feeds

Skygrid is a fun-to-use, visually slick app for browsing through recent news from multiple sources.

Skygrid isn't tied to any particular news outlet, and you can't see much more than a short blurb and a thumbnail image for any particular story--so whether you're checking out a story from PBS NewsHour, CNET, TMZ, or WebMD, you'll have to click through to the source's Web site to read the whole story. Even so, Skygrid makes surfing the headlines fun, with a streamlined grid (of course) interface that lets you swipe through different sections and stories, with the … Read more

BBC News is a well-designed app for browsing through stories and video from one of the world's most respected news sources. The app also prominently showcases BBC Radio, with a button for listening to live radio while you're browsing.

BBC News is one of the better news apps available, with an attractive and efficiently organized interface that's easy to navigate--and that reacts intelligently when changing between vertical and horizontal layouts. You can browse through headlines and thumbnail pictures around categories such as Top Stories, Technology, and Features & Analysis (you can easily scroll between and within categories … Read more

HootSuite for iOS lets you sign in to your Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare accounts from a single application window. While the app may not be versatile enough for the most active social media personalities, it is a convenient option for frequent users of these three social networks.

The first thing you should know about HootSuite for iOS is that it's nowhere near as powerful as its browser-based sibling. While the desktop version lets you sign in to and post from no fewer than nine different networks, the iOS app is limited to the three mentioned above. That said, the … Read more

Facebook is bringing back the chronological setting for News Feed.

Users can now once again see the "most recent" stories first atop their News Feeds, Facebook noted in a blog post this afternoon.

As of late September, the chronological option was removed as Facebook moved to fully automate the News Feed with stories the company's algorithms deemed "most important." Facebook said the tweaks were designed to "help you see more of what you care about, and less of what you don't."

Clearly, Facebook's loyal user base wasn't thrilled by Facebook'… Read more

Muzine is a music news app for iPad that lets you read the latest music topics in an easy-to-read format, or lets you customize your feeds to get news only from your favorite bands and sources. After launching the app, you're given a slideshow of featured stories--strangely, you can't go to a story by tapping on it, but instead need to hit the Features button to get access to full stories. Even with this oversite, the columned layout of the stories in the Featured section makes browsing for music news incredibly easy and enjoyable. A swipe upwards lets … Read more

Google recently revamped Google Reader to a healthy dose of criticism. If you're unhappy with the changes to Google Reader, we've highlighted some alternative feed aggregators to consider.

We've broken down the choices to Web, Android, and iOS, but some apps are available across multiple platforms and devices.

Feedly (Firefox and Chrome) Feedly is an aggregator that actually pulls feeds from Google Reader. It offers different viewing styles, including titles, magazine, mosaic, and full article. Feedly also has one of the most comprehensive sharing options we've seen. Items can be sent to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, … Read more

When you can't make it home for every episode, or two shows you like are on at the same time, digital recorders can catch every moment for later viewing. However, if you're watching a lot of shows, it's hard to keep track of what's airing each night. So how about an easier way to see what shows are coming up and which ones are already in your queue for watching? Here's how to turn your Google Calendar or Reader into a personal TV guide:

Getting started

Step 1: Create an account at TVRage.com and … Read more

ChannelCaster for Android lets users create and publish personalized "channels" that aggregate news from thousands of supported news sources. In addition to all of the expected big-name publications and blogs, ChannelCaster can pull feeds from Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter. Its design is clean and visually appealing with its sharp, vibrant thumbnails, and its navigation is incredibly simple with only three main tabs along the top of the app.

The Favorites tab is really the heart of the ChannelCaster experience. This is where you save your most frequently visited channels, and presumably where you'll spend most of … Read more

Google+ for Android is a clean and intuitive mobile app that has all of the powers of its desktop counterpart save for the games and a few other minor features.

The Google+ app opens up to a dashboard of icons leading to the different sections of the service: Stream, Messenger, Photos, Profile, and Circles. As a whole, the interface looks and feels very much like the full desktop version of Google+, and navigating the app is incredibly intuitive.

Stream Stream is really the lifeblood of Google+. By default, this section of the app displays feeds for All Circles, Nearby Google+ … Read more