News Addict is quite comprehensive in its selection of news sites, though a few, like Digg, Google News and Yahoo! may not meet some users’ requirements as news sources and others, like ESPN may not even be on their radar. Since many news junkies have their personal news preferences, the inability to rearrange the News Addict home screen icons in order of preference or even delete the ones that are never used may seem a bit inconvenient. It’s possible that this ability will be enabled in a future update though, and in the mean time there are plenty of credible sources regardless of your personal leanings.

As comprehensive as News Addict is and as nice as it is to have all your major news sources tied up neatly in one app, there are a few minor draw backs to News Addict that should be addressed. The first is the inconsistency of text size between the different sites. Some sites, such as The New York Times, loads very small text that is impossible to read without zooming in. This helps, but creates the need to pan left and right to read an article or to switch to landscape mode.

The other minor annoyance I found was in navigation. Tapping the bottom left corner acts very much like the back button of any browser, however, to view the full navigation bar, you have to tap the tiny tab in the lower right. I appreciate the full-screen viewing, but often find myself tediously trying to hit the tiny little tab just right to get the tool bar response. I don’t appreciate having to cajole the little button when I’m casually catching up on news.

Aside from these small flaws, which you really can work around if you try, I found News Addict to be user-friendly in most other aspects. Some features, such as the pictures and videos available from some sites load slowly, but for the most part the individual sites and the text therein loads quick enough. The biggest advantage I see with News Addict is to eliminate screen clutter on your iPhone by having access to nearly all the major news sites under one icon.

News Addict is only a buck as an introductory price and for obtaining quick, comprehensive access to mobile news, it’s pretty much ideal. It’s not the most sexy app ever, but it is well-designed – enough so that I didn’t mind the few ads that appeared atop some of the news sites and I definitely appreciate more news, less clutter. Even though I kind of prefer some of the individual site’s apps, like USA Today and there a few minor adjusments that could stand to be made,  in my opinion once News Addict is downloaded it’s still a keeper.

• rating: 7/10
• app_name: News Addict

© AppCraver, 2009. | News Addict? Get Your Fix | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

The best thing about politicoTracker is the extensiveness of the elected officials’ list. Search for your local member of Congress and then find out how they are proposing to spend your money. Or check out what your local state representative has been up to. The news is broken down by tags, so by tapping on “economy” you would see  the articles that are aligned to that topic.

The search is quite good and produced an interesting variety of information. Though what was frustrating was that after viewing the article summary the link to the full piece would not always work — no matter how many times I tapped the link.

Another good feature is politicoTracker’s ability to save particular public officials to reference again. So if you wanted to scan a couple of times per day what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Republican Whip Eric Cantor are up to, all you would need to do is tap on the icon of the goofy politician and access your favorites. This section is also where you would have listed any articles that you have saved. If for some reason you get lost navigating politicoTracker there is a fairly decent user guide that can be accessed from the main page.

At a cost of $9.95, which is essentially BMW-type pricing for the App Store, politicoTracker will probably only appeal to the true political news addicts that want to not miss any news about some of the key figures in politics. There is a $.95 edition of politicoTracker that streamlines politicians’ tweets. Considering the cost difference between the two apps it seems odd that the more expensive app would be missing a feature present in the cheaper version. If some of these issues get worked out, politicoTracker has potential to be a good app for staying on top of political news.

• rating: 7/10
• app_name: politicoTracker

© AppCraver, 2009. | Follow Elected Officials with politicoTracker | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Ohpan

As a newsreader, Ohpan gathers the zillions of bits of tech, celebrity, financial and other news from RSS/ATOM feeds and shoots them to your handheld. It works just like dozens and dozens of newsreader apps already in the App Store.

So just what makes this one so special?

What Ohpan aspires to do is send content to you over a big pipe and let you add the valves, spigots and gauges so you get only the content that is relevant to you. Here, it’s all about personalization.

The problem is that Ohpan isn’t ready to deliver on it promise, at least not in a way that’s is any different than any other specialized newsreader. Admittedly, Ohpan  is still in the early stages and so it not evolved enough to recommend it over any other newsreaders you might be using.

Ohpan.com, the AType Studios’ Web site, where you can set up an account and presumably add more filters and customizations to your feed is still in its  rough beta stage.

Ohpan comes prepopulated with a well-organized and colorful list of topics or “Communities,” such as Tech News, Creativity, Health and Style. That’s not unique but the set up encourages you to explore.

There’s an account registration and login screen, but Ohpan creates a username and automatically logs you in.  Sooner or later you’ll be asked to register to receive more personalized content.

Works for me. I don’t have to register for a site I may decide not to use (I already have plenty of those) and I was able to take Ohpan out for a spin right away.

I use a combination of newsreaders and I try new ones all the time. The one I’ve used the longest is Mateusz Rajca’s Gazette, which I reviewed last year. Ohpan is on the right track, but it’s not ready to replace my favorite reader yet.

If you’re the early adopter kind that likes to be in on the ground floor of new things that could be great, then give Ohpan a chance. The company clearly has plans for the future. If you prefer a more polished app then wait. But keep Ohpan on your list, it will be interesting to see what happens with this hyper-personalized news reader.

• rating: 6/10
• app_name: Ophan

© AppCraver, 2009. | Ohpan Weeds Through Your News Feeds | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

MLB.com At Bat 2009 has a host of features to make your experience a pleasant one. When you first open MLB.com At Bat 2009 you see the days schedule. Including scores of any games in progress and start times of those yet to throw out the first pitch. On the bottom of that screen you will see the box score of one of the games currently in progress.

If you wish to listen live to a game in progress, simply highlight the game you want and select the Audio option. You will then have a choice of two different locations, (each teams radio feed), of which to obtain your stream from. Select one and MLB.com At Bat 2009 will stream the play-by-play right through your iPhone. It should be noted that some stations go quiet during commercials or a breaks in the action. I found that annoying but it was easily remedied by switching to another station’s feed.

You’ll notice an Extras tab at the top of the page. Tap on it and you’ll find seven other options to enhance your experience. Choose the MLB.com Video option and view one of the 16 highlight videos via YouTube. The videos are remarkably crisp and clear, load fairly quickly and stream very well.

Other choices include Standings, MLB.com At Bat 2009 in Safari, Tips/Support, MLB Mobile Jobs, Terms & Conditions and Settings.

MLB.com At Bat 2009 iPhone app is very user friendly and simple to use. Even those that seem to have difficulty navigating through some apps and programs can quickly locate want they are looking for. Yes, your grandpa can find his team and listen to the game just like he used to on his transistor radio.

• app_name: MLB.com At Bat 2009
• rating: 9/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | MLB.com At Bat 2009 Drives In The Winning Run | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

I use Yahoo on my home computer so I already had a Yahoo account and navigation of Yahoo on my Touch was easy. I also have a Yahoo application on my Blackberry device for searching as well. While I’m not exactly comparing apples to apples here and I was using two different wireless networks, I’m still gonna have to say that the Yahoo app for iPhone seems far better than on my Blackberry.

I prefer the text input on a device with buttons over touch screen, but I found the load time faster on Apple’s device. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good test of the voice input this go-round, so I’d love to know if other users find this feature responsive and useful.

Exploring the available options on Yahoo for iPhone, I discovered I could quickly access news headlines, sports, and social networks. The news headlines didn’t match up to my Yahoo homepage, but they were current enough. The search function is more than adequate, though you will find yourself doing some back and forth between Yahoo and Safari, which is weird, but the back button seems to always return you to Yahoo if you entered Safari through the app itself.

Being a current Yahoo! user, I definitely appreciated the ability to access my Yahoo address book, but I’m baffled as to why I couldn’t import my Yahoo bookmarks. I looked high and low for that option.

Under the “My Interests” option, I selected a local newspaper, which immediately uploaded local headlines at a glance (the headlines were outdated, but I believe that’s on the news outlet’s end not Yahoo’s). There is also the option to select specific stocks, weather, and bookmarks here, but again, no import of existing bookmarks, just manual addition.

All in all, Yahoo! for iPhone is probably more than satisfactory if you currently use Yahoo and even if you don’t, it’s a pretty convenient all-in-one if you want to set up an account. You can receive updates from Facebook, Twitter, and a couple other social networks, RSS feeds are simple to set up and customization options are available, but not as comprehensive as a home page. You may find some other features you find useful and Yahoo is free to download so you’ve nothing to loose but time if you want to give it a test drive.

• rating: 8/10
• app_name: Yahoo!

© AppCraver, 2009. | Yahoo! on iPhone and iPod touch Beats Blackberry | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

Tap News, from Sudobility, and News Fuse USA,  from icoderz, pull together articles from nine popular news outlets so you can access them all from one place. Both apps will feed you news from ABC News, BBC News, CBS News, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, USA Today and Yahoo! News.

The main difference, as far as content goes, between these two apps is that Tap News provides CNBC and News Fuse USA provides Fox News. Both apps grab articles at the same speed and articles are organized into “just tap it” lists. Scroll, tap, read.

In side-by-side comparisons of the eight news outlets Tap News and News Fuse USA share in common, I found they are identical: same news, same format.

They both cost $0.99 and they’re both ad-supported, as are all brand-names news apps these day.

Tap News and News Fuse each have easy-to-use navigation schemes, although minor differences exist. There’s not much to using news apps, so you would expect both would have the same capabilities.

News Fuse has a slightly fancier look. You select a news outlet by tapping on a colorful logo. Tap the icon at the bottom of the screen and a 3 x 3 grid of news logos slides into view.

Tap News uses a drop down menu with plain gray buttons but it’s functional and non intrusive. I lean toward this less-shiny set up, because it doesn’t get in the way but that’s a personal preference only.

Neither one of these apps have news reading abilities that can stand comparison to the news readers of the content providers themselves. USA Today’s app, for example, has additional features that enable you to customize your reading experience.

Is one app decidedly better than the other? Nope. You’ll be happy with either. If you want to consolidate prime-time news brands into one app instead of three or four, then either Tap News or News Fuse does the trick.

© AppCraver, 2009. | Tap News and News Fuse Consolidate Name-Brand News Providers into One App | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

WSJ – The Wall Street Journal mobile reader

The Wall Street Journal mobile reader has much of the same look and feel of The New York Times app, though less slow and clunky. There are some occasional moments of dragging, such as when opening WSJ or when a few of the articles were being called up. While loading, you have the option of tapping “skip” when there is an update screen. Tap it. This way WSJ will update while you are browsing through it — a better option than having to wait for the entire app to load.

There are five main sections at the bottom of the The Wall Street Journal News Reader — two will be familiar to Journal Readers. What’s News and Markets offer a wrap up of the daily news and financial information, respectively. Editors’ Picks features a collection of selected news and feature articles. The “Saved” section is where articles are stored for later offline viewing. Tap on “More” to access some of the other popular WSJ features, such as Walt Mossberg’s All Things Digital Column or the WSJ Opinion section.

Each headline is in a wide space that is easy to scroll and tap (with the exception of the large ad at the bottom of the page. But hey, WSJ is free, so you can’t complain too much). Tap a story to read it and view the photo. Two icons on the bottom of the page allow for e-mailing the story or saving it for later offline viewing.

Along with articles there is a significant amount of audio and video content in The Wall Street Journal Mobile Reader. There are several news video reports that stream pretty well over a 3G network or Wi-Fi (good luck over EDGE). WSJ Radio and audio news reports are also available for a further financial fix. And what is better is that all this content is free — unlike much of what is on the Wall Street Journal main site.

• app_name: Wall Street Journal
• rating: 9/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | The Wall Street Journal News Reader a Top News App | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

TechCrunch Offline Reader - In the 21st century it’s all about instant gratification. So much in fact, that we can’t live without our news, books, game stats, and product reviews at the touch of a button. TechCrunch adds to the instantaneous madness with up-to-the-second tech news from their collection of websites. Maplewood Associates wants to provide instant access to it all with their TechCrunch Offline Reader.

TechCrunch is a blog that profiles and reviews new products and companies. TechCrunch Offline Reader integrates all of the most popular TechCrunch blogs like TechCrunch, MobileCrunch, CrunchGear, TechCrunch IT, Gilmore Gang, & more. Not only may you read all of the blogs but it allows you to post and read comments too.

Using the TechCrunch Offline Reader isn’t as intuitive as some news readers. You have to play around with it for a bit to get going. The app starts with only the TechCrunch icon on the shelf. In order to see the other blogs in the network appear on the shelf go to the settings where you can turn on any of the 9 blogs available.

The TechCrunch Offline Reader settings also has options to choose storage time, download range and whether or not you want to see images. If you tap blogs, the ones you chose will now appear on the shelf. If there have been new posts since you last signed on there will be a small red circle with the number of new posts next to that blog. If you tap the blog list option it simply changes your view to list form. You’ll also see the same red circle if there have been any updates to the blog since you last read it.

From a visual perspective the user interface of TechCrunch Offline Reader is excellent. The colors are bright and vibrant. It isn’t cluttered with tons of unnecessary buttons. The interface has a very smooth modern feel to it. Even the 3D book shelf is well done with noticeable attention paid to detail. Each blog that appears on the TechCrunch Offline Reader not only has its traditional logo but if it’s an international blog it also has the country flag placed at the bottom. While there was obviously lots of attention given to the visual appearance of the app unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be the same amount of attention given to its technical aspects.

TechCrunch Offline Reader is extremely temperamental and buggy. It automatically shut itself down about eight times when I conducted this review. Even though TechCrunch Offline Reader bills itself as the offline reader it connects to the web often enough that it seems like you need a constant connection to the web. Updates are pretty sluggish too and even doing this on a Wi-Fi connection can seem cumbersome.

If you’re a TechCrunch lover you may want to stick to checking out the site via Safari on your handset or the desktop version by computer until they figure out the technical specs on this one. At least the TechCrunch Offline Reader is free.

• app_name: TechCrunch Offline Reader
• rating: 5/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | TechCrunch Offline Reader Covers the Whole News Suite, but is Buggy | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

SourceForge is a collection of popular sites for technology pros and enthusiasts. It includes Slashdot.org, SourceForge.net, Linux.com, freshmeat.net, ITManagersJournal, ThinkGeek and SourceForge.net.

SourceForge Network News grabs news from five of the Web network’s most popular sites:  Slashdot, a community of avid (some might say rabid) and opinionated tech followers; ThinkGeek, an e-commerce site that sells t-shirts, toys and other goods for techno-enthusiasts; SourceForge.net, an open-source software and news site; Freshmeat; and Linux.com. The last two cover what’s happening in the Linux OS world.

SourceForge Network News is a no-nonsense, bland-looking app with icons along the bottom menu bar representing each site. Tap any of the Slashdot, Freshmeat, Linux.com or SF.net icons and you’ll get a list of recent news stories, and in the case of Thinkgeek, an offering of the latest tech-styles and goods.

Tapping a news items will pop up brief — a paragraph or two — news piece. For longer stories, you’ll have to follow a link to the Web site to read the rest of the story.

SourceForge Network News compares poorly to every other news-oriented app that I’ve looked at such as Mobile News Network and USA Today.

SourceForge Network news is more of an RSS feeder than a true news app. SouceForge Network News lacks a polished interface and what little copy you see is dense and often hard to read (there’s no pinch and zoom). It’s main value is that you can get short bits of info about the day’s hot topics, but you’ll still have to go to the Web site to get the full story.

About the best thing you can say about SourceForge Network News is that it’s free. Otherwise, I’d tell you to save your money.

• app_name: SourceForge Network News
• rating: 5/10

© AppCraver, 2009. | SourceForge Network News is a Snooze | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!

1.You blogged about the difficulty of generating a profit with iPhone apps in “The Numbers Post (aka Brutal Honesty.)” What prompted you to write that post, after you said you were reluctant to do so?

When it came time to actually write the post, it was hard to share with the world that the company wasn’t an instant success. If you’ve been reading the blog, then you’ll know that I never expected instant success; that I always intended to grow the company gradually by putting out quality titles. However, it’s still hard to say, “Hey look everybody, I haven’t sold a whole lot of games yet.” I felt that it was important to post the numbers anyway. If only so that other burgeoning indies can take a look at it and see some real numbers.

2. What it is about your app Dapple that you believes gives it value?

There’s a lot about Dapple that I believe gives it value: First is the gameplay. You have to mix paint colors in Dapple, and that mechanic forces you to think and strategize. Dapple also has a professionally composed soundtrack that people love. But mostly, I think it’s the polish and attention to detail that really makes Dapple stand out.

3. How did you settle on a $4.99 price, which is higher than the majority of apps?

When I was preparing to release Dapple, I took a look at games at various price points on the App Store. I looked at other matching games, and I looked at games that I felt had a similar level of replay-ability and polish as Dapple. $4.99 seemed like a good price for the game. Right now, the game is on sale at $2.99.

4. Why are reviews by the big app sites so important? Aren’t the reviews in the AS helpful or do they hurt sales?

Reviews from app sites are important because they allow people to read an informed opinion on the game before they buy it. Not everyone will agree with every review, but if you find a reviewer whose opinions match your own, it’s a handy way to know what to look for. App Store reviews are also incredibly helpful, I don’t mean to downplay them in the least.

5. App crackers are starting to become a big problem for devs. What can you do? It takes a lot of resources to pursue these guys.

This is a question to which I’m not sure there’s a good answer. I’m not sure how many people who pirate a game would actually pay for it if they didn’t have the option to pirate it. Ultimately, I’m happy that people enjoy playing the game. But I hope that people pirating iPhone games realize that they’re usually not stealing from mega-corporations, they’re still from independent developers. I would hope that someone who downloads a cracked version of Dapple and likes it, would support our continued efforts in making great games, and buy a copy.

6. How important is being featured in the App Store to your introduction and sales?

This afternoon Dapple showed up in the Canadian App Store’s “What’s Hot” list, which is very exciting. Obviously, this just happened, so I don’t have any first-hand data on that to share. From what I’ve read, it can be huge for an app to be featured in some way. From a lot of other devs I’ve talked to, getting featured in the U.S. App Store is what can make the difference between profitability and losing money on a given app.

7. You say you’re a long way from reaching your sales goal. Are you still committed to develop for the Apple platform or is Android, Palm or something else starting to look more attractive?

I am a long way from the break-even point with Dapple, but I think it’s an attainable goal. I am still committed to iPhone app development. That’s not to say that I’m not considering other platforms. When I founded Streaming Colour Studios, it was founded as a games company, not as an iPhone games company.

8. If you can’t profit from your app, will you continue to do updates?

I do have updates for Dapple planned, yes. Because I’m looking at this as a long-term commitment and not in terms of short-term gain, building a relationship with fans of Dapple is really important to me. I want people to know that we produce quality products. However, we will never use updates as a means of releasing an unfinished product. I want people to know that if they download version 1.0 of one of our games, that it will be a quality game from the get-go. When we push out a release, it will be to add asked-for functionality or respond to player feedback.

9. What’s the rationale for a Lite version? Is it the same idea as “try before you buy” or something else? Devs have been asking for a trial version of apps, right? Think that’s in the cards?

We created the Lite version of Dapple so that people could get a feel for the game before buying it. You have to play it for yourself, see the way the paint mixing works, and feel the flow of the game to really understand why it’s worth your hard-earned dollars. I hope that people will play the Lite version and see this for themselves.

10. What do you think about OS 3.0? Got any plans to do things differently with existing projects?

I’m very excited about what Apple announced about OS 3.0! Obviously I can’t talk about it too much, but yes, it has created a flood of creative ideas about things we can do with the new features. I think a lot of devs are really excited about the possibilities it opens up for the platform, especially in the gaming space.

11. Big studios with big budgets and big dev teams are getting into the business. How do you think that will affect the hit-driven side of the business?

I think if big studios with big budgets start putting out some big, quality titles, everybody wins. Players get quality games, which will raise the bar for all developers. However, with big budgets comes the need to make more money, which I think could raise the expected prices for quality titles a little bit. Right now, I think the concern for a lot of big developers is how to make enough money to warrant investing in a larger team for a longer period of time, if the expectation is that no game sells for more than $5.

12. Apps are cheap but it seems that devs are more responsible for pricing than anyone else. Devs market free and $1 apps and that has affected the way buyers view apps. Essentially, devs have trained buyers to pay as little as possible. True or false?

I think that’s partially true. The App Store is like its own little free market. The pricing is determined by what consumers are willing to pay for a product. The market is driven lower by the fact that rankings in the store are based on sales volume, not revenue, so cheaper apps tend to rank higher. This is by no means a rule, but apps are more likely to get into the top 10 if they’re priced lower, it seems. So, this drives the price down. Then the consumer sees a great game in the top 10 for $0.99, even though it might have been released at $4.99, and the expectation becomes for games of the same quality to release at $0.99. This is hard for developers entering the space, as we then have to make a decision about whether to price what we think the game is worth, or what we think the game can sell at. However, I suppose that ultimately, whatever price people are willing to pay for a game determines what the game is worth.

13. It’s well established that low prices lead to high sales but not necessarily high profits. Okay, what does equate to profit?

Haha, I wish I knew! I’d be rich! Seriously, though, I don’t know. Low prices can lead to both high sales and high profits, and it can also lead to low sales and even lower profits. Part of the challenge of selling a game on the App Store — as with selling a product anywhere — really is figuring out that sweet spot where your price is high enough to make money, but low enough that people see the value in purchasing it.

14. Dev cycles will get longer as buyers expect more from apps. What does that mean to you and other companies? Will you look to move your prices up to compensate?

The only way to move prices up is if players see the added value for the price. My fear is that dev cycles will get shorter as devs try to make apps for less money, so that they can sell at a lower price point. I hope that there is a way to convince players that an app is worth more if they see the added value. I think that’s the only way we’ll see bigger budget titles on the platform.

15. What do you think about the premium section — $19.99 — in the App Store that’s being kicked around?

This ties in to your previous question. If this is happening, then that’s when I think you’ll start to see the big games companies really jumping into iPhone development full-steam. If you look at an Xbox 360 game, they often have budgets in the $10 million to $30 million range. That’s a lot of money, and impossible to make back selling a game at $1.99. Even if we want to see games in the $500K to $1 million budget range, I think the only way that will happen is if people are willing to pay $19.99 for a game. The challenge will be to convince the players that it’s worth that much more.

© AppCraver, 2009. | Interview with Owen Goss, Founder of Streaming Colour Studios | Get our iPhone Reviews on Facebook & Twitter!