The other day I mentioned about how my iPhone is important to me. There are several amazing apps that I use on a daily basis. Here are some of the apps that I use.
On a typical given day, Facebook and Twitter are usually the first 2 apps that I would check it out. I check for any status updates made by my friends and to check any interesting shared contents my friends shared on their walls.
I would then start using Zite. Zite is a news aggregate app that pulls various news articles from various reputable websites. It is arranged in several categories that you can select based on your interests. The interesting thing about Zite is that the categories cover a broad range of topics. Zite also have the ability to remember the articles that you like or dislike. Every time you read an article and you tap the ‘like’ icon at the bottom, Zite will remember and scan the content of the article. It then pulls more news, or opinion articles that are similar to the content that you liked. The more you like, the greater the accuracy of the news, Zite pulls for you. Eventually, you will be shown articles that would only interest you, giving you customized content based on your particular area of interest.
Zite allows you to share the articles that you like via email, Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Google Reader, Pinboard just to name a few. If you don’t have time to read the article, you can save it to Read it Later or Instapaper, services with their own apps that stores article so that you can read it at a later date.
CNN and BBC news are the next two news app that I would check on a regular basis. These apps have abeautiful layout to read news based on topic or region, and even have video embedded in some of the news articles. The reporting is short and concise for the most part, suitable for catching up with the latest headlines while you are on the go. Articles can be shared via email, SMS, Twitter or Facebook. You can even save the article for later reading in their own respective apps.
I sometimes check the Straits Times app for local news. You can also share articles in Facebook, Twitter or email.
My next favourite apps are Pulse News and Flipboard. Both apps are also news aggregates that pulls news and interesting articles from the web from various sources. However, unlike Zite, Pulse News allows you to select certain websites that you frequent often for news updates and pulls all the articles from that website to Pulse. Whereas Zite pulls articles from various sources that is specific to a particular subject or category, Pulse pulls articles from one single website and makes it a category on its own. In essence, Pulse News allows you to check various websites at one go for updates and arranges it in a beautiful horizontal scrollable layout that allows you to scroll to various articles from various websites at the same time. Currently I track around 12 websites. The layout is effective in checking all updates at a quick glance, rather than checking each website one at a time. All articles featured in Pulse news are able to be shared and saved from various sources, making it the most versatile way within an app to share content. You can share on Facebook, Twitter, or read articles later by sending it to Read IT Later, Instapaper, Evernote, and Readability.
Flipboard does the same thing as well. The layout is just different. Flipboard is suppose to make it feel like a customised magazine based on the content that you are interested in. It pulls all content from various website to create a beautiful seamless layout. Flipboard also have their own curated sections. This means that Flipboard also checks and filters for any interesting content on the web and shares it with you in one easy categories, like Flipboard Picks. It picks some of the most interesting content of the day and presents it to you in a beautiful format. Some of the content are interesting to read and surely pique your interests every now and then. This keeps Flipboard fresh and interesting. It also allows you to discover interesting content that is beyond the subjects are you are usually interested in. Flipboard allows you to share interesting articles on Facebook, Twitter, and Read Later or conventionally, email it.
Pinterest is a marvel to use. You can get lost in a sea of interesting pictures arranged in various categories that others have shared. Pinterest is inspiring as you can share some of the most awesome things you will ever see made by others. Pinterest is a new site, and it is currently experiencing a explosive growth in the number of content being shared by others and the number of users added in each day. Experts in the realm of digital IT have touted Pinterest as the next great thing after the launch of Facebook.
The premise is very simple. In essence, it is a social website. But unlike Facebook where you update you status, Pinterest allows you to create ‘boards’ These boards are the things you upload and share, or shared by others. Once you ‘pin’ something on the board, you are sharing it. You can share alot of things, but mainly pictures and other visually appealing and creative stuff made by others.
Finally, it’s Readability. Its an app that stores all related articles that you saved or pushed from other apps, or from your web browser for later reading. Sometimes you come across an interesting article, but it’s rather lengthy and you have other stuff to pay attention to. You can save that article on Readability and you can read when you are free. It also allows you to read offline, a useful feature if you are ever in an area where there is no WiFi, or worse, no 3G service. The best thing about Readability, is that it rearranges the layout of the saved article in a beautiful layout, fit for an iPhone. It pulls all relevant images from the articles and presents in a rather simplistic way, making reading on Readability a joy. Therefore, all distracting links, ads no longer appear in your article. It’s just you and the words within the article, allowing total focus in the content that you are reading.
Futhermore, it integrates all your saved articles. You can download Readability widgets and apps for Firefox (the main browser in using on my mac). Suppose you come across an interesting article that you want to read while you are on your way to school. Simply click on the Readability button embedded on your browser and it will save the article. The saved article will immediately gets pushed to your iphone, so you can take it with you. Haven’t finished reading that article? No problem. Just log in to your account on your PC and you can continue where you left off from there. This seamless integration makes saving anywhere a breeze.
Readability is very new, and already it shows a lot of promise. One major shortcoming currently is the lack of support from most news related apps. The inability to share articles from different apps to readability seems to be the sticking point. But I am pretty sure that as the popularity of the app grows, so will the support.
There are lots of apps in my iPhone right now, but the ones I shared above are some of the apps that I use on a daily basis. I hope that some of the apps mentioned would find it useful for you as they have been for me.
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