14 DAY TRIAL // Google is said to be working on a social news reader app to compete with the growing number of apps that try to deliver a curated stream of news and articles as well as content from social networks, based on a user's interests, likes and connections.
Dubbed Propeller, the app, which will be available for both Android tablets and the iPad, will compete with the likes of Flipboard and its scores of copycats/competitors.
Not much is known about the upcoming app, apart from its intended goal, but Google is said to be working on its release. It is also said that the company has a batch of social apps coming soon.
Google may be waiting for Facebook to make its big announcements, at next week's f8 developers' conference, and will only then unveil a new batch of apps and products, related to Google+ or the +1 button in some way.
The news reader app was first revealed by Robert Scoble, on Google+, who cites sources saying that, so far, the app is "mind-blowing good."
All Things D confirmed that Google is working on such an app and provided its name, Propeller. The app would compete with Flipboard, one of the most popular iPad apps, but also apps like AOL's Editions, Yahoo's Livestand and so on.
It's unclear why Google is building such an app. It may link it to Google+ in some way. Though it's been available since launch, everyone seems to be forgetting Google+ Sparks, which is a personalized news aggregator.
It's not that great, or, at least, it hasn't managed to entice too many people to use it, but Google isn't giving up on the idea and it's certainly in a good position to find stuff people will like.
On the one hand, it's got access to the things you like, from the +1 button, in the other, it knows everything that happens online since it's constantly monitoring websites and can pull content from a wide number of places.