 said...
September 28, 2012 at 4:32 AM

This is so much more than i needed!!! but will all come in use thanks!!


Unknown said...
July 24, 2014 at 10:59 AM

I love Pulse App. Pulse has an exciting new design that makes RSS syndication more visual and more fun. On Pulse, users can Choose up to 60 news sources, ranging from top notches such as CNN, Wall Street Journal and New Yorker to slightly unorthodox sources such as top blogs , including Engadget, TechCrunch and Huffington Post, and get them served on movable tiles. It’s a crazy world out there and you never know when you might find yourself in the middle of the craziness. So why not give a live report on it? You might come upon a protest or someone giving an interesting speech or street performance. Download the new MappStream app, it hit the online market. It’s free. Click here for more information at

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mappstream/id735066334?mt=8


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