newsreaders
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Zite newsreader sold to Flipboard
My all time favorite newsreader, Zite, has been sold by CNN to Flipboard for a deal reported by Reuters to be worth about US$60 million dollars. Flipboard has also struck a content deal with CNN. CNN bought Zite in 2011. In a conference call this morning, Flipboard CEO Mike McCue said Zite's technology drew Flipboard to the deal. Indeed to my mind what made Zite so attractive was the fact that it learns what I am interested in, while Flipboard does not. Zite is a terrific app, but was never really as popular as Flipboard. Zite will stay up and running until the Zite technology appears in a new version of Flipboard. Zite started as an iPad-only personalized news magazine, then moved to the iPhone. I just talked to Zite CEO Mark Johnson, who told me Flipboard is really impressed with Zite, and Johnson said he expects much of the user interface and technology that makes Zite so good to be quickly incorporated into Flipboard. The entire Zite team, minus Johnson, is heading to Flipboard, which I view as positive. Said Johnson, "Leaving is bittersweet, because Zite is the best product I've ever worked on and I can't imagine how I'd get my news without it. However, I'm confident that Zite + Flipboard will create a more magical product than Zite is today." Johnson adds that he's going to take a welcome three months off and go from there.
Daily iPad App: News360 2.0
I liked News360 when a reviewed it last April. It uses several sources for stories, and it was interesting to see the different takes on any single event. Of course News360 was also an excellent news discovery tool, scanning thousands of news sources to keep me up to date. One of the issues with News360 is you had no control over the sources. The app was basically static, and you got what you got. That's all changed in version 2 of this free app, released today. In a move toward personalization, News360 lets you input your Facebook, Twitter, Evernote and Google Reader accounts to seed the app with what news you are following and generate a unique mix of news that fits your interest. It's a good idea, and seems to work well. The more information it has about your reading habits, the better the presentation will be. The downside of all this is that it requires you having these accounts. No Facebook or Twitter account, for example, no personalized news. I think it's a mistake to go that direction. Many people are getting tired of some social media, especially Facebook because of privacy issues. I would have much preferred a GUI that lets me enter my interests or keywords. Going even deeper, the app could monitor what stories I look at and learn a lot about what I like that way. That's what my favorite news discovery tool Zite does, and Pulse News and Flipboard allow you to link to social media like Facebook but don't require it. The developers say that in an upcoming version, the social media links will no longer be required, and that's a positive step. This new version sports another excellent feature. Users can sync with news360.com and get their custom news without needing your iPad. Nice for office workers or others who want the benefits of the app and don't have or don't always carry an iPad. The app has some nice customization features. You can look at what's called an interest graph and edit it, so if it is bringing in things you don't want, you can whisk them away with a few clicks. The app also automatically provides links for more information, and, with your permission, it can use your location to get local news. I do like News360. It offers some fresh ideas for news aggregation, and the personalization is most welcome. I just wish it wasn't forcing me to to be on Facebook or some other system to find out what news I like. You don't have to personalize the app, and if you don't this version will work just like the older version, without user control of what you see. News360 is also available on the iPhone, but that version won't get personalization until Fall. %Gallery-130368%
BuzzVoice reads aloud to you almost anywhere
BuzzVoice can most simply be described as a talking reader for over 1400 blogs, but saying that doesn't begin to do it justice. It's not just an iPhone/iPod touch app, although BuzzVoice provides one [iTunes Link]. It's a platform that can be enjoyed on a variety of devices including any iPod or mp3 player, your computer, Blackberry (upcoming) or with added functionality on the iPhone/iPod touch running OS 2.0 to use the basics, or OS 3.0 or better, to use in-app email. BuzzVoice is the butterfly that emerged from chrysalis of the now defunct PimpMyNews app, a talking reader with far less functionality. What it grew into is a full system that starts on your computer at the BuzzVoice site. There you can sign up for a free account and explore the 1400 different blogs that BuzzVoice can read to you. The site allows you to listen to individual stories and to email a story that, when received, contains an audio file of the story, as well as the ability to visually read the story either on the site or by being transferred to the originating blog. The BuzzVoice site lets you create a list of MyFeeds in where you build a list of the blogs you are interested in hearing by either searching, browsing or picking a ready made playlist based on specific interests. This is handy and becomes quite important when we get to the iPhone app. The site also lets you put together a Buzzcast, which is a grouping of blogs that you like, and have that grouping transform into a 10 minute (for the free version) or 30 minute (for the pro version) personal podcast that, after a click, will be added to iTunes and update daily, so it can be heard throughout the iPod line. A feed is also displayed for use with a non-iTunes powered device. How does it sound? I was expecting to be disappointed since I have had enough of the 'take-me-to-your-leader' type vocal stylings of many talking apps, but I'm very happy to report that the voice implementation is nearly perfect. It sounds quite natural with great attention paid to punctuation. You can choose a male voice or female voice or have BuzzVoice mix it up, using the pro version. For free you get one voice. The sound was good enough to allow me to stop paying attention to the player and start giving my full attention to the story being read. This is not a small thing if you're going to listen to more than a story or two. The iPhone app (selling now for $US1.99) ties in nicely to the site and provides additional goodies. On the bottom of the screen are four buttons. MyPlaylist displays all the blogs that you put into MyFeeds on the site. Tap one and you'll see the current story list, tap a story and it will be read to you. If you tap the blue arrow to the right of each story a second screen lets you share a story via Facebook to Reddit (plus 4 others) or email. You can tap Listen to hear the story, or tap Source to read the story in BuzzVoice, which doesn't present in landscape mode, or Safari, which does. Tapping My Buzzcast will play the Buzzcast that you created on the site without having to go to iTunes. The third button, BuzzRadio, is interesting. Tapping it brings up a listing of topics ranging from Apple Radio to Politics Radio to Sports Radio. There are currently eight stations to choose from. When you pick one, a grouping of top stories from various subject-specific blogs gets built, which BuzzVoice then reads; perfect for any time your hands should be somewhere else (driving, running or whatever). You don't get this on the site. I'd like to see a non-variable, or user designated playing time for the stations. As it is now, I've found that playing time can vary from 4 minutes to 30 minutes. I can see that being a problem when driving and expecting a longer read. Once that is fixed, I'd like to be able to stack stations so if I know that I'll be in the car for 90 minutes and I know that each station plays for 30 minutes, I would be able to stack 3 topic-oriented stations which would then be sequentially read to me, filling up my 90 minute drive. The fourth button is 'Info' which doesn't really provide any. Instead, it opens up an email where you can report mispronunciations, suggest blogs or ask for help. It would be nice to see a little tutorial on this page. In the iPhone app, when you receive mail sent from BuzzVoice, either from the site or from another iPhone, you get a link bringing you to a BuzzVoice-formatted Safari page with a big Listen to this story button on top and the full story with graphics displayed below. This is a very nice feature.
