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Last August I covered the news-reading iPad app, News360. I liked the tech, but after I reviewed it, I never used it again. That was as I predicted. It just didn't grab me.

The new one does, though. It shows how much difference a good, clever interface can make for a product.

As before, News360 pores through your declared interests as well as what you post for others to see on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter, and what you save for yourself on Evernote. From this analysis it comes up with a bunch of channels and topics within the channels … Read more

Twitter released its first ever Transparency Report detailing statistics on international requests for user data and content removal today, the same day news came out that it would have to hand over user information in a court case in New York.

The Twitter Transparency Report breaks down the countries from where such requests come and specifies how many requests it has received, what percentage it complied with, and numbers of user accounts affected, all spanning the first six months of this year.

The company has received more government requests in the first half of this year than in all of … Read more

If you're not familiar with Flipboard, it's a magazine-style news reader that has been wildly popular on iOS for quite some time. What gives it extra cool points is its ability to handle social media. See, Flipboard can integrate your social accounts into its feed, and present tweets or other status updates just as it would news stories or blog posts (complete with images and video thumbnails). Couple this with Flipboard's gorgeous tiled interface, and it's easy to see why the app is such a fan favorite.

With its clean design, vibrant display of photographic tiles, … Read more

Yahoo and CNBC have formed a new partnership to jointly distribute content and programming across their networks, the companies announced today.

The deal will give Yahoo Finance greater access to real-time financial reporting as well analysis and interviews from CNBC, TV's biggest business news channel. The two companies will also partner on creating co-branded, original videos that will appear on Yahoo Finance and CNBC.com.

Together, the companies aim to reach an unduplicated online audience of more than 40 million U.S. viewers each month.

"Our mission is to create the richest and most powerful experiences for users … Read more

News Corp. digital media head Jon Miller is bullish on the odds of his friend Ross Levinsohn becoming the permanent chief executive at Yahoo.

"I would bet that Ross Levinsohn will be the CEO of Yahoo," he said today during an interview at the PaidContent 2012 conference in New York. 

"Ross is as good a person as exists on the planet [to run Yahoo]," he said.

The two were once partners in a venture firm, Velocity Investment Group, which was formed after Levinsohn resigned as president of Fox Interactive Media and Miller left his post … Read more

Apple's Apple TV set-top box could get more sports programming as part of a deal with Disney's ESPN network.

Bloomberg today relays its chat with ESPN marketing executive Sean Bratches, who said that the company would be game for offering its WatchESPN service through the Apple TV to existing cable subscribers.

"We're a platform-agnostic content company," Bratches told Bloomberg. "To the extent that in the future there's an opportunity with Apple to authenticate through the pay-TV food chain as we're doing with Microsoft, that's something that we will participate in." … Read more

Do you watch a lot of Internet video? With so much out there to consume, from hot music videos and "SNL" skits to arty Vimeo clips and sports highlights, it's impossible to see everything. But an app that's new to iPhone helps you discover new videos by organizing them into channels you can browse by category, popularity, and Web site.

Squrl Video Discovery, (free) was formerly for iPad only, but now brings the app's wealth of video discovery tools to the iPhone. You can get started by browsing through popular or "Fresh" (new) videos to see the type of content you can watch. But to really get the full experience of Squrl, you should connect with social networks like Facebook and Twitter so you can watch videos posted by your friends and share your favorites with them.… Read more

Verizon has its customers' backs.

The Internet service provider is refusing to give up the personal information of customers that book publisher John Wiley & Sons allege are online pirates -- despite the threat of subpoena. Verizon has instead called into question whether the information would lead to any relevant findings and expressed concerns about the violation of privacy, according to TorrentFreak.

Verizon's unwillingness to give up the information is significant because its challenge could signal a potential hurdle for content companies looking to prosecute individuals using Bittorrent to illegally download books, movies, and music.

A key argument is … Read more

Apple is once again said to be talking up a TV set when trying to ink deals with content providers.

The latest target is said to be Epix, a joint venture of Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM. According to Reuters, the movie channel has been in talks with Apple to bring its content to Apple's digital stores.

The interesting tidbit, Reuters says, is that Apple's been pitching a deal that would bring the content beyond its $99 set top box, and to "upcoming devices that stream content." That could be Apple's TV set, a product that … Read more