By now you've seen or heard about the growing number of iPhone applications available from mainstream news organizations, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Sky News. The mobile apps are a step in the right direction, but disappointingly most don't offer much beyond the ability to read or share the news stories that are available elsewhere on the web.

The iPhone is a powerful tool that can elevate journalism beyond just reading stories, but also interacting with them in new and different ways. The following applications demonstrate that the possibilities for what can be done with the technology are limitless.

1. SpotCrime

For New York City iPhone owners, finding out what crimes have occurred in the neighborhood is as easy as launching the SpotCrime app and viewing crimes on a map. Users enter an address and the app plots recent crimes, including burglary, theft, assault, on a Google map. The information is also available in an easy to scan, text-based list.

SpotCrime is available online for neighborhoods all over the United States, and is similar to the many crime maps produced by news and independent organizations. Yet it is the unique mobile offering that is unrivaled by the media outlets who are often the gatekeepers of such data and statistics.

2. Kindle for iPhone

The popularity of the Kindle and its companion iPhone app are proof that users are more than willing to read long passages of text on handheld devices. This is good news for media outlets to looking make lengthy content available to mobile readers.

With hundreds of thousands of books available for reading on the iPhone and iPod Touch, there is hope for the 50,000-word news stories that have been ditched in favor of the quick, bite-sized information available on the web. The concept also introduces a possible revenue stream in which media outlets can charge for the subscription service or for the individual stories themselves, the incentive being the expanded stories/coverage are available for on-the-go reading.

3. Howcast

Several iPhone apps developed by mainstream media offer news video that has been repackaged from on-air or online broadcasts and made available for the iPhone. Howcast is no different, but instead of news stories, the site offers how to videos on a range of subjects — from how to make sushi to how to master online career networking.

It's time for newspapers to stop looking at the front page as the only source of material for iPhone applications. Many papers offer content in other sections that can be transformed into handy iPhone apps. For example, the archived recipes from the food section could be made available to the cook on the go and the entertainment listings are perfect mobile material for the last-minute thrill seeker.

4. iheart radio

There are what seems like a million radio apps available in the iTunes store that offer a variety of ways to hear music or live radio stations. iheart radio, the free application from Clear Channel radio, is no different. What is remarkable is that the app has been downloaded by more than a million users and increased the Clear Channel Radio audience by 15 percent. Such a large percentage of new listeners is enviable by anyone's standards and is all the more reason to pursue mobile applications.

iheart radio, which is also available online and for the Blackberry lets users pick a radio station by city or genre and listen directly from their mobile device.

5. HearPlanet

The HearPlanet app is a lot like having a tour guide in your pocket: audio clips that describe thousands of landmarks around the world or available with a tap of the finger. The application, which has both free and paid versions, includes interactive maps and a GPS-based function to find audio tours of nearby locations.

Like SpotCrime, there is a massive opportunity for journalism organizations to aggregate location-based/geotagged news and make it available in a mobile environment. Whereas SpotCrime is useful for time-based incidents, HearPlanet serves as a model for showcasing evergreen content that has been produced or written about a particular location. For example, if a user wanted to find out more about a park they were visiting, they could launch the figurative app and find news stories on the park's dedication, its history, previous events that had been held there and yes, even the crimes that were committed there.


Many media organizations lack the funds or resources to produce iPhone apps, but it shouldn't stop everyone from imagining or working toward the next best thing in mobile journalism. If resources are a problem, consider creating a mobile-friendly or iPhone-friendly site to capitalize on the growing crop of readers using mobile devices.


Also on 10,000 Words:

• 21 iPhone-friendly news sites and how to format your own
• 6 Ways to create a mobile version of your site
• 10 Essential iPhone apps for bloggers and reporters
• 10 Not-so-essential (but totally cool) iPhone apps

Labels: mobile

Many mainstream news organizations are jumping on the mobile bandwagon and creating versions of their sites that are streamlined for iPhone users. Since many news sites are a cacophony of links, the more simplistic design helps mobile users get the news they want, fast.

FOX News	Al Jazeera	LA Times
ESPN	CBS News	AP News
NY Times	Chicago Sun-Times	Chicago Tribune
CNN	Reuters	Time
NewsOK	The Australian	CRI
USA Today	News.com.au	Current
CBC	Newsweek	Toronto Star

...and how to create your own iPhone-formatted site


Of course you could hire a programmer or three to create your own custom mobile-friendly site, but in these tough economic times, many newsrooms lack the time or resources. There are several sites that will quickly convert your existing RSS feed into a full-fledged mobile-friendly site, two of which are Intersquash and Mippin. Both sites require a simple setup process and once you have finished, simply place a bit of code in your existing index file and iPhone/mobile users will be automatically redirected.

No matter how you create your iPhone-friendly site, a note of caution: because of the iPhone's ability to show the normal-sized internet in all its glory, many users prefer not to use a mobile version, so it is key to add a link back to the regular version of your site.

If you need more inspiration from outside the journalism sphere, check out CSSiphone.com or inspiredology's 27 Optimized iPhone Websites

Thanks to @matylda @alanreininger @danieldoyle @ksablan and @krystynt for their help in creating this post.


Also on 10,000 Words:

• How the iPhone will revolutionize journalism
• 10 Essential iPhone apps for bloggers and reporters
• 10 Not-so-essential (but totally cool) iPhone apps

Labels: design, mobile

The way we read the news is changing, so it only makes sense that the way we follow the news should change as well. Even relatively new news aggregators like Google News seem antiquated compared to these game-changing tools.

Track This Now

Track This Now is an impressive tool in which the user inputs keywords and a Google Map outputs where the phrase is being mentioned by news sources around the world. In the below screengrab it is evident that media organizations all over the world are talking about president-elect Obama, as shown by the markers on the map. The latest news on Obama or any other searched-for topic is shown in the pane on the right.

Spreed News

Spreed recognizes that many internet users want their news quick, fast and in a hurry. The free service displays news articles a few words at a time, making them easily digestable and reducing the time necessary to read each story. It's hard to tell if the service will catch on, but it will definitely be popular among those with short attention spans.

MemeTracker

MemeTracker analyzes almost a million news stories a day to determine what quotes and phrases appear most frequently over time. Memorable quotes like "Lipstick on a pig" and "The fundamentals of our economy are strong" echoed strongly across the blogosphere and as such are marked by strong peaks on the graph. The site, which was created by a team of researchers from Cornell University, has a great search function for viewing the popularity of quotes based on keywords, such as "economy" in the example below.

Stitcher

One of the latest iPhone applications lets owners of the mobile device listen to news stories on the go. Unlike other mobile news radio stations in which users tune in to a 24-hour a day broadcast, Stitcher users can listen to audio news articles from news organizations like NPR and CNN on demand, as well as pause, rewind and fast forward. Favorite news stories can bookmarked and saved for later listening.

DiggGraphr

DiggGraphr is a tree map visualization of the latest news on Digg and is reminiscent of the Marumushi newsmap (previously covered here). Each story is represented by a color-coded square. An initial visit to the page can be a little off-putting because selecting "All" will bring up headlines for spammy stories with just one or two Diggs, but by selecting a category in the drop down menu, users can filter the information into any one of Digg's relevant categories.

NewsIsFree: NewsMaps

NewsMaps tracks the latest news from a number of popular US media organizations in a similar manner as DiggGraphr, albeit in an even more scaled down way. Recent stories are grouped by source and represented by blocks of color, red signifying the most recent news. Users can filter by keywords, source or any of several other factors. The NewsMap also offers a couple of unique features including the ability to directly clip, email, blog or track the article, all without leaving the site.




Previously on 10,000 Words:
• 7 Innovative ways of visualizing the news
• The big scrolling debate: Do users care about page length?

Labels: design, mobile, news on the news

Not too long ago, 10,000 Words featured 10 Essential iPhone apps for bloggers and reporters. However, as any iPhone owner knows, the gadget isn't all business. Bloggers and reporters, in addition to photographers, writers, sound editors and logophiles, will find the following iPhone apps are worth a download.

Night Camera

Average Rating: 3 Stars Price: $.99

The iPhone camera is perfect for snapping photos in daylight under perfect weather conditions, but is relatively useless when the sun goes down. Night Camera reduces shakiness and blurriness to optimize nighttime images.

Tumblrette

Average Rating: 4 Stars Price: $1.99

Quickly post text, audio, photos and more to Tumblr via the iPhone. The application is heads above the free options floating around the iTunes store.

FourTrack

Average Rating: 4 Stars Price: $9.99

Okay so it's not exactly ProTools, but FourTrack lets users record and mix tracks on the go. The app has a lot of great features, but sadly no waveform visualization.

Stanza

Average Rating: 4½ Stars Price: Free

Turn your iPhone into an eReader with this app that gives users access to over 40,000 new and classic books. Perfect for reading Pride and Prejudice during endless meetings.

PanoLab

Average Rating: 3½ Stars Price: Free

You could take a bunch of pictures on the iPhone, upload them to a stitching program and create panoramas. Or you could just use PanoLab's simple tool for creating vertical and horizontal panoramas. PanoLab Pro ($4.99) has additional image correction features.

WeDict

Average Rating: 4 Stars Price: Free

WeDict is hands down the best, and most user-friendly dictionary application. And who can argue with the price?

SpeedType

Average Rating: 2 Stars Price: Free

Using a computer keyboard is one thing, but to become an iPhone typing master takes practice. Use this app to improve your dexterity and send those text messages with lightning speed.

MyAnalytics

Average Rating: 3 Stars Price: $1.99

Admit it: You check your blog stats every few hours (if not minutes). Stats junkies can check the latest numbers from their Google Analytics accounts using this nifty app.

Coffee Finder

Average Rating: 4 Stars Price: Free

Ah, coffee. The saving grace of many a web worker. If you're craving a cup of joe, use this app to find the nearest Starbucks to get things brewing.

iNap

Average Rating: 3½ Stars Price: $.99

If you'd rather skip the coffee but absolutely need to be somewhere important, iNap uses the iPhone's GPS technology to notify you when you are approaching your destination, giving you some time to catch some Zs. Not recommended for those behind the wheel.

Labels: mobile

Now that newspapers have hired armies of developers to create mobile versions of their sites, old media is catching up to what most of the web has already known: the mobile web is where it's at. The good news is you don't need a team of developers to create a mobile-optimized version of your site or blog, just a couple minutes and one of the following free online tools:

1. MoFuse

Creating a mobile site with MoFuse couldn't be simpler. Just input your existing URL and a few registration items and a mobile version of your site is ready instantly. There are a number of other options for creating redirects, analyzing statistics, monetizing the newly created site and more.

2. Wirenode

Wirenode touts on its front page that it can create a mobile site in about five minutes, but it actually takes less than two. The other three minutes can be spent customizing the look of the mobile page, including adding images and changing the default color scheme.

3. UBIK.com

For those who want to build a mobile site from scratch, but don't want to bother with the initial coding, UBIK has a number of available editable templates created especially for mobile phones. Building a mobile site with UBIK is a little like building your first blog: You select the templates and edit this and that until you arrive at a look that suits you. The site is very novice-friendly, meaning experienced designers and coders might feel a little underwhelmed.

4. Google Reader

By appending Google Reader's mobile URL with your own RSS feed (ex: http://www.google.com/reader/m/view/feed/http://feeds.feedburner.com/10000words/wxYG), you can instantly create a mobile version of your site that contains just the headlines of your content/posts, because after all a stripped-down version of a site is what mobile users are really after.

5. Google Mobile Optimizer

Google's officially sanctioned mobile site creator will display all of your content, including full text, links and, optionally, images in a nice mobile version. Simply enter a URL and Google will output the mobile-optimized site in seconds.

6. Mippin

The online service touts its ability to make searching the web on a phone easier, but it also instantly creates a bare version of any site, much in the same way the aforementioned sites do. The difference is, Mippin's default layout looks better than any of the other online tools and the creation process is less convoluted.




Once you've created your mobile-optimized site, you will need to place a link to it on your existing site or augment your code to redirect mobile phone users to the appropriate version of your site.

Search Engine Guide and Sami Mäkeläinen both have great tips and advice for creating a mobile site. The one thing to remember is that a site should be presented in a way most beneficial to users and if those users are mobile phone owners, a mobile-optimized site will do just that.

Labels: mobile

Let's face it. No one — save for shut-ins and the Pulitzer Prize committee — wants to read a story that spreads over several pages of a newspaper. Pictures and graphics are not gonna help and putting on the net only exacerbates the problem. So what is a long-winded journalist to do? Here are some ways to make the long story more palatable:

Break it up

Newspapers ought to take a cue from DailyLit, a forward-thinking site that makes classic literature like Dickens and Dumas, as well as newly released books, available for online reading through installments. Users can select a book they want to read and receive daily chunks of it either through email or RSS.

RSS itself is a great way to encourage readers to follow a long with a particular story. Instead of making an excessively long story available online in one piece, deliver different sections of the story through RSS over the course of a few days to ensure the reader digests more of the story.

The same idea could be applied to Twitter: instead of sending a portion of the story through RSS, simply send a link to Twitter followers/readers.

Let the story stand alone

GOOD Magazine, which, along with the Las Vegas Sun, is at the forefront of new media innovation, makes a free 6x6 inch, mini-newspaper available in select Starbucks locations that concentrates on a single story. This week's story is on carbon emissions and is made up of a large and detailed graph of how greenhouse gases affect the world. The first fold-out page is a full-sized ad that the reader sees before reading the story (ad revenue!). Not only is this a genius way of putting a story in front of readers who will likely have a few minutes to spare, it is also a great way to promote brand identity.

More pics: Front cover, Inside ad, Full-page story

Go mobile

Now that more Kindles are finding their way into consumers' hands and the iPhone and BlackBerry have made reading on a cell phone less of a chore, it's time to adapt long investigative pieces or feature stories for reading on mobile devices. If people are willing to read books on a Kindle, they are likely willing to read the newspaper. And now that news sites are being optimized for the web, it's time to optimize the stories themselves.


Whichever way the story is presented, it must reflect the growing segment of the population who don't have time to read long pages of text. After all, what good is a story if no one reads it?

Labels: mobile, news on the news, rss, site management

The power of the net to provide more innovative political coverage than what is possible in traditional forms of media has never been more evidenced than in this political season. Major news organizations and citizen journalists alike have harnessed the power of the web to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the US presidential election than has ever been possible. Here are some of the best ways to follow the political landscape online:

1. perspctv

If there weren't 14 other sites on this list then perspctv would be the one stop for any election news seeker. The site culls the latest news, blog posts and tweets and provides insightful charts and maps as well as an embeddable widget for keeping track of it all.

2. Patchwork Nation

We know the candidates are campaigning all over the country, but who are they campaigning in front of? The Christian Science Monitor has the answer. The site's analysis shows both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama spent a good chunk of their time in wealthy suburbs and big cities.

3. Election '08 Twitter Chatter

Everyone knows Twitter is abuzz with political views, skews and insights, including the observations of Twitter stars FakeSarahPalin and CNN's Rick Sanchez. Twitter Chatter is one way to wrangle these conversations as well as to see on a map where they are coming from.

4. FiveThirtyEight.com

FiveThirtyEight.com is the dream of any political statistics hound. The site has the latest polls, the latest news, the latest charts, graphs, statistics, hypotheticals...the latest everything. It's like a political rabbit hole...check it out only if you have time to spare.

5. Map of 2008 Presidential Contributions

"Show me the money!" Okay it's 2008, not 1996, but if you're curious to know where the campaign money is coming from, Political Base has you covered with a well-designed Google map as well as a list of big name contributors and a handy search form.

6. Tube the Vote!

Tube the Vote strives to provide a balanced view of issues that are affecting this year's presidential election by scouring the web for video, blog posts, Flickr photos and more that celebrate or repudiate either side.

7. Candidates' life journeys

Get to know the presidential and vice presidential candidates a little better by following the milestones of their lives on a Google Map. Anyone can follow the journey of John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin or Joe Biden.

8. PolitiFact's The Attack Files

Voters tired of the spin and searching for the truth will appreciate PolitiFact's analysis of recent campaign assertions. Was Sen. Obama referring to Sarah Palin when he mentioned "lipstick on a pig?" No way, says PolitiFact. Does Sen. McCain support tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas? Not that simple, according to the site.

9. Election 08

iPhone users will be glad to know that they don't have to be at a computer to track the latest on the 2008 presidential race. The iPhone application is a great source for tracking the latest polls as long as you don't check to often — Election 08 is sometimes behind in its updates.

10. McCainPedia/Obamapedia

To say these two wikis are unbiased would be a big misstatement — the former is run by the DNC, the other is populated by Obama fans. Still, using modern technology to encourage citizen participation is never a bad thing.

11. What Would You Say to the President?

This genius bit of citizen participation encourages everyone to not only speak their mind to President Bush, but to presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama as well. Recent responses — which are themselves wholly interesting and telling — are displayed on each page.

12. Google Maps (campaign trail)

This Google map knows where the candidates will be and when and makes that information at the click of a button. Campaign appearances for both candidates are listed in reverse chronological order as well as marked on a map.

13. Google Maps (video)

Video of campaign speeches from both Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain are tracked and mapped on these map mashups that incorporate video from YouTube.

14. Everymoment Now

Everymoment Now uses a unique graph to chart the number of times a candidate was mentioned on any particular day since August of this year. Clicking on a bar in the chart reveals news stories that were published that day as well as more detailed charts and graphs.

15. ABC News' Match-o-Matic

If you plan on voting in the upcoming US election, but still don't know which candidate to vote for, the Match-o-Matic is sure to help. The humorous, interactive quiz gives the user two quotes — one from Sen. Obama and one from Sen. McCain — and the user selects which one they agree with most without knowing who said it. The final tally reveals which presidential candidate's platform the user is more likely to side with.

Labels: citizen journalism, database, maps, mobile, photos, social networking, video, widgets, wiki

There have been a number of technological advances in journalism in the four years since the last Summer Olympic Games so this year promises to be a breakthrough in how the Olympics are covered. News organizations, citizen journalists and corporations have been gearing up for some time now to present the best in multimedia, print and online coverage as well as advertising and social networking. Here is some of the best of what to expect:


Blogs

One of my biggest dreams is to attend the Olympics games, but I opted out this year for two reasons 1) I was concerned about the restrictions on journalists and 2) I have a strong aversion to Chinese food. That said, I'll see you in London in 2012. In the meantime, there are a number of other media and interested parties that will be covering the Olympic Games:

• The New York Times Olympics blog
• Los Angeles Times: Ticket to Beijing
• BBC Sport Olympics 2008
• ESPN Olympics Blog
• Indian Olympic Blog
• San Jose Mercury News Olympic Games Blog
• Beijing Olympics Fan
• Reuters
• FanNation Beijing Olympics Blog
• Reuters
• Times Online: Barnes in Beijing

Google also has an interesting way of keeping tabs on the Games. Just enter the name of the event you are interested in plus the word 'olympics' in the search field and Google will return a schedule of upcoming events. You can also get updates from a number of Twitter users.



For those journalists reading from Beijing, PopPhoto has some advice for navigating around China and the Olympic atmosphere.


Video


In addition to offering more than extensive coverage of the Olympic Games in the US, NBC will make an additional 2,200 hours of streaming video available online at NBCOlympics.com. On the other side of the world, CCTV.com and Adobe have partnered up to offer more than 5,000 hours of streaming video to mainland China and Macau via CCTVOlympics.com

In countries where NBC doesn't have exclusive rights to Olympic video, the games will be broadcast online on YouTube. This includes 77 territories in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

US residents who are unable to watch the Games either on television or online have the option of downloading Olympics on the Go, a Tivo-like service that will download selected events straight to their computer. Best of all, the service is free.


Multimedia

The New York Times, that stalwart exemplar of multimedia, has some pretty comprehensive coverage, including two awesome Flash-based interactive projects: Olympic Medal Count Map, which uses expanding circles to illustrate the number of medals won over the years by various countries, and Passing the Torch, a visual history of the Olympic torch.




The Chicago Tribune's photo gallery "Olympic athletes you can root for" is a compelling look at Olympians who may not be household names. Some of the venues where the athletes compete and visitors will tour, including the Olympic Sports Centre and Tiananmen Square can be viewed in 3D by clicking here.


Print

Text is the foundation of journalism and there have already been a number of feature stories published online that are worth a read.

From BBC News: The Olympic torch's shadowy past

From Sportingo: The top ten greatest Olympic moments

From mental_floss: What happens to Olympic facilities after the games are over?

From WebUrbanist: 8 Pivotal Olympic Villages And Venues Then And Now


Widgets

    

    

Left to right: USA Today, NBC , Google Gadgets, Widgetbox


Mobile


When you just got can't make to the television in time to catch your favorite Olympic event, be sure to turn to any of the following mobile sites offering Olympic coverage:

Yahoo!

Sky

NBC

New York Times

Sports Illustrated/SI.com

USA Today

Times Online


Advertising


Coca-Cola wasn't yet invented at the first Olympic Games, but the beverage corporation and a number of other companies are making up for lost time by plastering their image all over Beijing and the web.

Lenovo, a similarly ubiquitous sponsor of the Olympiad, has put together Voices of the Olympic Games, an online site in which real Olympic athletes share their stories and experiences. Olympians like Peter Lopez, a member of the Peruvian taekwondo team, seem genuinely excited to blog about Beijing, and — good news here — he and others are blogging in their native language.

As Panasonic will gladly tell you, the electronics giant has been sponsoring the Olympic Games for 20 years. This year is, of course, no different. It's Japanese site offers Olympic-themed video/ads and other goodies like desktop wallpaper. In the U.S., the Panasonic Mobile Tour is already underway. A huge rig equipped with the latest in television technology is traveling around the country to show off the Olympic Games in high definition.

McDonald's will be feeding many visitors to Beijing in the Olympic Village, and, in some selected countries, will offer its "China Menu" which includes a burger topped with sesame seeds, chop suey and ginger sauce. And finally you can catch Olympians in all their glory in a visually arresting set of ads for Powerade by clicking here (SFW).



You can check out my personal contribution to Olympic fever at Entertainment Weekly. How are you covering the Olympic Games? Or, if you are a fan, how will you be following them? Share your plans in the comments.

Labels: blogging, citizen journalism, maps, mobile, social networking, video, widgets

The recent launch of Apple's App Store means millions of iPhone users will have hundreds of handy applications available at their fingertips. Many of these apps make it easier bloggers and reporters to work on the go. For those that don't have an iPhone, perhaps it's time to considering purchasing one.

1. SpeakEasy Voice Recorder

Average Rating: 3 Stars Price: $4.99

From the developer: Record and playback notes, reminders, or just about anything from your iPhone's built-in microphone. SpeakEasy gives you a recording studio that fits into your pocket. Intuitive and fun, SpeakEasy is the premier voice recorder for your iPhone.

• Record voice memos, reminders, lectures, meetings, or anything you wish.
• Add a title, comments, or even a photo from your photo library or camera while recording.
• Group and organize your recordings by category.
• Interruption protection lets you pick up and continue your recording after a phone call interruption.
• Pause and continue recording with a single touch.
• Playback and quickly scan your recordings with the touch slider.

2. Writing Pad

Average Rating: 4 Stars Price: Free

From the developer: Store notes and send email using ShapeWriter on your iPhone. ShapeWriter is a revolutionary text input technology that enables you to enter text into the iPhone by tracing word shapes rather than typing letters. Each shape traced on the soft keyboard with your finger is recognized as a word. Error correction is fast and easy. For rare names and acronyms, type only once and you will be able to shape write the next time. Shape writing is many times more efficient than letter-based handwriting recognition.

3. WordPress

Average Rating: 3½ Stars Price: Free

From the developer: Robust but simple to use, the WordPress for iPhone Open Source application allows you to create and edit content on your WordPress blog(s) with support for offline use. The app includes the following features:

• Support for WordPress.com blogs and self-installed WordPress blogs (version 2.5.1 and higher)
• Embedded Safari for true previews of posts
• Full support for tags and categories
• Photo support for both camera pics and library photos
• Support for multiple blogs
• Ability to password protect a post, save as draft, or mark for later review
• Auto-recovery feature recovers posts interrupted by phone calls

4. TypePad

Average Rating: 3½ Stars Price: $4.99

From the developer: Update your blog and share pictures with the world from wherever you are with TypePad. Built to connect with the award-winning TypePad blogging service, TypePad for iPhone and iPod touch enables you to...

• Write new posts for your blog in just a few seconds.
• Post photos to your blog from your iPhone's camera or photo albums.
• Alert your friends when you post to your blog by automatically updating Twitter.

With TypePad on your iPhone or iPod touch, you can share your ideas and photos as they happen, from wherever you are. And since it integrates with TypePad on your desktop, you get all the great features of the world's premier blogging service.

5. Twitterific

Average Rating: 3½ Stars Price: Free

From the developer: A fun application that lets you read and publish posts (called "tweets") on the Twitter social network. Stay connected with friends, family, and co-workers through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

6. Kyte Producer

Average Rating: 3½ Stars Price: Free

From the developer: Use your iPhone to instantly share photos and slideshows with your friends on Myspace, Facebook, or any website, blog or mobile phone.
Instantly broadcast pictures as you take them, or create slideshows from your iPhone's picture gallery. You can even chat with your audience in real-time!

7. EverNote

Average Rating: 3½ Stars Price: Free

From the developer: Evernote helps you remember everything from your real and digital life using whatever device or platform you find most convenient.

Evernote for iPhone is part of the Evernote service. With it, you can take notes, snap photos, create to-do lists. and record audio. Everything is seamlessly synchronized with the web, and made available across all the devices and platforms you use, including iPhone, Evernote for Mac, Evernote Web, and Evernote for Windows.
Snap photos of any thing from whiteboards to business cards to wine labels, and Evemote will make the text within those images searchable.

Need something from last week or last year? Evernote instantly connects to the Evernote web service so you can get what you need. Find what you're looking for by searching or filtering by tag, date, location. and more.

8. NetNewsWire

Average Rating: 3 Stars Price: Free

From the developer: NetNewsWire is an RSS reader for iPhone — you can read news from the millions of weblogs and sites that publish RSS feeds.
Because NetNewsWire syncs with all of NewsGator's free RSS readers, if you read an item on your iPhone, you don't have to read it again on your Macintosh or other computer. It's automatically marked as read everywhere.
You can also save items for later via the Clippings feature, and any item you clip is available on your other computers. It's an easy way to save something to read when you have more time.

9. Jott for iPhone

Average Rating: 3 Stars Price: Free

From the developer: Jott for iPhone is the ultimate mobile notepad that turns your voice into notes. Capture your to-dos as quickly as you can say" Get strawberries for dessert. "We transcribe your voice into text and place the resulting notes in your lists. When you complete items, just cross them off with a swipe of your finger.

All of your lists are backed up on Jott.com, where you can manage them when you are at your computer. For existing Jott customers, your lists and notes will load after you've downloaded the app (may take a minute if you have a lot).

10. Lonely Planet

Average Rating: 2½ Stars (Spanish) to 4½ Stars (Vietnamese) Price: $4.99

From the developer: Want to never be at a loss for words, no matter where you are in the world? With your iPhone, and a little help from Lonely Planet, you'll have the local lingo licked.

Lonely Planet, the world's leading travel company, now offers its 10 most popular phrasebooks in downloadable audio format, specially tailored to make the most of your iPhone. Don't just skim the surface on your next trip; with 530 spoken (and phonetically written) phrases in each guide, you can shop, socialise and shout like a native.





And a few worth copying by other news organizations...

Fox News UReport

Average Rating: 3 Stars Price: Free

From the developer: FOX News wants you to report the news. The uReport Application for iPhone allows you to do just that. You can easily take or select pictures of news happening around you and send them directly to FOX News Channel from your iPhone. If we determine your submission is newsworthy, your photo could appear online or even on air!

MLB.com At Bat

Average Rating: 3 Stars Price: $4.99


From the developer: MLB.com At Bat from MLB.com, the official site of Major League Baseball, delivers real-time scores and in-game video highlights of every game directly to your iPhone.

You'll get each highlight moments after the play happens so you never miss the important action. The application will automatically detect your network and play video encoded for either EDGE/3G or Wi-Fi bitrates. MLB.com At Bat will provide this breakthrough service for the remainder of the 2008 season - including playoffs and World Series. It's a whole new ballgame!

Now Local

Average Rating: 3 Stars Price: Free

From the developer: NowLocal is the best way to find news that's happening around you. Using the iPhone's location services, NowLocal automatically delivers you news from the best local sources, wherever you are. So as you move from place to place, it's easy to quickly check what's going on around you.




For more news iPhone news apps, click over to Mindy McAdams.

Labels: audio, blogging, mobile, photos, rss, social networking

Friday's launch of the iPhone 3G means that millions more people will change how they interact with their cell phones. The iPhone represents a growing opportunity for news organizations to take on the mobile web and to recoup tech savvy consumers who have shunned old forms of media.


Gone are the days of waiting for the evening paper or the 7 o'clock news to find out about the day's events. The iPhone provides instant information at the tap of a finger which gives users the ability to pull up any factoid in a matter of seconds.

This means even shorter deadlines for reporters, and even quicker turn around on blurbs that can be posted to the web immediately. It also means consumers will be more receptive to mobile video which, on the iPhone's predecessors, had to be viewed on a screen the size of a postage stamp. The phone currently has built-in YouTube access for those videos hosted on the video sharing site, but it puts a greater demand on Apple to create Flash compatibility on the phone so news sites can provide video in a central location.

If consumers continue to favor smartphones for newspapers, it spells the demise of the 100,000 word story that, let's be honest, no one but the Pulitzer Prize committee is reading anyway. Flowery language and intro paragraphs will eventually give way to succinct stories that can be read and digested quickly.

The iPhone's increasing popularity also means a definite increase in citizen journalism. Ordinary citizens can use the phone's built-in camera to take photos of news as it happens and email it to their local or national news outlet. Or, as more users become familiar with the phone's unique typing interface, they will post their own news in whatever manner they want.

Flickr is already seeing a rise in photographs submitted from iPhones, and several Twitter applications are making it easier to send news directly from the phone.

Many media companies, like the Los Angeles Times, CNN, and NPR have already acknowledged the technical capabilities of the phone by creating mobile-friendly sites. This is tame compared to the possibilities the iPhone holds.

The GPS-enabled phone is an untapped space for news organizations to provide extremely hyperlocal news directly to the reader by mapping news events happening directly around them. Imagine being able to access a map and know that a fire is happening right down the street from you.

The great barrier to mass adoption of new technology is often price. But now that the cost of the iPhone has dropped significantly (and perhaps even more in the future?), the number of iPhone and other smartphone users is likely to grow dramatically.

As technologically advanced as the iPhone is, it still lacks obvious features that still haven't been addressed in its latest iteration. But as the phone and other similar technologies grow and develop, the opportunities for new and innovative journalism will arise.

One can only hope that these developments will occur in the near future, but, as has been shown in the past, the field of journalism is slow to catch up to available technology. Journalism shouldn't be catching up to technology; it should be at the forefront of its creation.


For a list of iPhone development resources, visit Positive Space.

Labels: mobile, news on the news

The Brooklyn Museum is as traditional a museum as museums go (though one could argue that the work of artist Takashi Murakami currently on display is far from traditional). But much like journalism, another age-old institution, this museum is embracing the mobile phone and other new technology to heighten the experience of its visitors.

In the past one could meander haplessly through the halls, gawking at art and artifacts with no more understanding of each work than what was written on a tiny placard. Now, some of those placards have a cell phone icon and a number to dial that provides even more information about a particular exhibit.


At the Brooklyn Museum, visitors can call (718) 352-9589 and enter the item number displayed near the artwork (e.g. 12 corresponds to the intricate work "Flower Matango") and listen to either the artist (in this case Murakami) or a curator discuss the piece. The best part is museum guests are allowed to leave comments on the phone system as they navigate through its halls.

It is true that other museums have special listening devices, but most can only be used in that particular location. Making the audio available by phone means that any of the billions of cell phone users worldwide can access the additional information. The theory is similar to creating a multimedia project that only works in Firefox. Sure, a large percentage of users can access the content, but those that can't aren't exactly willing to download a new browser just to view the one site.


Other multimedia features of the museum include video incorporated into the exhibits through the use of high definition televisions and computers strategically placed around the museum for visitors to leave comments. At last check, one computer had 474 comments, an impressive number for any institution, whether it be a museum or online news site.


Also on 10,000 Words:
• Museums as Inspiration: Museum of Modern Art
• Museums as Inspiration: California Science Center

Labels: audio, mobile

The news happens fast and if you have equally fast fingers that news can be shared with the blogosphere immediately. Blogging from a mobile phone, or moblogging, is a great way to create news updates while working in the field or perhaps anywhere a bulky laptop wouldn't be practical or permitted. There are a number of ways to make blogging on those tiny little keys a little easier.

Utterz lets users send any combination of text, photos, audio or video from a mobile phone and, using Utterz Connections, post to WordPress, Blogger, YouTube, TypePad, Twitter, MovableType and more. The site is an excellent way to send mobile messages or "utterz" to your blog or to yourself as a repository for notes. Messages can also easily edited and published directly from your mobile phone via m.utterz.com.

Blogger users can post blog items by email which can be published automatically or saved for later. Simply setup a unique email address on the Blogger site and the email subject will become the title of the post, the text body will become the post and image attachments will be tacked to the end. The end point of the post should be designated with #end so Blogger recognizes when the content ends. This is to ensure that the signature some email programs add to the end of outgoing emails doesn't show up in the post. You can also send messages to go@blogger.com which, through a quick setup process, will post directly to your blog.

Tech-savvy journalists or web administrators can setup WordPress so that blog posts can be sent by email. The instructions to set up mobile blogging are available here. By using the WPhone plugin, WordPress bloggers can access the site on a mobile phone. Users can also set up a mobile-friendly version of their WordPress blog by using a plugin that will automatically detect if the visitor is a mobile phone.

iPhone/iPod Touch owners can use Typepad's mobile interface for blogging on the go. A similar system is available for users of Movable Type.

Finally, if you don't plan on or don't want to write full blog posts from your phone, you can also use Twitter as a way of sending short messages to the masses. There are a number of tools for integrating tweets into your blog like this one for Blogger and this one for WordPress.

Labels: mobile

Apple is on track to selling its 1 millionth iPhone which means its time for news sites to start thinking about bringing content to the handheld device. While building a site around a specific browser shouldn't be a high priority, it couldn't hurt to cater to the growing market of iPhone owners.


Many major sites have already been optimized for iPhone including Facebook and several media sites are jumping on the bandwagon including AltWeeklies.com and Texterity.

The iPhone is 320x480 pixels which is a third to a fourth the size of the average computer screen. iPhone users can surf any website, but the touch screen makes it harder to navigate normal websites. MacWorld explains the differences between surfing in a regular web browser vs. the iPhone and why e-commerce sites should make way for the new device. Furbo demonsrates how one line of code will optimize your site for the iPhone, but if you need more in depth help, check out Works on iPhone or Winksite.

Labels: mobile

Mobile news has been in its developing stages for a while, but as phone plans get cheaper, cell phones get fancier and the iPhone becomes popular the demand for news to go is steadily increasing. Most PDAs and iPhones are capable of viewing the internet as it would appear on a computer screen. However, most news sites are not compatible with phones with smaller screens.

Ideally, there should be one site for regular viewers and another, more scaled-down version for mobile phone users (e.g. www.facebook.com and m.facebook.com). Mobile news for the average cell phone means less text, little to no images, more links and an easy to use navigation system. Think Vitamin offers detailed tips on making your site more mobile friendly. In addition, xFruits offers, among other services, an RSS to mobile feed that scales down news to its most basic format.

Labels: mobile

Many sites have vidcasts like this one from The Roanoke Times and these from lawrence.com. Even more news sites offer video online, but most times the video can only be watched on the web, at a computer.

Roanoke.com and a few other sites make the video available in the iPod-ready mp4 format, which lets the millions of iPod users to download the video to their mp3 players and watch it at a later time. This is a great alternative for users who don't want to sign up for regular podcasts.

There are tons of free or nearly free programs that convert video to the mp4 format (see this list at Download.com ). There are also several online file-conversion services like Zamzar which converts uploaded videos and sends them via e-mail.

Labels: mobile, video