UPDATE: December 16th, 2010
Flipboard was a revelation when it first came out, but it was missing some important features. With today's major update to version 1.1, it finally reaches its full potential. With RSS integration, the ability to post on the major social networks, and a host of other goodies, it's simply one of the best apps on the iPad.
RSS integration at last.
The most important new addition is Flipboard's ability to sync with Google Reader. Previously, Flipboard pulled stories only from popular sources and your Twitter and Facebook feeds. Adding Google Reader support gives you access to all your favorite RSS feeds, only now in Flipboard's gorgeous page layouts. This includes access to your starred stories and giving you the ability to star and share stories right from the app. This means it could potentially replace even your favorite RSS reader.
The developers have also beefed up Twitter and Facebook support, allowing you to post and tweet to your heart's content without ever leaving the app. Facebook support extends to groups, fan pages, and photo albums. Flickr support has also been added, so if it's photos you crave, you are more than covered.
The ability to post to Facebook and Twitter is greatly appreciated.
To top things off, more sources have received Flipboard Pages layouts. These styles were added in the app's last revision and give select feeds a much more professional look. For feeds that aren't supported (which is still many), more content can now be delivered to the app without switching to a web view--thus preventing even that minor inconvenience.
Switching between sections (and page loads in general) are also speedier, so you can spend less time fussing with the app to consume content more rapidly.
The enhanced Facebook features integrate wonderfully.
Combining all these great additions makes Flipboard simply a phenomenal app. Time will tell if it can replace Reeder as our preferred RSS app, but given the countless other media integrations, it's a safe bet that we'll be spending more time than ever soaking in our daily dose of content in the app's superb magazine-esque format.
Social media is everywhere. You can't go more than a minute surfing the web without finding a link to add something to your RSS feed, Digging an article you like, or checking your Facebook or Twitter feeds. Many apps have tried to combine all these into a single interface, but most have failed to truly captivate. Enter Flipboard: You've never seen anything like it, and a few launch hiccups aside, it's a breakthrough application.
Keeping up with all your favorite blogs, news sources, and friends is tough. If you're not careful, it can eat a significant chunk out of your day. Wouldn't it be nice if there were an algorithm that could pull out the most important things and display them all in one place? Through all sorts of technological magic, Flipboard does just that. It tosses aside the conventional RSS feed, Facebook wall, and Twitter application in favor of a unified approach that resembles the very best digital magazines out there.
The app compiles stories and updates that it somehow knows will interest you most.
Aside from a handful of carefully combed over sources by the Flipboard team, the most important articles and updates to you will come from your Facebook and Twitter accounts. The app intelligently sorts through the potentially hundreds of updates you receive each day and delivers the cream of the crop. How does it do it? Media-rich, popular posts and stories are sure to make it to the top. Beyond that, we aren't ones to question what simply works.
You're given nine slots to fill (additional slots would be nice, and we wouldn't be surprised if more are added in future updates). Your best option is to add Twitter lists that compile tweets talking about similar topics (such as the iPad). Your personal Facebook and Twitter accounts are also supremely useful, if you're following the right people.
By that, we mean that if you're only following close friends on Twitter, you may not get a bevvy of pertinent results, unless those friends frequently share cool links and images with you. As it forgoes RSS feeds to supply you with news, your best bet is to follow those same publications on Twitter. Follow @wired, for instance, to get all the latest Wired articles imported into Flipboard.
If you follow the right people and publications on Twitter, it almost renders RSS obsolete.
Choose one of the nine slots and enter into what looks like a section of a magazine. Flip pages (with a gorgeous page-flipping animation) to access additional stories and updates. Those that are receiving a lot of likes or comments will be granted larger screen space. You can add your own comments, retweet, and the like from the stories themselves. If they are short, opening a particular story or post will display the entire thing (images and video included); if they are long, you may have to pull up a web page view, but that's done with the built-in browser, and the transition is seamless.
Consider Flipboard to be the Readers' Digest version of your social media. It's not going to display everything, but it has a sneaky way of detecting what's going to interest you most. In fact, after giving it a few days to learn its way around my feeds and cache the important items, I find little need to actual pull up Facebook or Twitter unless I want to post something myself.
The lack of ability to post might be a turnoff to some, but you have to keep in mind that this is meant to be a a social media magazine, not a substitute for the services themselves. It's more about content consumption than creation.
Viewed in this light, it's a revelation. It loads quickly, it picks the best stuff out of the pack, it looks amazing, and it leaves me feeling like I'm enjoying a magazine rather than reading through a laundry list of everything out there (a la Google Reader).
Considering that it's free and will only get better with age, this is simply something you must try. Let it grow on you. Learn how to use it, and it will keep you entertained in a way that will leave you with spare time at the end of the day. And considering it's only on the iPad, it's a terrific response to give when people ask what's so special about the iPad. It's this sort of thing that the iPad was made for.
4 Comments
It really is a shame that the launch has gone so rocky for it. Those who download the app now cannot immediately add their Facebook and Twitter accounts; you're instead added to a wait-list, which I've done.
Nonetheless, just judging by how browsing the default content felt and appeared, I'm pretty confident that even if I have to wait a little for its full functionality, I will be blown away when I do.
And hey, can't really beat the price.
I've been fooling around with Flipboard and I'm very impressed so far. It really is a new (and very effective) way to quickly absorb lots of content from the Internet.
Finally got FB/Twitter notifications enabled. It's really well-done. This app is definitely a must-have for iPad owners.
I'm very pleased with it, especially after having the ability to add twitter feeds. My only big gripe is that I can't add more than 9 subscriptions...that's absolutely ridiculous, unless I'm missing something?!? I now just keep the last box as a replacement box for deleting and adding subscriptions, rather than a good permanent place.
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