Since I mentioned “aggregators” in my recent blog about RSS, I thought that this would be a good opportunity to give you more information about aggregators and my own list of the best of them.
WHAT’S AN AGGREGATOR?
Simple, it’s an app that pulls information together from different sources. For example, a news aggregator makes it easier for you to read headlines and articles from different news sources, but all in one place. You tailor the feeds to your specific interests and preferences. It also allows you to share articles with your friends via email, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. A blog aggregator does the same thing, but takes its materials exclusively from blogs.
Here are a few of the most popular and/or efficient aggregators. Choose the one that’s right for your device and interests.
DRUDGE *
All news junkies know about The Drudge Report, but for those not familiar with it, “Drudge,” as it’s commonly called, is a web site that aggregates the top news stories and includes an extensive list of editorial writers from a variety of news sources with links to their columns. Now there’s a Drudge app so it’s easier to read updates on your mobile devices.
* This link is to the iTunes app store for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPads. For the Droid version; click here, the Blackberry version, here. And, of course, the computer version is here.
SkyGrid streams information from all over the Web: mainstream news, social sites, blogs, etc. It’s considered to be the best way to follow the things you care about because you can stay up to date on any interest you want to follow - news, business, politics, technology, science, sports teams, celebs, etc., and get updates of what's hot right now. And, you can save articles to Instapaper to read later when you don’t have an Internet connection.
Pulse takes your favorite websites and transforms them into an interactive mosaic. When you tap on an article you will see a view of the story which you can share via Facebook, Twitter, Email or read later on Instapaper. You can switch between a text summary of the article or go to the website directly. Offline synch is available so if you don’t have an Internet connection Pulse loads your news stories and makes them available wherever you are.
Available only for the iPad, Flipboard treats a Twitter feed like a magazine article by showing the post and converting it into a full article by simply tapping the screen. In addition to picking and choosing categories you want to follow on Twitter, it’s a fast, easy way to flip through the news, photos and updates that your friends are sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader and Flickr. You can customize your Flipboard with sections created from your favorite news sites, people, lists, groups and blogs. Transforming how we read on our iPads, it’s considered to be one of the most innovative products of 2010.
Right now this is an Apple device and Mac only app. No answer is available regarding their plans for a Droid or Blackberry version, sorry. Having said this, for Apple users, it’s a terrific app for aggregating all the blogs you like to read, and worth downloading. It uses the native iTunes, Safari, and Mail approach to organizing your blog lists, allowing you to create folders by title.
A relative newcomer to the world of aggregation, and that’s a relative statement since everyone is a relative newcomer, Taptu filters your RSS feeds with an at-a-glance view of the headlines. You dig deeper only on those articles or blogs that you want to read. Their blog streams are curated by subject so you get the best of the best without having to do your own research on which is the best.
Added on March 26, 2011
NEWS 360
This app just came to my attention and is my now my favorite news aggregator app. Why? Because first the images tell the story, and then there's a headline followed by the story. You can choose to read it from any one of multiple news sources. It's available for all SmartPhones and the iPad.
Added on March 26, 2011
This app just came to my attention and is my now my favorite news aggregator app. Why? Because first the images tell the story, and then there's a headline followed by the story. You can choose to read it from any one of multiple news sources. It's available for all SmartPhones and the iPad.
UPDATED - April 29, 2011
If News 360 wasn't your favorite news aggregator app before, it will be now because they just added video so now, in addition to reading the news, you can watch a video of it too if an article's feed includes it.
These are just a few suggestions to give you a running start. Choose the approach that's best for your news and blog reading needs. Many of them are free, but for those that aren't, be sure to read the reviews before you buy. Caveat emptor, and all that.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving a message. I'm always interested in your thoughts and comments, and look forward to reading what you have to say.