newsonaut
Turning inner space into outer space
Friday, May 9, 2014
Yahoo News Digest gives you the news basics you need
Yahoo News Digest has arrived in Canada, and this app for iPhone and Android just might be the easiest way to keep up with general news for the country and around the world.
Nine stories in the morning and nine in the evening await your perusal, along with notifications to remind you to read them. Coverage includes the big events of the day in politics, business and sports. But it can just as easily include a story about a 70-year-old man graduating from high school. The focus is on Canada, although not exclusively.
The good news is that you’ll never miss out on anything important — the selection of stories appears to be reliable in this way. The bad news is that nine stories will do little to quench your thirst if you’re a news junkie or have specialized tastes.
The articles themselves are competently written, although perhaps a bit dry and lacking in personality. Still, they cover they main points, and you can consider yourself well-informed after reading them.
The stories are “summarized by Yahoo,” which means that the original information came from sources such as The Canadian Press, CBC, Reuters and others that are not always specified. These are trustworthy sources, to be sure, but you might wonder why you’re reading the summary when you could be reading the original. CBC and Reuters both have apps available.
Yahoo seems to have anticipated this sentiment with links at the bottom of each story to related write-ups around the Internet. It’s a nice touch that allows you to go deep with subjects that catch your attention.
News Digest adds an element of gaming with a circle of dots at the bottom of the main page. As you read the stories, the dots are filled — providing an incentive of sorts to read them all and complete the circle.
You can also switch to a monthly view to see how many stories you have read in recent weeks. This could be handy for people working to improve themselves by forming a habit of keeping up with the news.
One problem with this approach is that for a story to count as read, all you have to do is tap on its headline. I did this by mistake, and got credit I didn’t deserve. Also, you might wind up reading only a couple of lines before deciding you’re not interested after all. Should this count as “read?”
Beyond this quibble, the design is pleasing to the eye, with a restrained use of colour that gives the an app overall feeling of credibility.
I would recommend this Yahoo News Digest for anyone who feels they aren’t keeping up with the news as much as they should be. There are many business and social situations where you might feel left out if the conversation turns to the major news of the day. News Digest will ensure that you can at least join in with a knowledge of the essentials.
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Sunday, March 30, 2014
Random is a great way to explore good reading
There are two ways to go when it comes to the news — a laser focus on on topic or random discovery.
Apps like Zite, Prismatic and Flipboard do a good job of discovery, using algorithms to bring you stories the software has learned that you find interesting. But now there’s an app called Random that takes this concept a step further.
After firing it up, you’re presented with half a dozen coloured tiles representing a variety of topics. Chances are one of them will tweak your curiosity. Tap it and discover the article, which is guaranteed to be worth reading — it’s not totally random, after all.
If you don’t like any of the topics, tap the white tile in the middle and get a different selection. As you start exploring the subjects, Random gets an idea of what you like and presents you with these subjects more often. Fortunately, though, the app doesn’t get carried away — you can still find yourself looking at topics that might never have occurred to you.
As an example, I went on a bit of a tear with articles about science fiction. As long as I chose this topic, Random was happy to give me more. But today, we’re on a clean slate with submarines and Bill Murray on tap.
Overall, Random is a beautifully designed app with a seemingly endless supply of good reading. But keep one eye on the clock. You might find you’ve spent more random time than you expected.
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Saturday, March 1, 2014
People don't pay for news because they can't afford it
Much has been written about the decline in fortunes of newspapers, and of the news industry in general. One important point that has been lost in the shuffle is the decline of the middle class.
There was a time when it was normal for a family to subscribe to the local daily newspaper. It was cheap and chock full of a variety of content sure to please everyone. Even the kids could fight over who got first dibs on the comics.
But prices have gone up and a Canadian government report finds that incomes have stagnated. Worse, the middle class is actually shrinking — as MoneySense columnist Gail Vaz-Oxlade points out.
As someone who was recently booted out of the middle class when my place of employment, the Kamloops Daily News, shut down, I can tell you that one of the first things I did was look at my budget — how much I was spending and where I could make savings.
Suddenly, newspapers became a luxury. With tax, the Saturday edition of The Vancouver Sun costs $4 in “outlying” areas. When it becomes a choice between the paper and milk for my family, there is no contest.
Not surprisingly, the Globe and Mail no longer even bothers trying to sell to people who make less than $100,000.
The other thing that got cut was cable TV, which in this area pretty much means all TV since over-the-air is almost non-existent. If I want to watch local news, I have to find it on the Internet. An increasing number of people trying to get by in today’s economy have cut cable and gone with Netflix or other alternatives. That trend can’t be encouraging for local news shows.
Unfortunately, with many companies seeing their employees as little more than line items on a spreadsheet, we will continue to see fewer people willing or able to spend money on news.
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Monday, January 6, 2014
News of the future
TV news of the future as envisaged in The Spy from Saturn — in the 1955 DC comic book Strange Adventures.
The spy tried to blend in with Earthlings by taking on the form of one of us. But in the end the people of Earth outsmarted him.
And the planet was once again safe, especially for middle-class American women and children.
The aliens may have been repelled, but are we any less fearful in 2014?
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Friday, December 6, 2013
Drones could fly to the rescue for gathering news
After seeing the promo video of Amazon using a drone to make a delivery, I thought about how a device like that could come in handy for news organizations.
Imagine, for example, there is a terrible fatal accident in the middle of a bridge during rush hour traffic. There’s no way you can get anywhere near it. A helicopter might work if you’re lucky enough to have one, but you still can’t get very close to the action.
Enter the drone reporter. Just punch in the GPS co-ordinates and send it on its way. When it gets close, use a remote control for exact positioning and take pictures. You might even be able to poke a microphone out and interview witnesses.
Worried about bumping into something? Our ideal drone would come with equipment that senses objects nearby and gives them a wide berth.
As it turns out the newly revived American Journalism Review published an article on this topic yesterday. They spoke with University of Nebraska professor Matt Waite.
There’s huge potential for drones to enhance the level of journalism produced in this country, including the ability to collect data during severe weather situations, Waite said in a separate interview with AJR.
Drone reporters could wind up in plenty of places were human reporters fear to tread. To learn more, be sure to check out the Drone Journalism Lab. (Yes, there really is such a thing.)
Image above: A BBC hexacopter.
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Sunday, September 8, 2013
Be a round-the-clock newsroom without round-the-clock staff
News happens 24 hours a day, but if you have a small newsroom you don’t have a lot of people to work all day, all night and through the weekend. With programs that schedule tweets, though, you can fake it.
Using these programs, you can create a bunch of tweets, then pick times for them. So, for example, even though no one is working in the evening or on the weekend — or at least no one with social media in their job description — you can make it look like there is.
Got an exclusive tidbit? Upload it to your website’s CMS to be posted at 7:30 p.m. Then schedule a tweet with a link for 7:35 p.m. And there you have it — breaking news while you relax at home after supper.
But how about weekends? If you’ve got news that will stand for a day or two, schedule tweets about it for Saturday morning before you leave on Friday afternoon. Got some features? Schedule three or four tweets about them over Saturday and Sunday.
One of the main reasons people like Twitter is because it gives them the news as it happens. You might not have the staff to do this, but you do have the technology.
I use Buffer to schedule tweets. But there are other programs that also work well, such as TweetDeck and HootSuite.
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Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Dear Arianna: Thank you for getting rid of anonymous commenters
Arianna Huffington has declared that she will do away with anonymous commenting in her publication, the Huffington Post. Let’s hope she sticks to her guns and doesn’t cave in to vehement — though ultimately weak — arguments in favour of retaining anonymity.
One of these is an article written by Mathew Ingram, one of the great defenders of no-name. He contends that there would be much to lose:
. . . there are valuable things we can learn from commenters that they would never contribute if they had to attach their real identity to it. Comments about spousal abuse, sexual identity, religious persecution — the list goes on.
He goes on himself to quote a snide tweet by technology columnist Dan Gillmor:
HuffPost will soon require Federalist Papers #1 author Publius to post comments under his real name, Alexander Hamilton.
In other words, without the protection of anonymity, much evil would carry on without us ever being able to expose it. Great words would never be spoken due fear of repercussions from those in power.
Ingram and Gillmor are both smart, so it’s astounding that they would have us believe such nonsense. I would like to see even one example of a comment that made any kind of difference to the world — or even the well-being of one person.
Anyone suffering from spousal abuse can surely find better recourse than the comments tacked on to the end of an article at Huffington Post. A phone call to the police or a social worker might be a good start.
But supposing you just want to talk about it. Forums for this type of sensitive discourse already exist — just look up your local social agencies or advocacy groups. The people who attend these meetings are much more helpful than random commenters.
And my goodness, how did Alexander Hamilton ever get by without the benefit of anonymously commenting on the Internet. He took advantage of something still available to all of us — self-publishing. And now it’s easier than ever — just start up a blog.
Ingram also argues that making people use their real name won’t help anyway. He cites evidence from South Korea and Facebook to back this up. OK, first of all, South Korea is a whole other country and culture. Lessons learned there might apply here, but we need more than that. Second, Facebook’s insistence on real names does make a difference. It’s far from perfect, but the number of persistent trolls is diminished.
But let’s say we’re convinced — that real names do nothing to improve comments. It’s still a good idea for the very reason that people who want to stand up and be counted should have the guts to show their faces. There are few good excuses for doing otherwise. And there are plenty of good alternatives for those rare instances where there is a good excuse.
In other words, if you have to be a troll then do the right thing and be a troll with a real name.
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Monday, June 17, 2013
It's a good idea to keep up to date on news about Circa
With all the attention Circa has been receiving lately, you’d think it was the best news app since sliced bread. And you wouldn’t be far wrong — it serves the news in bite-sized slices and offers a way to receive added slices on topics that catch your interest.
An article might start off as a few screens of information, but can grow over the days and weeks as more information becomes available. You use a checkmark system to follow along.
Once you get used to the concept, it’s a neat way to keep up with the news, especially stuff that might otherwise get lost in the shuffle. And it’s especially suited to mobile.
As an example, there have been rumours about various companies taking over or buying Hulu, a U.S. TV and video streaming service. They started swirling in March and there have been updates as late as June 6. As long as that story stays in my Followed list, I can keep up with the latest.
There are a few drawbacks to the app at this point, the main one being the limited number of topics. If you live outside the United States, nothing about your own country will be covered unless it’s something of interest to the rest of the world. The Politics section covers only American politics. And beyond that there are Technology and Science & Health.
I suspect Circa will broaden its range soon with the hiring of Anthony De Rosa as editor in chief. He has a fine pedigree as Reuters’ former social media editor, and a version 2.0 is said to be in the works.
De Rosa and CEO Matt Galligan have alluded to plans for partnerships with other news providers along with some original reporting of their own. Circa is a pure-play news app — not the product of an old-school news service — so it’s definitely worthwhile to watch where it is headed.
You could even, ahem, put it on the Follow list.
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Saturday, May 4, 2013
Reuters shows how it's done
Reuters has to be one of the best designed news apps ever. It’s easy to navigate and looks good doing it. The articles appeal to a business audience, but general readers will find them just as engaging.
After being overwhelmed by the eye candy in the new aggregator app, Vū, delving into Reuters is a welcome relief. That’s not to say there aren’t some polished animations — there are — but they are not a distraction from the main thing you want from a news app — the news itself.
The news comes in categories known as streams. Once you’ve chosen a story, you can flip up or down to the next one. In addition to Home, there are eight other streams. You can also search for any topic you like, with suggestions appearing as you type.
It would be nice if you could go deeper into the rivulets that feed the streams, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to do this. For example, after performing a search on “Apple products” I noticed that the results were in a Gadgets stream. I would like to see an update to Reuters that would allow you to save Gadgets as a stream along with the main ones.
In addition to the streams, there are a couple of useful tools. Stories can be saved so you can read them later. And you can create a watchlist that shows the latest stock prices for companies of your choice.
Reuters has set a high standard with this app. Creators of other news apps should take note.
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Personalized news app Trapit has far to go to catch up with Zite
Zite has to be the best iPad app ever — I’m constantly amazed at how it continues to find fascinating articles. It does the exploring for me, and comes up with neat stuff every time.
So my thinking is that if Zite is good, then another app similar to Zite would be even better. The closest I’ve been able to find so far is Prismatic, a website that brings articles in categories you choose. It does a pretty good job in this respect, but — unlike Zite — it doesn’t learn.
On the other hand, a new app called Trapit does learn. Give articles thumbs-up and it comes to understand that those are the ones you like, and brings you more of the same — or at least similar.
It’s still early days for Trapit, so it might be harsh to judge its content just yet. Still, the selection of articles for the journalism section is not that good. I have a feeling the developers haven’t made deals with a lot of the better content producers. I found a navel-gazer from the Columbia Journalism Review, but nothing from Poynter — an obvious source.
The interface takes some getting used to. There are lots of tiles and pictures, some of which are animated, and distracting widgets all over the place. Where Zite is simple and elegant, Trapit is complicated and garish.
Plus it keeps crashing. No doubt all those graphics are overtaxing the iPad.
But I’m not ready to delete Trapit just yet. It may simply have been released too early, and is going through some growing pains. I’ll check back from time to time and let you know if Trapit is worth another look.
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