App Review: PressReader

If you enjoy reading newspapers, then PressReader may be for you; with access to over 2100 full content newspapers from 95 countries in 54 languages, it's certainly an interesting addition to your app collection. Interested? Read on!



You may remember our interview with Ray Wang from PressReader, the largest digital newspaper kiosk app for iOS (and also Android, BlackBerry, Win7 Tablet PCs and Windows Phone 7)and if you don't, high-tail over to read it now.


PressReader not only helps you to gain access to newspapers around the world but it’s also helping the environment. PressReader have saved over 281029 trees from being chopped down and being used for printing. According to their blog, it takes about 12 trees to produce 1 tonne of paper, so, you get your newspaper, and the environment stays a little greener.

Upon launching the app, the homepage gives you the latest news from newspapers around the world at the top with news under different categories of different countries at the bottom, along with the ability to change to39 different languages if you do so desire.

That's all well and good, but what really sets PressReader apart from other reader apps, is that it does actually gives you the feel of reading a real newspaper (not physically, obviously). After selecting any of the newspapers, PressReader takes you to a new window where you can read the newspaper at ease. Fonts, pictures, graphs, tables etc all looks exactly the same to the original one. Although it is not possible to read at this resolution, you either can magnify the paper to read or just simply click on the article to open a pop up with the full article in the text format, with a nice animation which shows the paper rolling to a new page.

Pressreader, is a fresh and exciting prospect for newspaper readers, which allows the experience of reading the real newspaper, with the only difference between the real thing and the digitised version is the, well, the paper.

Check out PressReader here!

iTunes 

Blackberry App World

Google Play (Android)

Windows 7 (tablets)

Windows Phone 7

Tech Beever Interview: Ray Wang, PressReader App

We were lucky enough to catch up with Ray Wang from PressReader, the largest digital newspaper kiosk app for iOS (and also Android, BlackBerry, Win7 Tablet PCs and Windows Phone 7), and we interviwed him about PressReader, the latest edition to the PressDisplay family. Read on, womt you!



What exactly is PressReader?

PressReader is an application that provides readers with access to over 2,200 full-content newspapers and magazines from 96 countries available on iOS, Android, Windows and Playbook operating systems. Millions of tablets also come preloaded with PressReader from a growing list of leading manufacturers including Microsoft, ASUS, BlackBerry, HTC, Kobo and Samsung.

What does PressReader offer that other news applications don’t?

Unlike other mobile news applications or aggregators that only provide a selection of top stories, PressReader offers readers access to over 2,200 full-content publications from 96 countries—all available through the world’s largest digital newsstand, PressDisplay.com.
Every newspaper presented on PressReader is an identical replica of the current day’s printed edition, including each section, article, advertisement, editorial and comic strip shown in its original content.
Moreover, PressReader provides users with features dedicated to enhance the traditional news-print experience with functionalities like instant translation, on-demand audio, article sharing and our exclusive SmartFlow (a horizontal news-reading feature) and SmartZoom technology (allowing you to automatically zoom in to the beginning of an article).

What was the original reasoning for PressReader?

PressReader was developed as the companion reading application to PressDisplay.com, the world’s largest digital newspaper and magazine kiosk. Essentially, we wanted to provide our subscribers with a means of reading their favorite publications anywhere, anytime on any device.

The layout and UI in PressReader seems very clean and fresh, offering a number of sources, and even lottery number results, but will there be a feature to add RSS Feeds, such as Tech Beever's own news feed, for example?

Today, PressReader provides digital replica editions of printed newspapers and magazines to our subscribers with advanced digital navigation and reading features. That being said, we believe PressReader’s SmartFlow horizontal reading stream would be a perfect way to consume other types of content from sites such as Tech Beever.


What kind of syncing functions are there, I.E, could I sync my publications to other devices, including E-Readers?

Once a publication is purchased or downloaded from either PressDisplay.com or PressReader, users are free to download that same publication across multiple devices free of charge, including eReaders like the Kobo Vox running Android.

Will there be a support for magazine publications?

PressReader already has more than 250 magazines available such as Inside Golf, Cosmopolitan, National Geographic, UNO Magazine and La Revenu to name just a few. We’re making a strong push to broaden the list of magazine available through the app in the months to come!

We've all had a play with the app, and we found it to be very responsive and fresh, especially on tablets. What's the response been to PressReader from the app world?

The response to PressReader from the app world has been tremendous. Subscribers love the fact they can get their favorite newspapers and magazines in one location on their favorite tablets and smartphones regardless of where they are in the world. In fact, some users told us that their reason for buying the iPad was for apps just like PressReader which makes us feel great!


Check out PressReader here!

iTunes

Blackberry App World

Google Play (Android)

Windows 7 (tablets)

Windows Phone 7

Knockoff Tech; What You Didn't Think You Wanted...

You all know one of the sort, a shady character, usually by the name Dodgey Dave, or Cockney Kev. But those folk have nothing on these guys.
We have, just for you, a few of our favourite knock-off tech. And to be fair, some of them have good ideas, but mostly, they kinda suck and steal design's from more known companies. We're sure you'll still warm to them though, we have a few favourites of our own...





iPad QWERTY Slider Edition

This, in all respect, isn't that bad of an idea. Sure, they've stole the 'initial' idea from a small company called Apple, but it packs a slide out Mac-esque keyboard. Apparently it comes booted with Windows 7, a 10-inch display and an Atom N450 processor. No other details available. Including name or price. So that kinda puts a stop to purchasing one.

source: shanzhaiben






Teso Windows 7 iPad Clone

10-inch 1024x600 capactive touchscreen, HDMI output, 1.66GHz Atom N450 processor, 1GB os DDR2 RAM, GPS, 3G, and a 3,000mAh battery. All it needs is a keyboard, and this things a pretty good netbook! Yep, the Teso is one of the finer iPad knock-off's, and, it actually uses the faceplate the iPad was intended to have. Irony, eh?

Again, no price!

source: midbbs




Sony Vaio P Knockoff

SonyStyle (not the 'real' Sony Style) decided to take the Vaio P, and make it, well, affordable. Enter this 1.6GHz Atom powered mini laptop, sporting a 1024x600 8.9-inch screen, WiFi and a 16GB hard disk.
The price: £184.04 ($299)

source: shenit







iPod Nano Knockoff

Well, lookie here, it's a rather good iPod Nano (6th Gen) knock-off. Coming in either 1.5 or 1.8-inch touchscreen (we pressume resistive), as well as an external speaker and SD card reader.
The price? £13.64 ($19.35 if you're in America).

source: dealextreme



Now, of course, we don't expect you to actually go out and buy these things, but if you or someone you know happen to own one already, we'd love to hear how they fare!

CES 2011: Day 1

As much as we wanted to pack our things and head off to Las Vegas Nevada for CES 2011, the ultimate gadget fest, to feast our eyes on the mouth watering gadgets we can look forward to, we can't. No, instead, we're sat here in dreary England, looking in on the lucky ones who are there (not that we're bitter...).


So, hit on the links to see what you (and us!) are missing out on.


Courtesy of Engadget:

Xi3's Modular Computer

HTC Thunderbolt


Gateway Media Console with CableCard and Windows Embedded Standard 7

LG Revolution

ASUS tablet lineup preview: Slider, Transformer, MeMO, and Slate EP121

Samsung Galaxy Tab Gets Update

LG Pico Projector Line Up

*UPDATE

Courtesy of T3:

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc