It is no secret that I detest watching the news. I don’t enjoy the focus on violence and video imagery that “could be disturbing to some viewers”. I also don’t enjoy being spoon-fed hype and exaggeration in the name of ratings. Pretty faces on television telling me what should be important to me is patronizing at best. If I want to know what is going on in the world, I will listen to it on NPR or seek it out in the format I love best: the written word.
Don’t misunderstand. I know that bias exists everywhere. I am not functioning with the illusion that “written” equates to “fair and balanced”. It definitely does not. Still, it is preferable to read tragedy in black and white, rather than watch talking heads with ear buds and teleprompters dictating their every word. I admit that I used to enjoy the investigatory news shows, like Dateline – but, as the tagline says, “Dateline – don’t watch alone!”. I have yet to find anyone who will watch it with me., so I am no longer in their demographic. Someday . . .
The primary issue with being forced to seek out my own news sources is that there are so many news sources. I am a fan of the Wall Street Journal – at elast I was until they stopped delivering the physical paper to me (another story for another day) I love getting a snapshot of the news from USA Today. Besides those two daily papers, I am forced to rely on diving down the rabbit hole better known as the internet. At least I was, until recently.
I have no doubt that I am behind the majority of the Western World in my discovery of the amazing app called “Flipboard”. With an icon that resembles a Stealth Bomber (or a Tetris® piece), Flipboard presents news that matters to me at my fingertips every single moment of the day. I choose the topics, I flip through the articles, and I get to arrange everything with the swipe of a finger. I can remove what doesn’t interest me and save what does. Sharing an article with friends or Twitter followers takes seconds. I can even create my own “magazines” by organizing and consolidating articles.
Per Wikipedia, “Flipboard is a social-network aggregation, magazine-format mobile app localized in more than 20 languages. The software collects content from social media and other websites, presents it in magazine format, and allows users to "flip" through their social-networking feeds and feeds from websites that have partnered with the company.”
Based on different reviews, etc, I have also learned that the tablet experience for Flipboard is even better than the phone experience. I am looking forward to discovering whether this is true with my Surface 3.
Courtesy of Flipboard, here are three “fun facts” I have discovered over the past few days:
1. Acetaminophen reduces pain AND empathy
2. Los Angeles weather women should wear sweaters on the air
3. It's a bad idea to lock my phone with a fingerprint
Peace out.
