apps – Apps for Media

Use: Create compelling iPad “magazines” with easy-to-use tools

Prss is an app that allows non-technical users to create magazine-like publications that use the iPad’s native interactive capabilities. The app, which is now in beta and is scheduled to be publicly released at the end of the summer, uses the iPad’s interface — swiping, tapping, pinching, etc. — instead of menus to create multimedia and shareable magazines. The product also dramatically reduces file sizes for speedier streaming from the cloud.

The Netherlands-based company used the technology to create TRVL, the iPad’s most-downloaded travel publication. Their current business model is to offer the app for free and charge a small fee per download.

Publishers who want to offer iPad users a more compelling, native experience with inexpensive and intuitive creation tools, should explore this application.

Update 10/7/13: The Next Web: Prss is a powerful new way to create professional-quality iPad magazines in your browser

Gigaom: Prss is trying to design the iPad publishing app that Apple never built

Paidcontent: PRSS aims to be a low-cost iPad magazine factory in the cloud

Use: Leverage Apple’s OS upgrades to provide improved design and functionality to mobile apps

Apple this week announced upgrades (and somewhat of an overhaul) in the new iOS7 which will be available this fall. Initial reviews, based on a keynote presentation at Apple’s developer conference, have been mostly positive.

New or improved features include: a Control Center for frequently-used functions: Notification Center that aggregates alerts to new e-mail, missed calls, calendar items, etc.; improved multitasking; upgraded camera features; new ways to group photos and videos; instant sharing with people nearby through wifi or blue-tooth; iTunes radio; Safari and Siri improvements; App store upgrades including the ability to find apps relevant to your current location (let’s hope media apps are included in that…); and more.

Here is a round-up of improvements/enhancements:

Apple: iOS7 Coming this Fall

Nieman Journalism Lab: A proof of concept for a news site sending a push notification to a desktop computer ➚

ReadWrite: Apple’s New iOS 7: What You Need To Know Now

VentureBeat: iOS 7: Here is Apple’s mobile operating system of the future (photo gallery)

TechCrunch: Apple Introduces iOS7