Last time I wrote about some of the new magazine applications for the iPad, and how they straddled the line between print and Web publications. But a couple of new applications that are written specifically for the iPad may give some idea of how interactive magazines might adapt over time. Both of these -- Flipboard, and the Pulse News Reader -- have gotten a lot of attention, and are very neat, but in some ways, raise more questions than they answer.
At $3.99, Alphonso Labs' Pulse News Reader is really just a fancy news reader, as the name says. It's a neat a way of pulling in information from various RSS feeds across the Web, but it aggregates them together in a unique way. The product has a list of suggested or "featured" feeds, but you can easily add your own by connecting it with a Google reader account; or with your Facebook or Twitter feeds; or by searching online.
The basic interface shows the top four stories from each of your news sources across the page. You can scroll left and right within each source, and up and down within your sources. It's a quick and easy way to see all the headlines. In some cases on the home page you see pictures related to the content; and in other cases, just text. In general, when you click on the story, you see what's in the RSS feed in a text view, but you can click "web" to see the full page online.
Flipboard takes a similar idea, with the intention of being a "social magazine." It is based mostly on Twitter feeds; and then turns it into a more magazine-looking layout. It really wants to look like a constantly-updated magazine, with a cover picture and multiple sections. The initial sections are based on content the makers have selected, such as News, Technology, styles, and photos; generally gathering more content that you would from RSS feeds. To this, you can add your Facebook and Twitter feeds, and various RSS feeds you want.
When you click on one of the sections, you get multiple stories in a layout that looks somewhat like a magazine or newspaper -- with the first paragraph or two, and the source. Clicking on a story gives you a little more detail, along with what people are saying about it on Twitter, and it also gives you an option to read the story on the Web.
The interface works best when there are a lot of pictures, but it's not bad when it's mostly text. It still looks pretty inviting. And of course, being able to link to the full story is a big plus; as is the ability to add your comment via Twitter. On the other hand, you are limited to the nine sources on the homepage, and in most cases, you can't really customize a lot of the content that comes in.
Neither Pulse News Reader nor Flipboard really is a complete replacement for a more conventional news reader since they don't really work well with huge numbers of feeds. But I have found myself using them a lot more, simply because they offer a better experience.
Still, the concept of a "social magazine," is most interesting. In particular, Flipboard looks like a magazine, but has the ability for people to always see the latest stuff, and to see what others are saying (in the future, being able to see only comments from friends might be an interesting addition).In the meantime, though, these applications raise a lot of questions. I'd like more control about the content I can see. And my guess is that many of the sources where the content is coming from would like at least more control over how their information is presented, while many sources won't like their content being used at all. Indeed, a number of content makers have already started limiting what they allow. In addition, all of this today only works when you are online; it would be great if it could cache the material for offline reading.
Put it all together, and as I say, it leaves me with more questions about what such applications in the future will look like than answers for today. But Flipboard and Pulse are both definitely worth checking out.
I'm not sure either interface really makes for the ideal table magazine, but they are useful today and include fascinating concepts -- from instant aggregation to social commenting -- that I think will be part of such publications in the future.
Here's PC Mag's review of Flipboard.
Originally posted to Michael Miller's blog, Forward Thinking.