Tag: Npr »

Today is a good day for fans of music like the indigenous folk rock music of southern Papua, New Guinea as NPR has launched an updated version of their music app for the iPad. The newly launched NPR Music is a one-stop listening shop for iPad users, providing free access to basically everything NPR has to offer. Users have access to extensive music collections from a variety of genres, all organized by category for easy perusal. Furthermore, you can check out news, signature NPR programming, listen to live events or even stream entire stations all with a couple taps and swipes.

In a move that will really please audiophiles, NPR Music allows you to save playlists for later offline listening, a free service which normally locked away as a "premium" features in apps like Spotify. We do however assume that at some point the app will bombard you with endless pledge drives until you find some way to insert $20 into your iPad. But isn't that a small price to pay the first time you whip out your iPad, load up your NPR app and completely blow the minds of your hipster friends?

Listen up you fiendishly mellow NPR listeners out there, the NPR Music app has been released and it is certain to crank up your typical 80/55 blood pressure to a level that only the common man has to deal with.

Packed into the app is everything that you could want in an NPR music app, including all of your favorite mellow rock, jazz, blues, world, and classical music, streaming live from more than 75 public radio stations. The app also includes interviews, reviews, live performances, and news from over 5,000 bands with "hundreds" of new music stories added monthly.

Pick up NPR Music as soon as you can (it's free!) and mellow out a bit. Maybe you can listen to some calming world music while you're getting swamped in an online game of Strategery on your new iPhone 4. It really does help.

With iOS4 and the iPhone 4 hitting this week, it's not so surprising that we've seen tons of new apps. This week's Friday Five features a number of big-name efforts, many of which highlight the features of the iPhone 4 and iOS4. Let's get started!

Farmville
The productivity-sucking, Facebook-spawned plague has been unleashed upon the App Store masses. Someone say a prayer for us all. The iOS version is supposed to sync with the Facebook version, so if you already have a farm, don't worry about maintaining two! Just like on Facebook, you "grow" both plants and livestock and earn coins and XP for your troubles. This app also includes in-app purchase options for both coins and premium "Farm Cash."

Eliminate:GunRange
I don't know why Eliminate:GunRange is missing spaces in the title. I can tell you, however, that it's ngmoco's brand-new, iPhone 4-exclusive title. A spin-off of the popular Eliminate FPS series, GunRange is designed to take advantage of the iPhone 4's gyroscope and Retina display. The game drops you into one of three shooting ranges and lets you blast away at targets using any of twelve weapons. Support for the iPhone 3GS and additional content are promised in the future.

Windows Live Messenger
Despite the whole Apple/Microsoft battle, Microsoft has apparently seen fit to release a messenger client for its Windows Live service. It's pretty much your typical IM app, with hooks in most major social networks (Flickr, Facebook, Youtube, MySpace, etc). In addition to chatting and sharing photos, you can access your Hotmail email account from within the app.

NPR Music
NPR is a wonderful, wonderful organization. It's simply incredible how much they give away, for free. NPR Music follows their long-since-released NPR News app and gives you access to NPR's musical selections. Listeners can choose from Classical, Hip-Hop, Jazz, and more. Live streams from over 75 public radio stations are available. Folks with new iPhones can take advantage of backgrounding, listening to music even when the app is closed.

DC Comics
DC makes its iPhone debut with many familiar comics: Batman, Green Lantern, the Justice League, Sandman, and more. The app itself is something like a comic-store, from which you can download individual comics via in-app purchase. Most comics run $1.99 apiece. (A few freebies are available, too.) For viewing comics, there's either a full-page view or a Guided Reading option; with the DC app, all of your comics are contained in one simple app. Comic lovers should at least download the free app and check out the full selection.

I'm a bit of a news junky, but lately the news is just dragging me down. Someone else died, people lost jobs, and a baseball player took steroids. It's gotten to a point to where I don't even enjoy reading/listening to it anymore. It's not advancing my life at all... just making my existence seem pretty fortunate compared to others. I guess that's a good thing.

Lately I've turned to podcasts, the slightly more colorful delivery method of the news that I so crave. I spent hours digging through iTunes looking for the next greatest news-like show, until one day I found Radiolab.

Radiolab, for those of you that are unaware, is the greatest thing to ever happen to the radio. The show is a limited edition show, but it's available, in its entirety, for free on iTunes. Amazing. Unfortunately, I've now listened to everything that they have ever put on the air, so I had to find another muse. I turned to This American Life and it's fascinating stories of Americana... or whatever you want to call it. I then realized something that I hadn't ever before. I've fully transformed into a deep thought craving adult... am I ready?

Yes... the truth hurts. I am now one of those people-- the post-grad NPR/world music listening crowd that tries to eat healthy and read books. What I didn't expect was I am in the majority here. Looking at the top free news apps on iTunes today, I found NPR news sitting pretty at #1. I had to have it.

It turns out that the NPR News app is pretty darn amazing. Not only does it show you the news, but it gives you access to every NPR station in America, along with 'On Demand' broadcasts of older episodes. With 'On Demand', I can not only listen to the regularly aired episodes of Radiolab, but also the Radiolab 'shorts' that you previously had to download or get off the website. The kicker is that you can do all this while reading the news of the day... creating a possible brain damaging information overload. Watch yourself.

So, loyal 148apps readers, I implore you to pick up the NPR News app... it'll change your life. Well, maybe not your life, but at least your commute. For the price of a glass of tap water at Panera Bread, this one is a must have.