The Skinny on The Daily: Is This The Death Knell For Print Journalism?

Every day, it seems like someone is predicting the downfall of print journalism. Digital media and online news portals seem to make traditional, newspapers and print media less relevant every day. The latest assault on traditional media is The Daily, a unique news source, providing content on a daily basis exclusively for the iPad. Because the content is formatted for the iPad, it is able to take advantage of the technology and interface in ways which no news app has been able to before…or such is the claim. I downloaded free two week trial of The Daily in order to put it through its paces. This review will look at three distinct elements of the app: interface, content, and impact on journalism. Will this be the app which forever changes the way you access the news? Or will it merely supplement the tools you already use? Read on for our thoughts, and then let us know what you think in the comments.

Interface:

I was immediately impressed by the interface of this app. True to the hype, it really does utilize the iPad’s unique format of the iPad effectively. The main interface consists of a carousel view, with image of each article. Just flick the screen to send the images spinning through the various articles. While I found this was great for browsing, it was far too easy to spin right past the article you intended to read. The whole thing just felt a bit imprecise.

Each article has a section header on top, which helps with organization, but really seemed a bit superfluous given the structure of this interface.

Perplexingly, strewn throughout the articles, you will find various ads. While some of the ads do utilize impressive media elements, such as embedded video, I still found it a bit annoying to find these ads in an app which requires a paid subscription.

Beneath the main interface is a category list. Just tap one of the categories: news, sports, gossip, opinion, arts and life, games and apps, and jump straight to that section. This is a nice way to find the articles you want to read, without having to scroll through each one.

Once you have found the article you want to read, just click on it to open the full article. From here, you can also leave live written or recorded audio comments, share the article via Facebook, Twitter, or email, or save the article within the app.

You can return to any saved article to read later. This is a nice feature since, as we will see, articles do not remain in the app forever. This allows you to keep reading once the article has been removed.

Heading back to the main screen, the background behind the main interface will change based upon the time of day, depicting an image of the sky over your head. This is a nice feature, though I would have preferred an option to customize this background in order to display an image of your own.

In the upper right hand corner is the current weather. Tap on this icon in order to open the weather page, which will show the current weather, forecast, horoscope, maps, and radars.

Overall, I was pretty impressed by the interface generally. it is clearly a first attempt, and lacks some of the polish you might have otherwise expected, for example, the app I tested was extremely buggy. The app regularly crashed during my testing, and the responsiveness of the carousel could be a bit laggy. That being said, the developers have already released an update addressing some of these problems, and they continue to tweak and improve the interface.

Despite the bugs, I thought the developers did a fantastic job designing an app which incorporates many of the iPad’s features and abilities, especially when it comes to the embedded video, audio, and other multimedia content.

Quality of Content

In order to discuss the content in this app, it is important to understand what it is and what it is not. Although this app is updated with new content daily, it is not a newspaper. As such, you will not find the kind of hard news coverage you would expect from CNN or The Washington Post. Instead, this is a magazine, with magazine-style articles. in other words, they are short and tend to lean toward features….and of course, far more than your fair share of gossip and entertainment.

One of the advantages of a magazine is that the extended news cycle allows for more in-depth coverage or analysis than a daily newspaper. So, they are able to get more involved and more in depth with a particular issue or story. The Daily, since it is published daily, does not necessarily meet that definition. I found that while the writing was superb, many of the articles did not offer the depth of coverage I would have expected from a magazine-style format. Instead, they tend to rely more heavily on the multimedia aspects, with somewhat mixed results. That being said, this is a new publication, and I would expect their coverage to continue to improve as
they add additional writers and (hopefully) expand the categories covered.

Most troubling for me was that the app really did not offer anything which is not otherwise available from a myriad of other websites and apps…mostly for free. Other than the unique interface, I am not convinced that the content warrants the price of the subscription when so many other news sites and apps offer much deeper and broader coverage for free, or a minimal fee. Again, though, I am inclined to give The Daily the benefit of the doubt due to their newness, and hope that their coverage will continue to develop to the point that they are able to offer more unique content which truly sets them apart from the crowd. At this point, though, I really have not seen much from this app which would warrant the steel cost of the subscription.

Journalistic Impact

When I got my degree in journalism, print media pretty much ruled the day. There was no such thing as the Internet as we know it today, and digital media existed only in science fiction. So, to me, journalism means late nights and black, inky fingers. Obviously, a lot has changed (well…not the late nights so much). So, I get a bit nostalgic anytime I hear things like the death of print media, even though I get most of my news from the Internet these days. So, I decided to take a look at what journalism means to me, and whether The Daily met these needs.

Obviously, journalism, regardless of the format, plays an important role in society. Not only does it ensure a well informed citizenry, but it also serves as an important check against our leaders, both political and civic. Additionally, and at times most importantly, journalism provides an ongoing record of our society, an important resource for future historians.

This is where The Daily really fell short for me. The content in the app is ephemeral. Each time it updates, old content is removed, never to be seen again. There is no record for the future, no indication of the importance of current events, and no archives of past articles. What you see is what you get…and all you get. This inability to create a searchable archive significantly limits The Daily’s effectiveness as a true tool of journalism.

The larger question though is what an app like The Daily could mean for digital and online journalism, especially for iPad users. The Daily, more than any other app on the iPad has sent a loud and clear message that subscription services have arrived. Can other apps be far behind? Are the days of free (or almost free) news coming to an end? Will free news sites be going the way of…print journalism? Only time can tell.

Conclusion

I absolutely loved the idea of The Daily when I initially read about it. This is exactly the kind of app which initially spurred me to buy the iPad in the first place. It is a news app designed specifically to utilize the unique features of the iPad interface. What is there not to love…at least on paper (pun intended). Well, how about bugs, crashing, a laggy interface; not to mention the and disappointing lack of death and breadth of the coverage. Sure, the quality of the writing is good, but there is not nearly enough of it; and the articles you do get do not delve deeply enough into the subject matter in order to provide the kind of analysis you would expect from this kind of magazine-style format.

Additionally, at $0.99 per week or $39.99 annually, The Daily does not come cheap. Compare this with the fact that AP Newswire and CNN both offer free news portals. The Washington Post costs $0.99 per MONTH (for print subscribers). Likewise, on the sports side, there are plenty of free and customizable sports apps, including ESPN Scorecenter and SportsTap to name just two of my favorites. Unlike The Daily, both allow you to customize your favorite pro and college teams (The Daily only allows customization of pro teams).

At the end of the day, I really wanted to love The Daily. I expected to be the first in line to sign up for an extended subscription. Sadly, it does not appear that will be the case. Poor execution and an abundance of bugs and crashes have rendered this app virtually unusable for me. It has a lot of potential, and it could be a great app one day, but for the time being, at least, it would appear that print journalism has survived yet another challenger.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

World in War for iDevices – The War Begins December 16th

iPod Touch and iPad, will be coming to the App Store this Thursday 16^th December. To wet your appetite, check out the trailer:

Symbol6 Redux Released for iDevices

Icelandic Studio Gogogic released their unique puzzle game for iPhone iPod Touch and iPad (HD), Symbol6 Redux.  http://itunes.apple.com/app/symbol6-redux/id397969134?mt=8

It’s a great little casual game which has been specifically designed to be appealing to everybody, regardless of age or gaming experience.

To celebrate the launch of Symbol6 Redux, Gogogic are also giving away copies of the game on their website www.gogogic.com via a treasure hunt competition.  Get it for $0.99 for the iTouch/iPhone version or $2.99 for the iPad version.

Review: MailTones for iDevices

We all enjoy the distinctive ring features which allow our phones rings a certain way.  It allows us to know who the call is for, or who’s calling.  In the way of cell phones, I’ve seen some software for smartphones that enable this kind of functionality which allows you to know if it’s an uber-important call that you just HAVE TO take.  Or you can look at the flip side, getting a ring and knowing which calls NOT to take.  Why couldn’t we have done this with email?  Well, step right up to the plate Electric Pocket because MailTones is now on trial.  Join us in the JAMM labs as we find out whether this $3.99 app is worth its salt.

Read More …

A Quick Look At iOS 4.2 for iPad

Earlier this week, Apple finally released the highly anticipated iOS 4.2 for iPad, bringing a world of advanced features to the popular device.   Despite a few initial hiccups, I finally got the new OS installed yesterday, and have now had some time to tinker with many of its new features.  What follows are a few of my initial impressions of what I found.

Let’s start with the most highly anticipated feature coming out of Cupertino since cut and paste.  Of course, I am talking about multi-tasking.  as has been widely reported, this is not true multi-tasking, in that it does not truly allow you to work in two windows at the same time.  Instead, it is really multi-running-app.  What it allows is for apps to run in the background and perform background tasks while you work in another app.  So, for example, Pandora can keep playing while you surf the Internet.  However, it does not add the feature which is on top of my personal wish list, a drop down which could be access from any screen or with any app running which would display my task list, agenda, and email inbox.  I suspect I will be waiting for that one for a long time

Still, the new iOS upgrade does allow fast task switching, which is really nice.  In the past, iOS required you to exit out of one app before you could start another.  This was cumbersome and time consuming.  Not to mention the fact that you generally lost your place in the closed app.  With fast task switching, when you “close an app” it actually gives you the equivalent of minimizing it, placing the app into the task switching pane.  You can then access the task switching pane in order to switch back to any app, or fully close an app.  The nice thing here is that when you access an app from the task switching pane, it will immediately return to the exact spot where you left it.

Now, I will admit that I had a little trouble finding the task switching pane…some release notes or instructions might have been helpful.  A quick Google search, however, revealed what I am about to tell you.  In order to access the task switching pane, just double tap the home button.  As my friend Mike noted, this is going to significantly increase the wear on your home button, and will likely result in an awful lot of worn out home buttons.  I hope Apple is ready to offer a home-button replacement service.

Once you have accessed the task switching pane, you can swipe through all of your active apps by simply swiping to the right.  Tap on any to open it.  Tap and hold to reveal the close buttons.  Tap the close button (red minus sign) to remove it from the task switching pane and close the app.  Finally, swipe all the way to the left from the first task switching pane screen to access the new control screen.  From here, you can control your iPod, increase or decrease the volume and brightness of the screen, and even toggle the screen rotation lock.

Waitaminute…what is the screen rotation lock doing here?  Isn’t there a switch for that.  Well, yeah…which is to say, there was one.  The switch which used to lock the screen rotation is now a mute switch, instantly turning off the volume on your iPad.  Which is nice, but seems completely unnecessary since holding the volume button for a second or two already had this same effect.  To me, this seemed like a classic case of if it is not broken, fix it anyway.  The screen rotation lock button worked great.  There was no need to remap it, especially to remap it to add a completely redundant function.  Especially when this important feature is now hidden in a menu which requires multiple steps to access.  At the least, Apple could have included an option in the settings to toggle the functionality of this switch between the screen rotation lock and mute.

The second big-ticket item you will find are app folders.  Yes, Apple finally makes it easy to keep similarly categorized apps grouped together.  Again, a little instruction would have been helpful here, but I was able to figure this feature out through trial and error.  To create a new folder, just drag one app icon and drop it on top of another.  a new folder will then open, ready for you to name.  You can then drag and drop up to 20 apps into each folder.  I absolutely loved this feature.  It instantly decluttered my iPad home screen, taking it from nine screens down to three.

The only problem I had here was that the folder icons all look pretty much the same.  They are all a black background filled with miniature icons of the folder contents.  While it is pretty cool that each folder icon changes to show the contents, it would be nice if you could further change or customize these icons in order to differentiate them from one another.  Plus, the home screen looks a little more boring with nothing but these black folder icons all over it.

To access a folder’s content, just tap the folder and it will shoot open, displaying the contents of the folder.   You can launch apps directly from the folder, just as you would any other app on your device’s home screen. 

Did I mention I absolutely loved this feature?  Plus, not only does it bring a significant amount of organization and customization options, it also significantly increases the number of apps you can display on your home screen.  Now, instead of nine screens of 20 apps per screen, you could potentially have nine screens with 20 folders on each screen, and each folder storing 20 apps.  That increases the potential from 180 apps to 3600 apps.  Not too shabby.

Another big criticism of Apple has been the lack of ability to print natively from iOS devices.  With the iOS 4.2 upgrade, printing finally made it to the iPad in the form of AirPrint.  In theory, this is a fantastic feature, which allows you to print from your iPad directly to a connected printer on your wireless network.  In practice, however, it is just not that easy.  As soon as I started trying to use AirPrint, I noticed that it was never able to find my printer, despite the fact that every other device connected to the same network can see it.  Another quick Google search revealed the reason.  Air Print is limited only to certain features, primarily those manufactured by HP, which contain the eprint software.

In other words, unless you have one of the compatible printers, and the list is pretty small, then this feature will be all but useless to you.  This is especially frustrating, given the fact that I have used other printing apps on my iPad, such as Readdle’s Printer Pro, which have been able to find and utilize my printer with no problems.  Why Apple chose to intentionally cripple this feature, I cannot explain.

Obviously, this is not everything you will find in iOS 4.2.  There are plenty of other features, including the new gaming hub, GameCenter (above, review coming soon); Find My Phone (below, review coming soon), which allows you to message, lock, or wipe your phone remotely; enhanced email, which includes the much coveted threaded messages; and Air Play, which will allow you to stream any media content directly to Apple TV or Air Play enabled speakers…another feature which is useless without additional compatible hardware.   There are plenty of other enhancements and upgrades.  You can learn more about them by checking out www.apple.com/ios, or just poke around your iOS 4.2 enabled iPad and see what you can find.

I have to say that I have been anticipating this update pretty much since I bought my iPad, and I was not disappointed.  The feature I coveted most, folders for my apps, works great; and the multi-tasking and app switching is really fantastic as well.  I was disappointed to find that some features were would not work since I did not have additional required peripherals, such as apple TV or the correct printer, but many would say that is just typical Apple, giving with one hand and taking away with the other.  Those were minor annoyances, however, which were far outweighed by the incredible leaps in functionality offered by the new OS. 

Do you have iOS 4.2 running on your iPad or other iOS device?  Let us know what you think in the comments below.  What are your favorite/least favorite new features?

 

Find My Phone

GameCenter

Enhanced Email

Plenty More