Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/29/app_of_the_week_android_taptu/
My Taptu
Man is only 70 per cent water, but this app is 100 per cent news
Posted in Phones, 29th March 2011 07:00 GMT
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Android App of the Week A good news aggregator should to be able to pull information from a broad range of sources, present it in a clear and easily navigable format, and make it as easy as pie to find, add, remove and edit feeds.
For me the app that best ticks all those boxes on Android is My Taptu.
Graphically, Taptu is a joy. Story headlines appears in a small panel, usually with a picture. Panels scroll left-to-right and to open one up you just tap it. Having tapped, you can still swipe through all the stories from the feed, and if you want to read more a button lets you open up the full web page in your default browser.
Taptu’s StreamStore keeps tabs on 13,000 feeds, with major ones like the BBC, the Guardian and The Register - natch - being easily available from its Featured section. It also hosts an impressive range of bespoke aggregated feeds arranged by topic.
If you can’t find what you what from a Taptu-recognised stream, you can search for other RSS feeds using Bing.
One feature that I particularly like is the option to merge feeds into one stream. So you can combine the world news sections of the Grauniad and Independent for a satisfyingly left-of-centre view of world affairs - and then add a dollop of Al Jazeera for counterbalance.
The merge option also lets you open up the My Taptu’s aggregated news streams and remove any feeds that don’t tickle your fancy, or all the stuff sourced from the Daily Mail if you are after proper news.
Homo Sapinews
If you already use Google Reader, you can simply import your feeds by signing into Taptu with your Google account. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter message feeds can also be added.
Taptu can be set to show content from either predominately British or American news sources which means we Brits can reduce the chances of stumbling across any paranoid rants from Fox News in the aggregated feeds.
Other refinements include a handy shake-to-refresh feature and the option to remove the title bar when your phone flips into landscape. There’s no option to mark all articles as read or hide them rather than change the font shade after reading but that is Taptu’s only failing. ®
We'll be making our selection of the best Android smartphone and tablet downloads every Tuesday. It you think there's an app we should be considering, please let us know [1].
iDevice fans, iOS App of the Week is published on Thursday.
My Taptu QR Code
More App of the Week Winners |
||||
 Thrutu [2] |
 Catch
Notes [3] |
 Launcher
Pro [4] |
 Nuance
Flext9 [5] |
 Apple
iMovie 1.2 [6] |
Links
- http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_the_reg/?user=smitty
- http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/22/app_of_the_week_android_thrutu/
- http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/15/app_of_the_week_android_catch_notes/
- http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/08/app_of_the_week_android_launcher_pro/
- http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/01/app_of_week_android_flext9/
- http://www.reghardware.com/2011/03/17/app_of_the_week_ios_imovie_1_2/