App of the week for journalists: Kooaba Shortcut

App of the week: Kooaba Shortcut

Phones: iPhone

Cost: Free

What is it? An image recognition app, allowing you to take a photo of a newspaper or magazine page and find the PDF version.

How is it of use to journalists? You will find this app useful if you have ever come across a story in a newspaper or magazine, perhaps at a weekend, and wanted to remember it later.

This app means you don’t have to rip out the page, pocket and potentially lose it.

The image recognition technology recognises 79 different UK titles, including several local newspapers.

Simply take a photo of the page using the app, allow Kooaba Shortcut to recognise the page and then select the + button to save it to the app’s libarary, to Evernote or share it via email, Twitter, Facebook or SMS.

Kooaba Shortcut is the successor of Paperboy, released for UK titles in November. A post on the Kooaba blog explains the name change:

We have two reasons for that. First, not only newspapers are interactive (for which Paperboy was initially designed for), but also many magazines joined the last couple of years. The name paperboy clearly refers to newspapers only and that gives you the wrong impression.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

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Storify launches iPad app

Storify, a tool which allows journalists to curate web content including tweets, YouTube videos, SoundCloud audio, Facebook content and more, has released a free iPad app.

Here is a Storify (by Storify) to introduce the app.

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App of the week for journalists: News360

App of the week: News360

Phones: iPhone, Android, Playbook, iPad, Win Phone 7. There is also a News360 web app and browser extension.

Cost: Free

What is it? A personalised news app and “periscope” browser extrension.

How is it of use to journalists? News360 is a personalised news app, similar to Zite and Flipboard in that it uses your Twitter, RSS and other feeds as sources and delivers news that you are likely to be interested in.

An added bonus of News360 is the ability to set up specific topics. For example, you can set up “Egypt” as category and add “Hosni Mubarak”, “Egyptian army” and “Gamal Mubarak” and then find news stories that mention one or more of the above.

Another aspect of News360 well worth knowing about is its “periscope web browser”, which allows you to read multiple articles from a variety publications on the same story.

Simply install the browser extension and go to any news story. You will then find a tab along the top that lists and links to other news stories.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

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New Sun app comes top in iTunes paid-for news chart

A new iPhone application from the Sun has become the most downloaded paid-for news app on the iTunes store this week – in its first week on the market.

The Sun app is currently sitting at number 10 in the overall league table of paid-for applications and is number one in the news category, with the Daily Mash in second.

Downloaders are being lured with an introductory price of 69p for the first month. The price of a monthly subscription rises to £4.99 after the first month.

The app automatically updates throughout the day with breaking news, and also includes live sports results, horoscopes, picture galleries and location-based weather updates.

It is the latest in a range of applications being launched by News International for its daily national titles. The Sun launched an Android application last month and the Times unveiled a web app earlier this week.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – advice on mobile reporting

Sky News correspondent Nick Martin has some advice for journalists using a mobile phone to record video.

He shared his tips at last week’s news:rewired journalism conference.

According to this post on three pieces of advice for journalists reporting using a mobile phone, Martin advises:

1. Practise

2. Don’t panic!

3. Use mobile reporting only when it was appropriate, explaining “that it is not worth setting up a tripod and XLR cables for an iPhone when the cameraman is just five minutes away”.

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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App of the week for journalists – Google Latitude, for adding locations to stories

App of the week:Google Latitude

Phones: iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Symbian

Cost: Free

What is it? An app, web app, website and mobile site that allows you to add your location to a Google Map.

How is it of use to journalists? This was tip picked up from Paul Gallagher, head of online content at the Manchester Evening News.

During a session on mobile reporting at news:rewired, a conference about the latest trends in digital journalism, Gallagher explained how the MEN online newsdesk has encouraged reporters to use Google Latitude to add locations two paricular stories.

When Manchester City and Manchester United faced each other at Wembley in the FA Cup final in 2011, MEN sent reporters on the fan buses and created atmosphere by reporters geotagging locations as they travelled, using Google Latitude on a mobile phone.

MEN also used Google Latitude when reporting on roadworks, liveblogging a slow journey.

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Media release: The Scotsman launches £7.99-a-month iPad app

The Scotsman is today launching a £7.99-a-month iPad app.

The app, which will be free for the first 30 days, is aimed “to appeal to regular readers, subscribers and scotsman.com users, and offers the opportunity to grow readership amongst iPad users, business travellers, sports fans, expat Scots and commuters”, according to a release.

The Johnston Press-owned title added in the release that this is “Scotland’s first dedicated multimedia news iPad app”.

John McLellan, Scotsman Publications’ editor-in-chief, said in a statement:

This is a major development which keeps the Scotsman up to speed with the latest media technology. Devices such as the iPad will play an increasingly dominant part in the way people access information and this is one of the most important steps forward in the Scotsman’s 200-year history.

It is a very different experience to reading online and having been at the forefront of that newspaper revolution over ten years ago it is fitting that we are in the midst of this one.

Scotsman Publications’ managing director Andrew Richardson, added:

The Scotsman app offers the best of both worlds, giving readers the choice of either leafing through the pages of The Scotsman newspaper or of reading the content in a digital format, with live news, video and enhanced use of photographs. Either choice provides a great new way to keep in touch and up-to-date

The app is sponsored by train company East Coast for the first four months.

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Economist launches US election web app

The Economist has launched Electionism, an HTML5 web app for tablets, focusing on the US election.

Publishers will be interested to note the development of an app that works across a range of tablets, including the iPad, Galaxy Tab and Kindle Fire (yet to be released in the UK), and will also soon be available on the Blackberry PlayBook.

Rather than being downloaded from an app store, it is accessed by following a link in the tablet’s web browser.

Although designed for tablets, a simple version of the app works on mobile, presenting a Tumblr blog-style format (indeed, the app is “powered by Tumblr”).

This is the the Economist’s first foray into a web app that will work across several devices, unlike its range of apps native to Android and Apple’s iOS.

Electionism includes content from the Economist, CQ Roll Call and other noteworthy election reports from around the web.

Tom Standage, digital editor of the Economist, said in a release:

Electionism combines the Economist’s day-to-day opinion and commentary on the US elections, from our Webby-award-winning Democracy in America blog, with detailed on-the-ground coverage from CQ Roll Call and our picks of the best election coverage from elsewhere on the web, all wrapped up in a tablet-friendly format.

Nick Blunden, global managing director and publisher of the Economist online added:

It is extremely important to us that we provide our readers with not just commentary and analysis, but also the opportunity to discuss and debate the key issues. By building content sharing functionality through Facebook, Twitter and email into the Electionism app, we have provided readers with the ability to engage others in a conversation around the election.

Electionism was created by the Economist Group Media Lab, an internal product innovation group, and built in conjunction with its Toronto-based technology partner, Pressly.

• Tom Standage, who is quoted in thus post, will be speaking at news:rewired, a conference for digital journalists organised by Journalism.co.uk. See the agenda, list of speakers and list of delegates. Tickets cost £130 +VAT and can be booked using the ticket page. More than 140 tickets have been sold. Book now to avoid disappointment.

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Media release: Guardian’s iPad app hits half a million downloads

The Guardian iPad edition has been downloaded more than half a million times since it launched in October 2011, with 23,000 downloads on Christmas day alone.

The Guardian has not released figures for the number of editions downloaded.

From Friday 13 January iPad readers will be asked to pay £9.99 for a monthly subscription. Content has been free of charge for users in the first three months since launch, due to a sponsorship deal with Channel 4.

From tomorrow (Saturday 7 January) the app will include the Guardian’s Weekend magazine for the first time. The new weekly section, accessible from the app’s top navigation bar, will feature content from the Guardian’s award-winning magazine supplement, including columnists and recipes.

In a release, Merope Mills, editor of the Guardian Weekend magazine, said: “Weekend magazine’s stunning photography perfectly suits the form and the clean, modern design of our app on iPad. From tomorrow, readers will be able to enjoy a leisurely read of our award-winning longform journalism, flick through the galleries of ‘Your Pictures’ or watch our brilliant fashion and beauty correspondents Jess Cartner-Morley and Sali Hughes, as they guide readers through the latest lifestyle trends.”

The release also states that Guardian six- and seven-day print subscribers will continue to receive free access to the app after the three month period via their current subscription. Users who download the app after 13 January will receive a week’s free trial before signing up for the monthly subscription.

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#jpod in depth: The past, present and future of mobile reporting

The past year has been a big year for mobile reporting, bringing readers to the heart of stories both at home, such as the London riots, as well as abroad, such as the Arab Spring.

The year is also ending with handing down of new guidance of the use of text-based devices, including mobiles, when reporting from court, which has given greater powers to journalists when wishing to report live and tweet on proceedings.

In this week’s #jpod, news editor Rachel McAthy speaks to journalists about the key events in recent years which have demonstrated some of the best of mobile reporting and what the future holds in this area. Interviewees include special projects editor for the Guardian Paul Lewis, special correspondent for the Times Alexi Mostrous, music editor at the Guardian Caspar Llewellyn Smith and reporter for Washington DC’s news station WTOP Neal Augenstein.

We also find out more about the technology available from SoundCloud’s audio content manager Ben Fawkes.

Podcast: Download

Journalism.co.uk’s next news:rewired event will feature a session on mobile reporting.

You can hear all our podcasts by signing up to the Journalism.co.uk iTunes podcast feed.

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