I used the free, browser-based App Library builder from the Appolicious website this evening to update our family’s shared app library for iPhone / iPod Touch applications. (We’ve now got 240, I think.) I created a new list (to accompany our existing lists of favorite education apps and my son’s favorite iPod Touch games) for Favorite iPhone / iPod Touch News and RSS / update applications. The main thing missing from this list, which I use every day I use my iPhone, is a link to the Google Reader Mobile site. It’s a web app, not a downloadable app, so it can’t be added or rated on Appolicious. I have this saved as an icon on my iPhone’s first / home screen. The RSS Mobile site I listed below is handy when you’re going to be offline awhile and want to download/cache Google News articles for offline browsing. All the shares/stars/etc you save when using the app sync back to your account the next time you’re online. I have had that app for awhile, but used it pretty extensively last week on my flights to and from south Florida for the Palm Beach Schools Technology Conference.
In case the above Skitch-snapped screenshot saved to Flickr is not visible in your location because of a content filter, here’s a textual list. These are linked to the corresponding app on Appolicious:
- MobileRSS Free ~ Google RSS Reader Good for offline downloads of RSS feed subscriptions
- Fluent News Reader Good news reader for mainstream / noted news sites
- CNN Mobile Good for CNN video as well as articles, iReporter function is exemplary for citizen journalism
- HootSuite Great Twitter app, especially for managing/using multiple accounts. Shrink links feature is super.
- Facebook Great for staying up on wall comments, photo comments, etc. My main way of using Facebook.
- NPR News Good way to catch NPR programs and articles.
- NASA App Main news and video application for NASA. Woo hoo for science!
- iGovernment Lite – News and Politics To Go News feeds from the US Government (lite version is limited in the number of available channels)
- Instapaper Free Great for making offline copies of full news articles and other posts which don’t show up entirely in an RSS feed.
- Epicentral Live USGS earthquake data worldwide, connects to corresponding Google News articles (similar to version in Smithsonian Museum)
All of the above apps are free except for HootSuite and CNN Mobile. I consume 95% of my mobile news now with the Google Reader Mobile site, Fluent News and CNN Mobile. I like how Fluent News includes multiple mainstream news site sources, so I get articles from Fox, BBC, and other sources too. I don’t really want a separate news app for each news service… I mainly have the CNN app for the “iReporter” functionality it has. If you haven’t checked out their iReport website, it’s worth a look. Lots there for Storychasers to learn about and discuss regarding citizen journalism.
Do you have favorite news or RSS update applications for your iPhone or iPod Touch which I’ve left off this list? I was an Echofon mobile twitter user for several months, but the functionality of Hootsuite managing multiple accounts is the best I’ve seen to date.
For more about using Instapaper (specifically in the context of reading Fan Fiction book chapters offline on an iPod Touch) see my podcast interview with Alexander from our Spring Break. I continue to maintain a list of all the software applications I have installed on my MacBook Pro as well. Since doing a clean re-install earlier in the month I’m up to 33 apps there. That’s about half as many as I had installed previously.
H/T to Lucy Gray for sharing Appolicious and it’s app sharing functionality back in January.
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apple, fav, iphone, ipod, mobile, news, touch, rss, favorte, recommendated, appolicious
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Comments
4 responses to “Favorite iPhone / iPod Touch News and RSS / update applications”
Hi Wes,
Thanks for participating in Appolicious! We just redesigned our homepage to make it easier to see app lists in different categories, including Education and News. Here is a link to all of our education lists: http://www.appolicious.com/curated-apps?curated_term=education. And we really look forward to what kind of education apps will end up on iPad…stay tuned for iPad apps on Appolicious, and you can find more iPad info at our iPad roundup: http://www.appolicious.com/roundup/iPad
I’ll be interested to see how these apps are adapted for the iPad.
Wes,
just a question, if you are using MobileRSS for offline reading of tour Google Reader, why use the Mobile Google Reader site at all? You can share and star and create notes right within the app. With the latest (free) version the ads are much smaller and much less if a distraction, the additional sharine right to Twitter, FB, Instapaper, email, read it later, and delicious is much cleaner. There is also a full screen option… What does the web app offer that surpasses the app?
Scott
Scott: I do like the sharing directly to Twitter that MobileRSS offers… since Google is now promoting Buzz, I doubt they’ll offer that functionality within the official Google Reader Mobile site.
The main reason I’m not using MobileRSS more often is it takes so long to sync all my feeds. I am subscribed to a lot of education blogs and RSS feeds, as well as feeds on other topics… and even with a fast WiFi connection it takes awhile for them all to sync up.