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By Rene Ritchie, Friday, Sep 30, 2011 | Have an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch and curious which are the best, most must-have RSS feed reading apps you need to check out? We’ve already covered readers in general, from eBooks to comics, but this time we really wanted to focus on RSS news. So if you want to keep your syndication really simple, and yourself up to date with the latest new, read on for TiPb’s top 5 most recommended RSS feed readings apps for iOS. NetNewsWire is the granddaddy of iOS RSS readers and is still a favorite for many. It syncs with Google Reader, and while in version past that was a laborious process, improvements to both the app and iOS have made it much smoother these days. It’s now been given a whole new codebase and has been picked up by a new team of dedicated developers so its quite possible grandaddy might just become the new, fresh kid on the block as well. Rather than a universal binary for both iPhone and iPad, NetNewsWire has separate apps for both. There is, however, a free version for iPhone with ads that you can try before you buy. If you want a great way to organize and chew through your Google Reader-synced RSS feeds, give NetNewsWire a look. The Early Edition was one of the first RSS readers available for iPad when it launched and it’s still iPad-exclusive to this day. Beautifully rendered in a newspaper-style motif, it won’t sync with Google Reader but will import your feeds to get you started. You can flip pages in the same way you can in iBooks, and there’s a familiar Action button to share your favorites. Just like iPad itself, The Early Edition isn’t meant to be an on-the-go, breaking news reader. It’s meant for when you want to relax. When you have your feet up and a glass of wine or a latte close at hand. It’s for when you have time to just enjoy your feeds. Reeder manages to sync with Google Reader but without the slowdown many other apps seem to experience. Indeed, for a sync-enabled app, it’s smoking fast. It presents everything in a clean, clear interface that doesn’t seek to ground you in tradition or wow you with modern effects. If you just want to power through news on the go, get in, get informed, and Read More

By Leanna Lofte, Wednesday, Jun 16, 2010 | How does a professional clown use his iPhone to get the job done and what iPhone apps help get him through his day? TiPb’s iPhone at work contest aims to bring you just such slices of the iPhone life. Here’s JimmySlo’s answer and as a small token of thanks we’re sending him a $20 iTunes gift certificate. If you want to see your name up on the TiPb home page and get a gift certificate all your own, head on over to the TiPb iPhone Forum and share your story now! I am a clown in a travelling circus currently touring North America. Before, during (in the dressing room), and after the show, I have my head buried in my iPhone 3GS. Reading blogs, checking the news, and especially checking a Twitter search for the name of my show. I like to get a feel for what the audience buzz is before the show, as it could help with my pre-show improvisation in the Big Top. At intermission, audience members fire up their phones and tweet about how the show is going thus far and what they think. I’m right there, in real time getting feedback. Same thing after the show. I’m also checking for discount ticket deals (before the company tells us) so I can blitz that info out, surreptitiously helping get butts in seats. Using my iPhone to check the Twitterverse before the show has come in very handy, and it adds a surreal, hyper-modern, meta-theatrical element to my performance. And sometimes, a certain someone, may be singled out in a very unique way. Every once in a while, more often than I’d like I run across a tweet like this: Now right off the bat, he’s just knocking the circus, eluding that he’s probably just gonna have a bad time no matter what. But add to that, he mentions the clown thing. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t take too kindly to clown haters. But I thought I’d let it go. Then, less than an hour later, he pushes further: Okay, so the guy is starting to have an annoyingly good time with his clown-bashing venom, and does so by popping onto Wikipedia for some zinger fodder. I’m trying to keep my cool. A follower of his pipes in, somewhat ignorantly: To which our first guy says: And with Read More

My recent look at a typical day with the Sprint EVO 4G was well received and I started getting requests for a similar look at a day with the iPad. Not one to ignore good requests, this post covers a typical day with the iPad in Mobile Tech Manor. I should point out that the iPad is so different from most gadgets I write about and I’m not sure there is a “typical” day. Perhaps I should more accurately present a “recent day” with the iPad. It is still dark outside when the merciless alarm rouses me from a deep sleep and I stumble out of bed to greet the day. The iPad is lying on the night stand where I left it last night, having read an e-book before bedtime. It has not been charging overnight, as the extended battery life you’ve heard about on the iPad is not fiction. I rarely charge the iPad at night, which is a first with me for any gadget. Instead, I will plug it in while using it at my desk in a little while, and charge it until it shows a full charge after which it will remain untethered for the rest of the day. I grab the first cup of coffee and settle into the easy chair with the iPad in hand. It is nestled in the Apple case I bought along with the iPad, and I am glad I did. The brushed aluminum back on the iPad is extremely slippery, and I’ve almost dropped it a few times. The case adds a nice grippy cover for it without adding much bulk to the slim package. I also use the stand on the back of the case to prop up the iPad throughout the day. The first thing I do is catch up with email that has arrived overnight. We have a lot of site visitors located all over the globe, and the stream of email doesn’t stop when I am getting my beauty rest at night. Using the Mail app on the iPad is easy to do, and sitting in the chair I typically hold it in portrait which is more comfortable for me. I spin through the night’s email in just a few minutes, responding to mail as necessary via the onscreen keyboard. I use the keyboard by typing with my right index finger in portrait, and I find Read More

There you go, Apple has officially launched the iPad in 9 new countries today. Well, the iPad actually didn’t wait on Apple to go around the world, and one in four iPads bought in the US has already flown the country by now. Also, an important amount of pre-orders has already been delivered early throughout the week, so the launch is not really that much of a massive event. Anyway, for our international readers who just got their iPad, here is some help for you. Short after unpacking and starting the device, you’re going to feel like you don’t know what to do with it. This feeling is not going to leave right away as it takes a couple days to get used to this new toy. What you’re going to need are apps, and that’s where the fun starts: I would tell you to start with some free apps, so you get the hang of it. Unfortunately, there aren’t many good ones. Well, there is iBooks of course, Tweetdeck for Twitter and Dropbox for your files or even Epicurious for your recipes. The rest of the free apps you might be interested in will be local apps that provide news and different other kinds of free content. Be aware that the very popular video streaming apps from the US like Netflix or ABC won’t work overseas. At that point you’re going to think wait, what about all these iPhone apps I’ve spending all my cash on for years? Well, they’re not for your iPad. You can run them on it, but you’re going to be disappointed with the quality. That is unless you jailbreak (here is how), and install FullForce using Cydia (Here is how to use Cydia). That’s an important point, while jailbreaking on the iPhone is not essential, it clearly is on the iPad. FullForce will allow you to run iPhone apps on your iPad in fullscreen without quality depreciation. It’s not compatible with every single app (no games), but it’s a great improvement already. Alright, so now that you’ve spent a fortune on your iPad, let’s get some paid apps for it. That’s where it’s going to get tough because good iPad apps are not cheap. First there is the iWork suite, it’s beautiful, works great and your friends will love it. On the other hand, that’s its only use as I haven’t found myself using it even once so Read More

To end the first day of the Voices that Matter iPhone conference in Seattle last weekend, a group of veteran iPhone developers sat down for a roundtable panel and talked about the iPad. August Trometer (Yowza!!), Brent Simmons (NetNewsWire), Kyle Kinkade (Tap Tap Revenge), Daniel Pasco of Black Pixel, Tim Wood of The Omni Group, and TUAW's own Erica Sadun were questioned by moderator Chuck Toporek about the differences between the iPhone and the iPad and a few of the pressing issues that both devices are likely to face in the future. Even though the panel ended the day (and all of the attendees and panelists were craving the eventual beer and pizza that would be available later in the evening), it was a lively discussion that offered both insight and frank opinions from these developers. Read on to hear what they said about Flash on the iPhone, app pricing, and their favorite apps on the iPad. The panel started with a question about whether the iPad presented a second gold rush for developers, and Kinkade summed up his answer with a succinct "Yes." Sadun said that the pressure for developers to be on hand and ready to go at launch was very strong. However, even if you're a developer who hasn't released an iPad app yet, all is not lost. Pasco promised that this was only the beginning, not only for the platform (which is really just a few weeks old), but also for the interface. The developers were polled on their feelings about creating universal apps for the iPhone and the iPad, and while Apple (and even the customer base) seems to be pushing for that, it was generally agreed that, as a developer, creating a universal app isn't the best solution. Simmons said that it was too much trouble, and he tied himself down by requiring the same app to deal with the limitations of both devices. Trometer agreed and pointed out that it also cut off an income stream by requiring devs to sell only one app. Kinkade said that if it was possible that a full iPad version of an app would provide more value for users, then a developer should create it. Sadun agreed with Kinkade and pointed out that over-the-air delivery was an issue, too; if a developer's iPad app goes over 20mb, then it limits the number of iPhone users who will download Read More

At long last Friday rolls around, and that can only mean it’s time to think back on the week. The home office, Mobile Tech Manor, was as busy as can be with some new gadgets arriving. I bought too many RSS readers for the iPad and am waffling between two of them. I have been on a quest to find me some 4G in the area, with no luck. Come on in and let’s visit for a while. Enter the Gadgets A couple of toys showed up at the Manor and I had fun playing with them. Sort of. The first to arrive was the Sprint Overdrive, the 4G capable modem that functions as a Wi-Fi router to share the 4G. I’m sure it would share it fine if I could just find some. The Sprint 4G coverage map shows the area around Mobile Tech Manor to be blanketed with 4G, but I haven’t been able to connect successfully to it. There is a small area that is 3G only on the map, and my office is right on the fringe so I’m not surprised I can’t see 4G here. That sent me out over the surrounding area which is all blue on the map (4G) but I can’t connect anywhere. The Overdrive shows decent signal, says it is “connecting to 4G” for a good while, and then eventually falls back to the Sprint 3G network. The 3G (EVDO) works just fine, it’s not fast but better than nothing. The Verizon 3G (EVDO) network gets faster speeds almost everywhere compared to the Sprint network, though. I get around 500 kbps on Sprint and 1.2 Mbps on Verizon, almost everywhere. I may be dealing with a defective 4G modem here, at least that’s what I think. I’ve heard from Sprint 4G customers who are getting good 4G connections in the immediate area, so perhaps it is the modem. I’ll have to track down the Sprint folks who sent this evaluation unit to find out. A bright red notebook that I was excited to get arrived, but unfortunately the display was DOA. It was the Acer Ferrari One notebook, a little (11.6-inch) speed demon that looks pretty sexy for a laptop. The Ferrari One was sent over by the AMD folks, who make the processor in the laptop. They were understandably embarrassed that the evaluation unit had a dead screen, and to their Read More

The iPhone is home to a lot of great new developers, but it's also the new home for a lot of old-school Mac guys as well; Brent Simmons is of the second kind. His NetNewsWire is a classic Mac app that's been remade for the iPhone, and now the iPad, with the clean, quick simplicity that Simmons' work is known for. We caught up with him right after his "Best Practices for Content Apps" talk here at 360iDev in San Jose, CA this week, and had a quick chat about how the iPad version of NetNewsWire is doing. Jenny Blumberg of NewsGator's developer support team also joined us. Simmons told us both how the iPad version of his app has made more money than you'd expect, and what he's most excited about from Apple's iPhone OS 4.0 announcement last week. Read on for more. TUAW: How has the iPad release been? Brent Simmons: It's been fantastic. Jenny Blumberg: It's been really good. We had a great first weekend. It was just awesome that we could have it ready for the launch of the iPad. Did you get a device before? Could you tell us if you got a device before? BS: If I could talk about something like that, I would. But I can't talk about things like that. Really? Oh you can't. BS: I can't. In terms of downloads, the user base is not nearly as big as the iPhone, obviously, but would you say the time and effort you've put into it compares to the response that you've seen? It seems like there's a lot of excitement around iPad apps, but when you look at the response, sales don't compare to the iPhone. BS: We're not giving out the actual numbers, but I will tell you this, and I think this is very cool. The iPad app, within five days, made us more money than the iPhone app has in its existence over the last six months or something. And it's only priced double, $9.99 versus $4.99. So, that says a few things. One, I think it's a better app, our app on the iPad. And being there on day one is huge, since everyone's looking for apps. But, yeah, even with a much smaller user base so far, it's just done so well. And to a certain extent, you've got the recognition. There's some people on the iPad Read More

(Danke, David!) “App Store-Analytiker” Distimo ermittelte für den derzeitigen Software-Stand 2.385 verfügbare iPad-Anwendungen. 35-Prozent sollen auf die Kategorie “Spiele” entfallen. Mit diesem Thema habe ich mich in den letzten 24 Stunden noch überhaupt nicht beschäftigt. Meine Aufmerksamkeit galt der “gedruckten Unterhaltung”. Entgegen der iPhone-Version ist der RSS-Reader NetNewsWire (7.99 €; App Store-Link) eine erste sehr gelungene Umsetzung, um seine Feeds auf das schlanke Apple-Gerät zu befördern. Bis zu 10.000 ungelesene Beiträge empfängt das Programm vom Google Reader-Account und navigiert schnell durch die Informationsflut. In Ermangelung von Software-Alternativen gilt es diesen positiven Status Quo in einigen Wochen noch einmal zu überprüfen. Meine derzeit favorisierte iPhone-Anwendung heißt bekanntlich Reeder (2.39 €; App Store-Link). Sein schweizer Entwickler verriet uns, dass eine iPad-Umsetzung schon in Arbeit ist. NetNewsWire verdrahtet sich bereits in seiner Mac-Fassung mit dem “Read Later”-Service Instapaper von Marco Arment. Die iPad-Version tut es seinem Desktop-Bruder gleich, und lässt euch Artikel zum späteren Nachlesen zum Online-Dienst schicken. Instapaper Pro (3.99 €; App Store-Link) als ‘universal’ iPad-/iPhone-Programm gefällt richtig gut. Für 3.99 € bin ich – ebenfalls aufgrund der bislang ausstehenden ‘ReadItLater‘-Anwendung (3.99 €; App Store-Link) für das iPad – dorthin gewechselt. Bereits nach 24 Stunden mit dem iPad weiß man, dass hochauflösende Software-Fassungen, das einzig wahre sind. Nicht einmal die 2fach-hochgezoomte Mutation von ‘ReadItLater’, die direkt in den MobileSafari verweist, konnte die großen Pixel (für mich) erträglich zeichnen. Ich schließe zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt nicht aus, dass es ‘hochgezogene’ Anwendungen geben mag, bei denen die Unterschiede geringer ausfallen. Für meine häufig verwendeten Applikationen sehe ich derzeit jedoch keine Chance, auf eine Verwendung ohne eigenständigen iPad-Ableger. Ebenfalls Aufmerksamkeit haben Comicbücher erlangt. Über Twitter trudelten einige wirklich grandiose Empfehlungen für mich ein. Comic Zeal 4 (5.99 €; App Store-Link) macht neben der offiziellen Marvel-App (kostenlos; App Store-Link) die beste Figur. Über iTunes lassen sich die farbigen Bücher importieren. Das Übermitteln geht ruckzuck, die Anwendung kümmert sich dann unverständlicherweise jedoch ewig lange um dessen Formatierungen?! Sobald dies jedoch einmal abgeschlossen wurde, können selbst aufgespielte Comicstrips betrachtet werden. Die Anwendung von der New York Times (kostenlos; App Store-Link) oder dem Wall Street Journal (kostenlos; App Store-Link) hinterlassen einen sehr interaktiven Eindruck. Eingebundene, abspielbare Videos, zu vergrößernde Bilder und intuitive Gesten um sich durch die Artikel zu hangeln, machen das Zeitungslesen zum echten Erlebnis. Ein bisschen beschämt blickt Gruner + Jahr-Pressesprecher Christian Merl auf die Axel Springer iKiosk (kostenlos; App Store-Link)-Anwendung aus der “Welt-Gruppe”. “Kurzfristige Schnellschüsse und reine PDF-Lösungen Read More

So, you got your shiny new iPad on Saturday and you’ve done all the basic stuff on it: web browsing, email, video. But now that the awesomeness of that has worn off, it’s time to get some new apps. Here are the ones you should buy first. Imagine holding the entire Netflix instant watch database in your hands. This is it. The app is free, but you’ll need a Netflix subscription if you don’t already have one. IMDb is an iPad-friendly version of the Internet Movie Database. So, while you’re watching movies with Netflix, you can settle arguments about them with this. Free. A perfectly optimized version of ABC’s website, so you can watch the iPad on Modern Family with an actual iPad. (Ironically, ABC currently has a Flash banner on its website advertising this app.) The popular browser-based content discovery extension has its first foray into the mobile app market. Free. Because every device needs an RSS reader. This one is a port of the popular Mac RSS reader of the same name. Syncs across your Mac, iPhone, and iPad via Google Reader. $9.99. Much like the desktop version, with its multi-column interface. Supports as many accounts as you want, has geo-location and a dedicated map interface built-in, and it syncs between the iPhone and desktop clients. Free. The interface is a clean, magazine-like representation of NPR‘s content, and unlike other news apps that are charging ridiculous monthly subscription fees (ahem, Wall Street Journal), it’s free. You can also listen to audio while you’re reading. The classic board game is even more fun on a bigger screen. And, if you’ve got a spare iPhone or iPod touch, you can use them as trays for your letters with the free Scrabble Tile Rack app. Seriously. $9.99. One of the most popular tower-defense games on the iPhone, optimized for the iPad, though it’s not really HD. $9.99. Adapted from the iPhone app and optimized for the iPad. If you’re familiar with Sid Meier’s Civilization series, or just like conquering stuff, then this app should be a revelation of how a touchscreen can bring old gaming mechanisms to life. $12.99. Read More

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the best Twitter apps for iPhone which got quite a bit of success, especially on Twitter. A few of you asked me to write the same time of article, only about the best RSS reader for iPhone. I was just going to write such an article but my friend Patrick from JAiB had the same idea and got a chance to write about some good iPhone RSS reader before I did. Patrick gave a quick look at 6 RSS apps for iPhone that sync with Google Reader and I suggest you read his article for more details about la creme de la creme of RSS reader apps for iPhone. He quickly reviews the following apps: UPDATE 04/24/2010: My favorite reader app is not Byline anymore. Reeder is now the best RSS reader for iPhone. Read my mini review of Reeder here. My personal preference is Byline. I like how fast it is and also the ability to cache each feed for offline reading. What I like the most about Byline is how I can see all my folders and choose to read all New Items at once, or folder by folder. This is a great feature because I like to read my RSS feeds by category in the morning. For example, I like to read iPhone news first. Then I usually read the France and world news. Then I usually read tech news, SEO, and marketing-related news. Byline gives a quick overview of each item and shows you the title as well as the beginning of the item. It allows you to choose to read more about each article or not. Simple and practical. That’s exactly how I like my apps. I tried a few others but Byline is by far my favorite. But as Patrick puts it, there is not really a best iPhone RSS reader app. What works for me might not really work for you. These six applications are very solid and should do an excellent job no matter what. I’m curious to see what’s YOUR favorite RSS reader for iPhone. Please share in the comments. Read More