There are many out there who believe that the current mobile explosion will save the dying news industry. Newspaper and magazine publishers have been loving Apple’s Newsstand App for the increased visibility it gives their content. Now Google has released a rival, more Flipboard-esque, mobile reader of their own, Google Currents.
Google Currents offers optimized, magazine-style versions of articles from Forbes, TechCrunch, Saveur, Popular Science, Good, 500px, Fast Company and more. Google Reader subscriptions are also used to provide users content from the blogs and feeds they follow. Popular, trending stories are collected from all of these sources and given special placement with photos, slideshows, videos, live-maps and social streams intact.
Users can also save articles for “high speed offline reading”, share them, and sync them across all of their devices. Content scales to fit whatever sized screen a phone or tablet may have. Google Currents is available now for free and is compatible with iPhones and iPads.
PressReader attempts to give users an excellent way to ingest their Newspaper subscriptions from around the world. Its first iteration was bold, if not a bit wonky in delivery and style. Customers dug the idea, but were a bit split when it came to the execution of the app itself.
PressReader 2.2 has been released. This update features a fresh new look and a slew of changes poised to make users old and new extremely excited. Champion among them, in this news reader’s opinion, is the much smoother navigation. Reading news quickly, effortlessly and effectively is what makes the iOS and tablet era a thrilling one. In fact, one probably wouldn’t be too hard pressed to argue that stuttering scrolling is a major detriment to news and reading apps that could otherwise be incredible.
According to the release that accompanied the update to PressReader, users can expect smoother operation, faster navigation, simplified downloading and delivery of newspapers.
Additionally:
Faster zooming in graphics mode
Ability to wirelessly print full pages and individual articles to AirPrint-enabled printers
Improved message format when sharing an article via Facebook
New Library Shelf view that mimics a traditional newsstand
Improved navigation using section and page slider
Ability to automatically remove publications after 60 days (users can still choose to automatically remove issues after 3, 7, 14, and 30 days, or choose not to automatically remove old publications).
Simplified automatic delivery of newspapers
Ability to exclude downloaded publications when backing up via iTunes
Numerous performance and stability improvements to enhance the browsing experience
As an aside, while the app may be free, the newspaper subscriptions are not. PressReader was designed to complement the PressDisplay service previously available. PressDisplay is the service you subscribe to in order to actively read and download newspapers in PressReader for your iOS device.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted September 10th, 2010 by Brian Hudson Our Rating: :: JUST ANOTHER FREE BOOK READER
MegaReader is competing in a crowded and highly competitive corner of the App Store, and while it isn't a bad app, it doesn't have the weapons to win the war. It simply isn't offering enough to entice most users away from the likes of iBooks or Kindle.
Joining the swathe of apps updated for iPhone 4, Phantom Fish has enhanced its Byline newsreader app to make use of the iPhone 4’s Retina display. The app also takes advantage of multitasking in iOS4.
Byline takes news from sites listed in your Google Reader account and makes them available on your iPhone using their RSS feeds. The app allows users to view pages without an internet connection with its offline browsing feature and syncs with your Google Reader account so that your news is always up-to-date. The app is also compatible with Twitter, Instapaper and Read It Later.
Version 3.2 is available now on the App Store and brings high-resolution graphics for optimum viewing on the iPhone 4’s Retina Display and uses multitasking to complete syncing and caching of feeds in the background.
Byline is available for free with advertising or at $4.99 for the advertising-free version.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted May 26th, 2010 by Bonnie Eisenman Our Rating: :: NICHE APP
Guzzle is a good app, and the service does a solid job of constructing keyword-specific news feeds. If you need a narrowly-focused news feed, it's worth looking at. Just be sure to test out the (free) website first.
Reeder is one of the better looking and functioning Google Reader enabled RSS readers for the iPhone. We got word last week that the currently in-development iPad version is getting closer to release. In addition, the developer posted a few screen shots for us to take a look at.
From the looks of the preview screens, Reeder is going to be as gorgeous and innovative on the iPad as it is on the iPhone. We don’t know if Reeder for the iPad will be released as a separate app or as an Universal update to the iPhone version yet. Definitely one to keep an eye out for though.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted March 29th, 2010 by Jason Fanguy Our Rating: :: REMARKABLE READER
MobileRSS Pro is a well-developed, reliable, feature-rich feed reader for the iPhone. If you use Google Reader (or not) and are looking for a reader app, MobileRSS Pro is well worth its price.
It began with a Disney Store pilot program where staff would ring out customers via an iPod Touch. A system that was so successful Apple rolled the handhelds into all of their retail stores replacing their well weathered Windows CE-based EasyPay system. Recent reports are indicating Apple is even considering opening this up to widespread commercial use. While great for large retail businesses, the EasyPay Touch units are simply too bulky and overpowered to really be useful for all of the small businesses out there.
Thus the Square is born! A company brought to life by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, has created a adapter for reading “payment cards from any device with an audio input jack, including your mobile phone,” as stated on their website. Still in beta testing, the Square is expected to launch sometime in early 2010. They certainly aren’t the only ones eyeing this highly untapped and potentially very profitable market though.
Morphie, the company which has been mainly focused battery packs for the iPhone, is the newest player to the game and they are certainly going to be steep competition. Released today was information on a Credit Card Reader which will be specifically designed for the iPhone/iPod Touch that will be accompanied by its own specially made app to run it. Details are still sketchy right now with more being promised at CES 2010 but based on the mockups alone its already creating a stir in the community. Make sure to check back early and often next week for our coverage of CES and hopefully more info on this guy.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted November 3rd, 2009 by Bonnie Eisenman Our Rating: :: INCOMPLETE
Push News is a decent idea, but it needs more features to make it your one-stop way of reading the news. For now, I'd advise looking elsewhere if you want to stay up-to-date.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted July 21st, 2009 by Bonnie Eisenman Our Rating: :: EXCELLENT
The B&N eReader is a fantastic piece of software that is far superior to Amazon's Kindle for iPhone app. But without a killer piece of e-ink hardware, B&N's app might not be widely adopted...yet. Regardless, I'm ecstatic that there's a new player in the ebook field, especially since this is the best eReader app I've seen so far!
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted June 17th, 2009 by Bonnie Eisenman Our Rating: :: USEFUL
News Fuse is a streamlined app that gives you easy access to a wide variety of news sites. It's not rich in features, but it makes up for it in ease-of-use. If mobile Safari is too cumbersome for you, give this app a go.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted May 4th, 2009 by Bonnie Eisenman Our Rating: :: SLOPPY
Trackr might be the first app to let you remotely start torrent downloads, but that doesn't mean it's anywhere near decent. This RSS reader/torrent downloader mash-up fails in both categories.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted April 17th, 2009 by Billy Miller Our Rating: :: AVERAGE
In a couple of the cases I was genuinely surprised how well the software worked. Text that I could barely make out was interpreted perfectly. Conversely, perfectly legible text in standard fonts was not transferred at all.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted April 6th, 2009 by Bonnie Eisenman Our Rating: :: BELOW AVERAGE
TechCrunch is a tech-centric blog network, and their offline reader promises to deliver all of their content in a quick, convenient package. While it's pretty enough to look at, and has plenty of features, the reader is just too crash-prone to justify consistent use.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted March 20th, 2009 by Chris Hall Our Rating: :: SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE
Good Reader is a document reader that stands out because it can read mega-sized files (200+ Mb!). The idea is wonderful, but the slow speeds and long load times make this one quite average.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted December 24th, 2008 by Perrin Stewart Our Rating: :: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Stanza is one of the preeminent ebook readers on the iPhone / iPod Touch, with an intuitive interface, support for a wide variety of ebook formats, and an online store.
iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Posted December 23rd, 2008 by Gary Lucero Our Rating: :: RECOMMENDED
eReader is a electronic book reader for the iPhone and iPod Touch. While there are other alternatives, some free and some not, eReader works well, is reliable, and makes reading a joy on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Joining the swathe of apps updated for iPhone 4, Phantom Fish has enhanced its Byline newsreader app to make use of the iPhone 4’s Retina display. The app also takes advantage of multitasking in iOS4. 
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