APP-solutely Fabulous: Pulse

image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

As the new school year begins, the amount of papers, textbooks, assignments, and events to keep organized can be a more than a little overwhelming.  Between old fashioned spiral bound planners and digital to-do lists or calender alerts, it feels like we can never do enough to stay on top of our organizational needs.  So we definitely don't have time to keep track of updates from favorite websites, recently discovered blogs, or preferred digital news providers.  Luckily, there's a great app for that!

In fact there are several different apps that can track and pull together all your favorite online updates into one location.  However, after trying out a few different options, I've definitely found a favorite personalized news reading app.  Pulse, an app designed by two graduate students at Stanford's Institute of Design in 2010, is an easy to use news reading app that works on multiple devices.  Pulse allows you to create a highly visual but clean and organized compilation of updates from all your favorite websites, blogs, social networks, and other online news sources.              

As this screenshot of a Pulse homescreen shows, Pulse differs from a regular RSS feed reader especially in its appearance.  Pulse is highly visual and easy to manipulate using the touch screens of tablets or smartphones.  After downloading the app for free to your iPad, iPhone, or Android device, you simply open the app, read the initial instruction screen, and begin customizing your Pulse news feeds.  The small white cog wheel in the upper left corner of the home screen opens the following screen which allows you to add pages & sources and to manipulate the arrangement of source feeds between pages and within pages.

A screen shot of the set-up screen, accessed by clicking on the white cog wheel in the top left of the homescreen.

 

Pop-up screen where you can choose new source feeds.

If you click on the blue add bars, this screen will pop up.  Here you can browse through Pulse's preselected and featured news sources by category and pick feeds to add to your home screen.  You can also connect to your Google Reader if you use it track RSS feeds already and then add sources from there.  If you're still looking for sources, then you can also click on the magnifying glass icon in the top left corner of this screen to search by keywords or specific web addresses.

 

When you tap on a image or 'tile' representing a blog post or article, a separate screen within pulse should pop up to display the full content.  You can also sync your Pulse across multiple devices; directions about that process are included on the Pulse F.A.Q. page, along with a range of other helpful answers and instructions.

Enjoy and happy organizing!