Just before the weekend, a new Read Later app launched. Yes, you rightly shout, there are a ton of these apps around already. Hell, even Safari can save pages off line for reading later. But the new app/service, called DotDotDot, shows what these services should be. It’s not polished (it’s an early beta), but it already shows up the competition.
Which brings me to “the competition.” I just ditched Instapaper, the grandaddy of read-later apps, for Pocket. Why? Read on.
We’ve been excited for iSteve, Funny or Die’s upcoming Steve Jobs movie, since it was announced on March 18, and with just under two weeks to go until its release, we’ve got its first teaser trailer. Check it out below.
Picfari is a smart little iPhone app which tells you where all the best photos are to be taken – wherever you are. Say you’re on vacation in, I don’t know… Barcelona, Spain. Fire up the app and it’ll not only let you browse photo hotspots, it’ll also pull in great sample shots from places like Flickr, and even give you some tips on getting the best shots.
With Google Reader set to close up shop on June 3oth there have been a number of apps competing to replace the dying RSS service. Digg and Reeder have emerged as popular replacements, but Feedly has seen tremendous growth thanks to Google Reader’s death.
Since Google’s announcement that it’s killing Google Reader, Feedly has seen more than 3 million new users joined the service. To make things even better, Feedly just released a big app update for iOS that includes a new discovery engine, better sharing, and a must read section. With the new update and the development of a Google Reader API clone called Normandy, Feedly is looking like it will be one of the best replacements for Google Reader.
Here are the release notes on what’s new in Feedly version 14:
Reeder has long been our favorite newsreading app on the iPhone and iPad, but with Google Reader set to be discontinued on June 30th, the future of Reeder has been up in the air. Google Reader is the engine that drives Reeder, but with no clear alternative right now, it’s not exactly sure what Reeder’s new engine will be come July 1st.
So Reeder’s doing the right thing and not making people pay quite as much for an app with a seemingly uncertain future. Developer Silvio Rizzi are making the app free on both iPad and Mac, and they are halting development on the app until July 1st to wait until the dust settles and a clear Google Reader replacement emerges.
Unfortunately, Rizzi’s largesse only goes so far: the iPhone version still costs $2.99. I think it’s a price worth paying for the only iPhone feedreader in my view worth a damn, and with Reeder set to add Feedbin support sometime soon, my guess is that it will continue to be a strong app going forward.
Apple has been getting pounded by the Chinese press lately for its warranty policies service and not talking to the press whenever they want a statement (welcome to Apple news my friends). Hoping to end the onslaught from the government-supported press, Apple issued an apology letter to Chinese customers signed by Tim Cook.
The letter, which was written in Chinese and posted to Apple’s website, said that Tim Cook and the rest of the company have been reflecting on the feedback regarding its warranty policies and apologizes the poor communication that has made customers so angry.
Using map apps on the iPhone can be a pain when you’re trying to zoom in to check out some specific detail of where you’re going.
Usually you have to use one hand to hold your iPhone and the other to pinch and zoom, but Google just made an awesome new zooming gesture that only requires one hand and one finger.
The biggest Apple expo in the world is moving to a new date for 2014 in order to avoid the Super Bowl and CES. Macworld/iWorld 2014 has been rescheduled for March 27th through March 29th.
Last year’s Macworld/iWorld expo was held from January 31st to February 2nd, which coincided with the Super Bowl and is only a few weeks removed from CES and holiday travel.
Tim Cook may be leading one of the most influential and valuable companies on earth now, but he used to be in high school just like the rest of us. Some yearbook photos of Cook’s early years at Robertsdale High School in Robertsdale, Alabama have surfaced. How adorable!
Cook was unsurprisingly voted “most studious” freshman year, and it was an obvious mistake to exclude him from the “most likely to succeed” list.
The most likely prediction for Facebook’s project, code-named “Buffy,” is that it’s a modified, Facebook-centric version of Android on an HTC handset with a promise of other handsets — some insiders call it an “application layer.”
The dark horse contender is a Facebook-branded phone.
That’s great, right? Facebook has now friended Google and will join the growing family of Android-loving companies. Uh, right?
Wrong. Facebook is joining the club of Google’s enemies who are using Android to take business away from Google.