14 DAY TRIAL // Alphonso Labs Inc. have launched a major new update users of their news reading app, Pulse. Specifically targeting owners of an iPhone or iPod touch, Pulse News Mini 2.0 combines enhanced performance, new content sources and improved sharing with social feeds and news discovery features, the developers said.
Pulse is a one-of-a-kind RSS feeder in that it offers stories in a visual manner, rather than using plain text.
Immediately available as a free download from the iTunes App Store, Pulse News Mini 2.0 was reportedly launched to address the changing needs of consumers.
New features for Pulse News Mini 2.0 include:
· Personalized News, which allows users to select a “pack” to auto-populate an entire page with the top sources for their favorite category of news;
· More Social News, a new feature that enables users to ‘like’, share and comment on items in their Facebook newsfeed from within the app. Additionally, users can easily browse social content from YouTube, Vimeo, Digg, Reddit and Hacker News;
· Speed 3x - improved performance translating into faster loading of sources updates and image processing. Scrolling is also more fluid, according to the developers;
· An enhanced Search function showing results that now include the most added news feeds with images and more relevant titles;
· An improved Google Reader with the ability to save stories for offline reading, as well as options to have them synced with Google Reader.
“What we’ve been seeing is a trend towards bite-sized consumption, meaning users increasingly prefer to consume news in short bursts, while standing in line for coffee or waiting for a train,” said Akshay Kothari, co-founder.
“Pulse on mobile phones was built around this idea and has really resonated with our users. Pulse 2.0 delivers the same visually-compelling experience that our users love with new features that improve browsing and make it easier to find and share news on the go,” Kothari added.
Both available for iOS and Android, the new Pulse app should only be downloaded on iOS 4.0 and above, according to an ‘important’ note addressing Apple device owners.
Alphonso Labs promises to release an update to address compatibility with older firmware versions soon.
