I’m not the first to mention this, I know, but if you have an iPad, check out Flipboard! This is truly a new, fun, and interesting way to keep up on your connected online life. The app tagline is “Your social magazine.” Definitely worthy of the App of the Year award.
What’s so neat about this app is not the mounds of preconfigured RSS-based content, but the ability to add your own Facebook, Twitter, Flick, and Google Reader feeds. Once added, you can flip through the pages of content, making it easy to skim or dive deeper into various posts in which you may be interested.
What I really like about the app is the automatic collection of linked URLs in posts, allowing me to decide if I want to read an actual article posted (especially handy with URL shorteners), or if I just want to walk right by.
You can set up sections for your primary Google Reader, Twitter or Facebook feeds, or you can set up sections for individual feeds or lists you have in those services, allowing you to quickly follow the specific stuff you want. I’ve found this most useful for some of my FaceBook Groups that I’ve been bad about following because they’re not more visible in my feed. As with many other content aggregators I’ve found on the iPad, there is an inbuilt web browser that allows you to load articles inside the app.
I’m using this app all day, every day.
That said, I don’t think it’s quite perfect. I have a Google Reader account, for example, that I follow about 200 distinct feed (some are obviously more important to me than others – I can’t keep up with all of them all the time. I really need to do some cleanup there). The content flow at that number of feeds is a bit on the overwhelming side if you simply look through the Google Reader section. Once I’m logged into Google Reader in the app, I can add individual feeds or folders, but they show up in the main interface right along side the primary Google Reader section.
But if that’s the worst I have to say about the app, I think they guys at Flipboard are doing something right. They’ve definitely taken advantage of the iPad and the possibilities of Apple’s tablet platform. Go get the app now – it’s free!
VirtualKrueger 