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Livestand from Yahoo! adds a slick magazine for iPad
Livestand was released for iPad today and I have to say it is pretty impressive. The free app strives to provide you with a personalized magazine drawn from Yahoo! and other content sources like Scientific American, Consumer Reports News, Wired, Forbes, and Parenting. The onscreen presentation is very strong, with bold graphics and a very nice design sense. Weather is local, and the app automatically finds your location. The app supports profiles, and up to 4 users can access their own mix of news on the app. To start up from scratch, the app would like your Yahoo! ID, or your Facebook login to help seed the app with your interests. You can skip this if you want to, and just tell the app what kind of content you like. News seems to be constantly updated, and that includes stock feeds and Twitter updates. In the short time I used it, I didn't see any evidence that the app was learning from my content preferences, but the mix of news is good. The layout is very attractive, but you have to take some time getting used to navigation. If you are used to competitors like Flipboard, Zite or Pulse News Reader, Livestand is a very different animal. After some time, you'll know what does what, and the difference between swiping to the right or down. For a just released app, Livestand is quite impressive. I'm not ready to give up Zite, but Yahoo! has created an interesting and worthwhile free competitor. I'd like to see an iPhone version, but making an equally compelling display on a small screen will be a challenge. If you are a news and information junkie, Livestand is worth a download and a tryout today. Let us know what you think. Here are some screen grabs: %Gallery-138257%
