Want to keep up with the latest news and updates on your Windows 8-powered devices? Here’s a list of seven useful news aggregator apps that you can download for free from Windows App Store. They are also available in other platforms. Anything you need to know about technology, business, lifestyle, geek stuff, rumors, etc., you can personalise and filter in one news board while on the go.
1. Flipboard
Personalise your own news magazines with a smorgasbord of information using Flipboard. You can sign-up via email or Facebook to enjoy the full features. The gestures for navigation such as flip, swipe, and tap are also available in touchscreen devices. However for laptops and PCs, you’ll have to sick with the keyboard’s arrows and mouse. Choose from categories and bookmark the topics which are automatically saved in Your Subscriptions, and if you want to explore more, just go to Discover or tap the Search bar and enter the keywords or topics. Flipboard allows you to link other social media accounts in the Accounts option, too.
2. News Bento
Bento works similar to Flipboard, but it has fewer options and the UI looks like the metro with live tiles which you can drag and drop. You don’t need to sign up to use it. The three little dots on the lower right side of the screen serve as the menu to access other settings like changing theme (black or white), refresh of the feeds, or mark all read. Clicking the bookmark button on the upper right will direct you to the list of news and topics you can add in your library.
3. News Republic
News Republic allows you to “select your favorite topics and become your own editor.” You can skip the introduction and sign-up page. The topics are divided into nine major categories under My News Digest, which includes Top Stories, All News, Moods, Photos, Videos, Business, Lifestyle, Culture, and Technology, by default. And if you want to find more topics, scroll to the right and click the big (+) box to direct you to another page of a list of expanded categories or use the search bar. When you’re inside a topic, you can swipe left to right to browse other articles. Customise the home screen using the drag-and-drop feature to rearrange the live tiles.
4. newsXpresso R
There’s a quick demo on how to navigate the entire news board once you launch it to walk you through the newsXpresso R app. It doesn’t require users to register immediately, as you can still use it via free trial while you start following favorite news, blogs, videos, and topics from the Catalog. It supports multilingual features, and you can add a keyword or URL of the websites which aren’t included on the list. Find more relevant and interesting news from Cool This Week under Catalog.
5. Breaking News
NBC’s Breaking News app is straightforward in a stark orange-themed UI – no pictures whatsoever. Get the curated news from different major media outlets in real-time via Twitter updates. You don’t need to sign up to use it and simply right click the screen to refresh the feed.
6. News360
Personalise your news board from the available recommended topics of News360, ranging from technology to arts to startups to books and more. It doesn’t require you to sign up, so you can skip that part and start marking the favorite topics; click the “Assemble News360” to launch the homepage. It’s simple to use with no social media integration, and the tiles aren’t live — plainly, it’s a news aggregator.
7. MSN News
Microsoft’s very own MSN News feed app is worth including on our list because it’s also easy to navigate, and if the “Location Services” is activated, it automatically aggregates updates based on the user’s location. It’s divided into seven major categories, including the Top Story, Business, Top Stories, Tech & Science, Sources, Entertainment, and Sports. Add more news outlets that you want to subscribe to and include them in the Sources.
What’s Your favorite?
With so much information these days, a news aggregator can help filter the topics that interest us aside from using Google News on the Web, which is also a good option. There’s also an available app for that in the Windows App Store, Google Reader Free. How about you? What app(s) do you use to get the latest news? Drop them in the comments section for our readers to check out.