Flipboard: Your Social News Magazine

I've seen a number of lists of apps recommended for those lucky individuals who got a new iPhone or iPad from Santa, but CNET's listing strikes me as being the most useful. They include a number of free apps that are my favorites and that I use every day. Let's take a look at some of their recommended apps. 

Flipboard — This is likely the most popular aggregator of news and content ever developed for iOS devices. Its interface is gorgeous and intuitive, and very easy to customize to your interests. Many people find it to be their favorite window onto Facebook or news or entertainment or sports, or whatever your interest is. 

Google Maps — When Apple dumped Google Maps in favor of its own maps solution, many were disappointed that Apple's effort was missing some of their favorite features, such as transit directions and Google Street View. Fortunately, Google eventually came out with a full-featured version of their app for iOS devices that has almost all the functionality of their highly popular maps app for Android devices. 

Comparative reviews can be very helpful, and I wanted to be sure you saw two recent ones that I thought were particularly useful. First of all, one of the most important features of the new iPad is LTE — a fourth generation data protocol that gives you superfast Internet speeds. Both Verizon and AT&T are rolling out LTE networks, and if you're thinking of getting an LTE iPad, an important choice you face is which carrier to go with. In some cases, your choice will be clear, because one might not be available in your area. But if both are available, you'll want to know which is better.

Big news late yesterday: the wildly popular Flipboard app (free) originally available only for the iPad is now available for the iPhone as a universal app. Flipboard is so popular, and so many iPhone users downloaded it, that CNET is reporting that the service is down. The app gives you an amazing new window onto Facebook and other social networking services.

I like Flipboard, but recently have started using Pulse, and in this review, compare it to the other great news and RSS aggregator/reader for iPad. Each is excellent in it's own way, though I must admit, the side-scrolling rows that Pulse collects your feeds into are perfect for quickly scanning through content. However, I like the large splashy news displays on Flipboard and the magazine-like page turning...ahhh, 2 awesome readers, so what's a geek to do..?! Use both...

Three things amaze me about Flipboard: 1) it's astonishingly high ratings in the App Store, 2) the fact that such a great app is free, and 3) that it made me want to start viewing my Facebook and Twitter accounts again. I kept hearing about Flipboard, and I kept ignoring it: yet another aggregator of social media and RSS content. But then I tried it, and was immediately hooked.