Tag: Information »

With a huge amount of news to take in on a daily basis, it can get pretty overwhelming to keep track of everything. This is precisely where news aggregation systems such as Evri help immensely.

Previously solely a website, Evri is now bundled as an iPad app offering personalized news reading services for anyone interested at the grand price of nothing. Offering a different approach to many other services, Evri tackles things via the topics offered. When an user identifies a topic they're interested in, Evri scours 15,000 web sources, including social networks, in order to deliver interesting stories connected to the topic.

This approach makes for a fascinating exploration of all kinds of interesting subjects. Topics can be extremely varied, from the latest political goings on in congress to the latest celebrity gossip or movie news. One section might offer stories on the battle for gay rights, while another might explain the latest football scores. Ultimately, it's down to the user to make Evri their ideal news app.

There's plenty of functionality ensuring that users can inform the app of their favorite channels for easy consultation. Integration within Facebook and Twitter adds a further personalized twist to matters. Collecting up all the links that Facebook and Twitter friends are talking about, it's an ideal way of diving into what the user's friends are talking about at any one time without having to rely on scouring the timeline feed to see what stories have been linked to.

Throughout, the information is provided in an interesting manner. Looking a little like a pinboard, photos and a caption are offered on each of the main stories with a quick swipe moving users onto another screen if nothing takes their interest initially. Once a story is selected, related topics and featured articles connected provide further context.

All this put together makes for an enticing proposition for news fans making Evri an ideal app to give a shot.

Knowledge is power so they say. Excluding huge wealth, I suspect the elusive 'they' are right. Quora won't provide great financial fortunes (probably) but it will provide plenty of knowledge.

Providing a neat combination of social networking and knowledge, Quora allows users to ask people questions as well as answer other people's queries. Over 60,000 topics are covered enabling users to search through thousands of different location based topics as well as anything else that may grip them.

Kind of like Wikipedia, it opens up a huge breadth of knowledge on everything from current affair issues to simply asking people what it's like to be in their chosen career field. Users could even use it for relationship advice or tourism information for a specific area. It's a fascinating insight into just how much knowledge each and every person may have. An instant reminder that everyone is knowledgeable about something, even if they don't yet realise it.

Quora is a free app so why not give it a shot today? It makes an entertaining change from the likes of Wikipedia.

Videos, games, photos, GPS functionality and more. The iPhone can do a heck of a lot, especially considering the fact that it's a phone and not a PC. One thing it's not quite adept at is integrating a lot of that into the actual "phone" part. Enter MetaSwitch and their clever little app, Thrutu.

Thrutu makes true on-the-phone multitasking possible. Users can take and share photos, contact information, their current location and more with a tap or two. The mileage one gets out of this largely depends on how they tend to interact with people over the phone, but certain aspects of its usefulness are pretty obvious. Sharing location info makes random, and even planned, meet-ups much simpler than "I'm standing over by the big duck." Getting a friend's opinion remotely on a new outfit can be done instantly. It even cuts down the time needed for those "Let me get you the number" situations.

It's important to note that Thrutu does require some initial setup. Users have to register their phone number in order to use the service, and it can only work when both ends of the conversation have the app installed. Fortunately, it's also set up to sort through contact lists for Thrutu users (with default contact lists still available), and there's a handy Invite button for anyone without it.

Keep in mind that, because Thrutu is designed to send various amounts of digital information, it also requires a 3G or wi-fi connection. There are bound to be some areas where it's largely ineffective (like when on a camping trip or on the subway) and some contacts who just won't be able to make proper use of it. Then again, if these people have a smart phone chances are they have access to at least one of the two.

Thrutu certainly shows enormous potential, both as a personal use app and one for more business-oriented users. There are a few small hoops to jump through in order to get it going, but once everything is set up it's smooth sailing. The real trick is to get everyone using it. I guess that means I've just done my part.

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Being able to protect data is an increasingly important issue for iOS device owners. With a device that encourages its users to store photos, contact details and other useful notes, it's just as important to be able to hide them away from unwanted eyes. While a passcode will protect the device on the whole, it's useful to have an extra layer of protection. Something that MyLocker from Inspike can provide.

It's an app that works much like a safe, requiring three number combinations to unlock the information within it. Users can store various contact details behind this lock, as well as photos and notes such as credit card information or anything else that's considered important to the user.

MyLocker is a simple app to get to grips with and only takes a matter of seconds to set up. Multiple users can also be set up for devices used by more than one person. It's just as easy to log into as well to retrieve the information.

MyLocker is a free app, although an in-app purchase of $0.99 is needed in order to be able to store photos behind the virtual safe.

It's available now for all iOS devices.

As a huge newshound, the kind of person who can't last a day without tracking down some world news from somewhere, Trove looks like a pretty cool idea to me. It's an app that offers personalized news and information with some great customization options.

Trove is able to retrieve articles from more than 10,000 sources encompassing pretty much every news and information source you could possibly think of. Interested in technology? There's a plethora of sources on offer and the same is the case with every political, sports, entertainment, gaming and financial story you can think of. And that's just the ones that immediately spring to mind. There's no limit here really. In testing, I found Trove would find news stories for everything from the latest video game release, Brink, to a local surburb near my hometown.

Upon immediately opening the app, users can consult the editor's pick section to see what's of interest at the moment. Right now Libya and Osama Bin Laden are providing much of the focus but this adapts depending on the big stories of the time. Users can adapt the app to their needs by adding entries to the Your Channels section for quick consultation. Many categories can be selected at once and added to this side of the app so users can check in at a glance for stories of interest. Plus the user can then save an article to consult later or keep for reference.

The only catch is that a Facebook account is required in order to use Trove. It's a slightly odd choice as there doesn't seem to be any real connectivity here other than the usual sharing features and it might be a bit offputting for some.

Despite this though, Trove looks set to be a great resource for quickly retrieving the latest news on so many subjects. The ability to view serious current affair news alongside gaming updates and the latest gossip about a favorite celebrity ensures that Trove should be a hit with information enthusiasts of all types.

Trove is a free app for all iOS devices and is available now.

Last year I watched a video of a startup called Qwiki that was presented at TechCrunch Disrupt. They won the $50,000 price. Three months ago, Qwiki released it’s public alpha at Qwiki.com (give it a try). And recently, Qwiki released it’s iPad app.

Qwiki is an information gathering app. It takes researching a topic from just text to a visual, audio, and text experience. Don’t know what to look up? Qwiki updates “featured Qwikis” on it’s home page and iPad app. Qwiki scours the internet for the information needed and presents it with a robotic female voice, text, videos, and pictures.

After the presentation, the ability to improve the Qwiki becomes available where it’s possible to suggest more pictures, videos, or critique the voice (pronunciation or speed). Related Qwikis show up at the bottom and links to more information on sites like Wikipedia and YouTube pop up as well. The option to share the Qwiki on various sites also becomes available (Facebook, Twitter, email, or embed on a website). Watch their presentation at TechCrunch Disrupt below or just visit the site and try it out!