iPad Free App of the Week: Flipboard

I've been using the free iPad app Flipboard for about a week now and although many questions remain, I've come to two conclusions.

After about a week's wait to get an invite, I can say the app is cute and fun.  That doesn't mean it will be a keeper app for me, but I do like using it, and use it daily.

Flipboard an iPad app that turns your social media feeds like Facebook and Twitter into an attractive, printlike magazine.  I use it for keeping up with Twitter and it works.

My second conclusion is this app is useful, but its so beautifully put together it might become a novelty.

Is this totally legal?  Flipboard has also faced questions about copyright. The service displays photos and the beginning of articles that people link to on Twitter and Facebook.

Co-founder Mike McCue said that Flipboard is only showing as much as content providers include on their RSS feeds. If a publication does not include images on its RSS feed, for instance, then Flipboard will not show that publication’s photos. If a publication is concerned about how much information Flipboard is showing, the company will adjust it, he said.  I think they are showing more than the RSS feed.

Ultimately, he said, Flipboard wants more people to read the articles that friends link to on social networks, and that they are more likely to do that if they see pictures and text instead of an anonymous bit.ly link.

“The main goal of Flipboard is to cause people to visit the content provider’s Web site, to basically make these links a lot more appealing,” he said.

This is an app that is taylor-made for the iPad. 

Sometimes I check it out just out of curiosity to see how they organize the Twitter posts I usually receive on Brizzly or on Twitter itself.  I usually come away impressed.

Sometimes the page is loaded with informative short articles and images, sometimes it's simple and to the point like below.

It's always something interesting and different.  It's not available for the iPhone or anything on Android yet.  I expect it to be big on the Android platform tablets once they start coming out.

I like it, it's not my sole soure of news and doesn't replace a Twitter client, but it's exciting to try and play with.

Kindle Free Pick of the Week: Face of Betrayal

A book by frequent Fox News contributor Lis Wiehl.

Wiehl, a Fox News commentator and legal analyst, teams with mystery veteran Henry (Buried Diamonds) on a sizzling political thriller. When 17-year-old Senate page Katie Converse goes missing on her Christmas break near her parents' white Victorian home in Portland, Ore., law enforcement and media personnel go into overdrive in a search for clues. Three friends at the pinnacle of their respective careers—Allison Pierce, a federal prosecutor; Cassidy Shaw, a crime reporter; and Nicole Hedges, an FBI special agent—soon discover that Katie wasn't the picture of innocence painted by her parents. It appears Katie was having an affair with a much older man, a senator whose political career could be derailed if the affair was publicized. The seamless plot offers a plethora of twists and turns. A blurb from Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly will help draw attention to Wiehl's debut.

Free right now in the Kindle Store.

iPad Free App of the Week: Dropbox

Have an iPad and want to get 2GB of free storage you can access anytime?

Get the free Dropbox app, you won't be sorry.  Link: http://db.tt/e0ANm9

Dropbox is the easiest way to sync and share your files online and across computers.

App features:

- View photos, videos, documents, and presentations in your Dropbox on the go.

- Save photos and videos taken with your iPhone's camera to your Dropbox, including HD videos on your iPhone 4!

- Share and send files via email, or copy and paste links to share with another app.

- Export Dropbox files to other iPhone and iPad apps.

- "Favorite" files to download them for fast, offline viewing.

- Swipe your way through photo galleries

This app makes access to your files so easy!  Get it!

Radio Shack Re-branding itself as "The Shack"

Nice try!

 The electronics retailer RadioShack will now and forever be known as "The Shack". While I like this better than Pizza Hut being called "The Hut", the company formerly known as the Tandy Corporation is trying to rescue itself from becoming the next Circuit City. RadioShack was once the "Go To" place to find obscure electronics parts and supplies. Anyone else have a free-battery card? Now to me, it is kind of an afterthought. I can't remember the last time I was in the RadioShack about 2 miles from where I live. For "The Shack" to survive they have to determine who they are. Are they going to be a smaller version of Best Buy or Circuit City? Are they going to go back to what they were in the 70's and 80's? They have a partnership with T-Moble, but big deal. They sell name brand netbooks and computer supplies, but so what. What is "The Shack" going to be able to do for me? They have to figure this out fast. Oh, and by the way, Lance Armstrong next year will be racing on a cycling team with its main sponsor being "The Shack".