iPhone/iTouch Application Review – iNews Free RSS Reader

I love my iTouch – much more than a MP3 player, it allows me to stay read RSS feeds without having to start up my laptop or netbook.  Before using iNews, I used another reader (called FREE RSS) but downloaded this when the developer made the lite version of iNews identical to the iNews commercial version.

iNews Free is great to use.  The interface is easy to work with, even if you have big fingers.  Nothing too spectacular about the start-up screen:

A few seconds later, you’re greeted with the feeds.  There are some standard feeds that are displayed when you first download the application and install it.  What you see below is my own feed, along with some of the default items that are part of the initial setup.

What you see here is the list of feeds, along with the count of the number of unread items within that feed.  If a feed is bolded, it means that there are new items in there.  A neat feature of iNews is if you tap the iNews text on the top bar, you can switch to the icon view of available items.

I personally prefer the standard view.

As soon as I installed the application on my iTouch, I immediately started to configure my feeds – I didn’t worry too much about configuring the application.  I wanted to put the application through its paces before doing anything else.  As I mentioned, there are several default feeds that iNews comes with but you will want to add your own favourites.  Easy to do.

Simply tap the EDIT button and you will be shown this screen:

From here you can move existing feeds around – for example if you want Dilbert first, simply move it above Gear Diary by using the last icon on the feed line.

Want to edit an existing feed?  Simply selecting it will bring up the Edit screen for that feed:

A nice feature is the ability to Preview Feed.  There are also Auto Download options available to you: OFF, IMG ONLY, ARTICLE TXT or ARTICLE IMG.  I’ve turned this off as I prefer to do the updates myself.

There are several ways to add new feeds to inews:

• Add Popular Feed: Shows you dozens of feed, such as Apple News (Daring fireball, Infinite Loop, Macworld, Mac Rumors, Apple Insider), News (BBC News World, New York Times, USA Today News), Sports (ESPN.com, Yahoo Nascar, MotoGP, AOL Sports, CBC Hockey), Popular Tumblr, Fun, Lifestyle, Thinkers, VC Blogs, Celebrities, Geeky, Technology, DIY, Design, Mom, Dad, Video, Food, Finance…whew!  There are still several more categories you can choose from.  In fact, you may never need to look for feeds again!
• Add Your Google Reader: If you use Google Reader, bring those feeds and updates into iNews.  I did find a bug here, I tapped “Cancel” several times, and the application did crash on me.  Minor annoyance.
• Search For Feed: Just like it says.  Brings up a search box, where you can type in your terms, click search and the application finds you feeds with the keywords you’ve asked to search for.  Simply touch the feed you want, and it’s added to your list.
• Add Alltop.com or OPML:  Touching this option gives you a top level category (for example, Health) followed by sub-categories (for example, Acne, Addiction, AIDS, Cancer, Diabetes etc.,).  Touching any of the items, adds the sub-category to your list.  If you are familiar with Alltop.com you’ll know that they are an RSS aggregator, providing all the top stories in those categories it tracks.
• Add New Feed: This is where you do it yourself.  Enter the feed name, the URL address and any limits, set the Auto Download options, preview your feed if so desired and you’re done.

Screen Shots

Reading feeds, and working with them is very easy with iNews.

Touching a feed title brings you into the list of entries for that feed.  Selecting an item from the feed allows you to do several things, in addition to simply reading it.

You can run a slideshow of articles in that feed – so rather than moving to each item in the feed you can read a portion of the feed for 5-10 seconds and then you’re shown the next article in the feed.  It might be useful to someone, I didn’t find it particularly useful.  If you use Evernote (I don’t) then you have the ability to push the article to Evernote.

Once the article is on your screen, you can share it, add it to your favorite and easily move between the previous and next article or go back to the list of articles.

As these are RSS feeds, you don’t see the full article – so you also have the ability to open the article in Safari or read it within the application.

My complaint with either opening in Safari or reading it within the application is that the spinner which is shown is against the white backdrop so you’re not always sure if the application is retrieving the article or it’s frozen.  But other than that annoyance, there isn’t anything else to complain about when reading articles.

Going back to the list of articles within a feed, suppose you have several articles that you’d like to read but would like to read them offline.  Simply tap the select button and tap the articles you want to read, and tap the ReadItLater menu item – note that you will need an account on ReadItLater.com though.

If there are individual articles that you would like to read later, after selecting the article you have the ability to share that article, via e-mail, Instapaper (need an account – something I haven’t done yet), Twitter, Twitter with Commend or Facebook.

The one feature I thought was a real waste was all the shaking that you can do to delete feeds, read articles, configure menus etc.,  Seriously – I’m reading articles, why would I want to shake to go to the next/previous article?

The other menu item that I thought was ambiguous was the Download item.  I would expect you select an article or articles, hit download and they would show up in your notepad to be read offline – nope.  Download simply means “download with images” – so that if there are images in the articles in that feed, they’re downloaded.  There is an online help file available, but even that doesn’t make it clear what this item does.

Overall if you’re looking for a well designed RSS Reader and don’t care much for the extras that you probably will not use (shaking) then iNews is the one you should be looking at.  Easy to use and with dozens (if not hundreds) of available feeds you will never need to search the web to find a feed again.

Developers Website

Networking 101 – How To Network With People

Regardless of the type of business you are in, networking helps establish a circle of friends – whether business/casual – that might be able to help you some time in the future.  Remember though, networking goes both ways – you cannot expect someone to help and never offer anything in return or not be willing to help.  It could be something as simple as speaking about what you do at their kids school or an introduction to someone in your company that they may be able to sell a product/service to.

One of the easiest ways, and probably the one filled with less angst than any other would be to attend school functions.  For example:

• Attend functions at your childs school
• Attend functions at your previous schools – perhaps high school, college or university

These are good ways of starting to network with others.  The scope may be very limited, but it may give you an opportunity to speak to teachers and other parents and introduce yourself.

Have you considered volunteering in your community?  Now, don’t volunteer just to network – you should be volunteering because you want to and because you are aiding a worthwhile endeavour.  You don’t want to manipulate the organization for your own needs – not a good way to network.

Hint – if you really want to manipulate and get your way, then you should check out this book The 48 Laws Of Power… but use at your own risk!

I don’t want to review the book here, as there are many reviews of this book available but some of the laws are more like common sense, for example: Always Say Less Than Necessary – “When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control.  Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.  Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less.  The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.”.

The book is a good read, but use with caution.

Now back to the topic at hand – networking.

Another good way to network would be to attend functions hosted by your companies suppliers or associates (if you’re invited to them, of course).  For example some of the companies that we work with host annual functions and key members of the sales and support team are invited to attend.  I generally will attend these, as it gives me the opportunity to meet with our partners and individuals in their company.

How else can you network:

• Toastmasters – learn how to improve your public speaking abilities, and meet other business people at the same time, the PERFECT place to network!
• Associations and Clubs – are you an accountant?  You’re probably either working on your designation, or are already designated (CA, CMA, CGA, CPA) so why not attend chapter functions or training?  Great way to meet other accountants.  Virtually every profession now has associations/clubs/chapters that meet regularly.
• Social networking – LinkedIn, one of the best ways to meet others.  Though done virtually, I’ve spoken over the phone to some members that I’m connected with.

There are some rules when you meet other people, they should all be common sense but if you’re shy or have never networked before (you have, perhaps you just don’t realize it) professionally you may not know them:

1. Smile.  It’s easy.  You don’t want to scowl or frown or any other expression.  Smile.  Laugh, and the world laughs with you, cry and you’re all alone.
2. Ask questions.  So you’ve “wandered” into a group and listen into their discussion.  Show some interest, when you get the opportunity ask a question about what they are discussing.  It will show the others that you are interested and are engaged.
3. Listen.  Everyone likes to talk about themselves, if you’re shy then listening should be easy.  It will also allow you to carry on a conversation, even though it may be a bit one-sided.
4. Business cards.  Keep them with you, wherever you go!  Years ago, when I ran my own computer consulting business I’d pop into stores like Staples and drop my business card on the typewriters still sitting there or near peripherals etc., It helped me gain contacts with individuals, which in turn led to introductions to companies.  Most businesses don’t want you soliciting on their premises and perhaps this was a no-no but I remember something one of my clients told me (who just happened to pick-up one of my cards): “It’s easier to ask forgiveness, than it is to get permission” (Grace Hopper).

When you start networking, you need to be yourself – don’t try to be something or someone else.  It’s difficult to keep up with charades.  When speaking with others, tap into your interests — you never know who may share them and you’ll find something common to speak about and build a friendship.

In todays digital age, you can also ask for introductions.  LinkedIn is an ideal place to start.  As you build your professional contacts, you may find someone who knows someone in a company that you’d like to work at.  Most people on LinkedIn are more than willing to help.  I”ve used LinkedIn to help friends get introduced to individuals that I’m connected with directly or through 2nd or 3rd level contacts.  All of them have been positive and some have generated results for the individuals.

Once you’ve established a good network, try to keep in touch.  If they’re in the same industry as you are in, and will be attending workshops/training — try to attend.  This is the basic tenant of making and keeping friends.  If you only meet once, what’s the chance they will remember you 6-months later?  Try to stay in touch with them – it might be something as simple as an occasional e-mail of a news story you think they might find interesting or something related to their profession.

Finally always be willing to take risks.  For example: I attend breakfast meetings for the call center organization that I’m a member of.  The tables are set with 12 places, when I arrive (usually one of the early ones) and there are people already seated, I introduce myself by giving everyone a card and asking for theirs.  This helps me in several ways:

1. I find out who I’m seated beside and who else is at the table.
2. I learn their name, I can now address them accordingly.
3. I know where they work – useful information.
4. I have their e-mail address – they may be receptive to an occasional e-mail related to our profession.

This simple introduction helps break the ice and gets the ball rolling.

iTouch/iPhone Application Review

Aaaah, marketing at its finest.

As you no doubt have read on Wired already, some companies will charge to have them review iPhone applications (see http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/app-store-payola).  This is nothing new, and while it is questionable I would think of it as a marketing expense.

This is basically how it works. 

You’ve developed an application, and you want widespread PR for that application.  You could stick it up on the App Store and wait for people to find it (discover it) by offering it at a reduced price or for free.  You could be waiting for a looong time.

Or you could send your application to the dozens of sites around the net that will review your product.  You could have it reviewed for free, and it will eventually make it to their database of applications that they’ve reviewed.  In the process, you could pay for enhanced listings as well – such as front page listing, bolded listing, ability to add logos etc.,  You could also pay to jump ahead of the multitude of developers in line to have their applications reviewed.

Are you paying for the review?  No.  You’re paying to jump ahead of the queue.

The Wired article says “Soliciting money in exchange for a product review is not illegal, but the practice should raise questions about the credibility and independence of the review sites, critics say.” and while it may be questionable, it would not affect the credibility or independence of the review.

The site is performing the same review, but rather than the developer waiting weeks or months – they are jumping ahead of the queue by paying to have it reviewed sooner than later.

With that said, I’ve opted for an iTouch.  Sure, an iPhone would be great, but data plans in Canada are expensive and I spend 8-10 hours per day at work.  My own personal cell phone hardly gets used, so spending $100.00 on another voice plan plus data plan didn’t make sense for me.

I use the Touch as an MP3 as that’s what its really designed for but also as my PDA – and while an all-in-one smartphone is really best suited for this function nowadays, it works quite fine for me to use it in this way.  Besides for work purposes, I do have a Blackberry.

I also use my Touch to surf the web when I’m in a wifi zone – yes, it would be nice to surf the web on an iPHone but honestly – there is very little need for me to do so.

My Touch is quite nice and for now, is all that I really need.

With all the applications out there, do you simply try each one?  That could get expensive even if the vast majority are $0.99 each — most are now in the $1.99 range and slowly but steadily increasing in price.

I tend to download applications like news readers, to-do lists etc., Things to make day-to-day activities (like shopping) easier. 

RSS News Readers

I am a news junkie and really like looking for RSS News Readers.  There are quite a few of them on the App Store.  Many are paid but there are a lot of free ones.

There are two applications that I’ve downloaded, and have been using for several months now.

Application #1 is called FREE RSS and the second is iNews.

Free RSS has over 17,000 reviews and is rated a 3-star.  iNews (FREE) has only 98 and is rated 2.5 star.

How do they stack-up – check out the next post, and I’ll go over the strong and weak points of each application – remember both are FREE applications.