news

Customize BlinkFeed for HTC One

For the HTC One, HTC designed a news feed widget called BlinkFeed that pulls in top stories from around the Web, as well as social feeds, such as Twitter and Facebook. It's a good-looking piece of software, and for better or worse, HTC makes it your default home screen on the HTC One.

But if you're less than thrilled by BlinkFeed, I'll show you how to better customize the stories that it pulls in, or even remove it from your home screen.

First off, tap the home button to make sure you're at the top of … Read more

Facebook releases new News Feed look for iPad

Facebook is updating its News Feed for iPads, promising the bigger photos and more prominently displayed content that the social network has already launched on the desktop version of Facebook.

The update for the iPad app will be available for download in the iTunes store later today, according to Facebook.

The new News Feed means a new look for the iPad. "You'll see brighter, more beautiful stories," a Facebook blog post says.

The social network unveiled the overhaul of its most lucrative feature last month. Facebook is hoping the new News Feed equals a richer story design, … Read more

YouTube creates 'Explosions at Boston Marathon' video page

As Boston grapples with the aftermath of two explosions that hit the city during its annual marathon, YouTube has created a way for people to immediately get the latest news.

The video steaming site has built an official YouTube Spotlight page devoted to all video related to the blasts. Titled "Explosions at the Boston Marathon," the page has 26 videos as of this writing -- from President Barack Obama's speech to videos captured by onlookers to police press conferences detailing the explosions. More videos will surely be added as more is uncovered about what happened.

Earlier today, … Read more

Microsoft updates Windows 8 News, Maps, other apps

Microsoft has updated its various Bing apps for Windows 8 in a move designed to make them quicker to use and easier to customize.

The News app now lets you manage the different news categories that appear in the app. You can add or remove categories for world news, technology, politics, business, and entertainment, and sort the order in which they appear. You can also add a particular news source or RSS feed to your featured sources and to the Windows Start screen so that you can more quickly access their stories.

The News app's app bar has also … Read more

Flipboard: Your Social News Magazine 2.0 Review

In an age of information overload, apps like Flipboard provide the much- needed organization and curation tools to keep it all in one place. By taking your RSS subscriptions, Twitter account, Facebook account, and other online accounts and combining them into one easy-to-use interface, Flipboard simplifies the consumption of information on an iPad and makes it faster and easier than ever before to get what you need from your device.

When you first open Flipboard, you'll be prompted to create an account. This account will store all of your subscriptions, and you can choose to either create a new … Read more

Former News Corp. president wants Hulu for $500 million, says report

Former News Corp. President Peter Chernin wants to buy Hulu for about $500 million, Reuters reported today.

Unnamed sources told the news service of Chernin's interest in the video-streaming site. Chernin, a former Hulu board member, helped create Hulu in 2007. He left News Corp. in 2009 to start The Chernin Group, which owns other media companies, such as Pandora Radio.

News Corp. and Walt Disney, which currently own Hulu, were said to have reached out to potential buyers in March.

Providence Equity Partners, one of the Chernin Group's investors, sold its 10 percent stake in Hulu last … Read more

Navigate your Facebook News Feed with keyboard shortcuts

Facebook doesn't have a large collection of keyboard shortcuts and many of them require browser-specific modifiers. Still, if you spend a lot of time in Facebook, using the keyboard shortcuts can be time-savers. The News Feed navigation shortcuts in particular, are convenient and easy to remember because they work the same in every Web browser (no modifier required).

To scroll through your News Feed, just use j to scroll down and k to scroll up. To comment on the selected story from your News Feed, use c. To like or unlike a selected story, use l.

Keep in mind … Read more

Why Facebook isn't rushing the rollout of its new News Feed

So you want Facebook's bigger, better News Feed? Too bad -- unless you're one of the chosen few. The social network is taking a painstakingly slow approach to releasing a remarkably overhauled version of the stream, having given the new look to only a "small group" of users on the desktop so far.

Three weeks ago, Facebook unveiled a new look for News Feed to make its often overwhelming stream of updates feel less cluttered. The new News Feed features photos and stories that are twice as big as before, individual feeds for filtering the stream … Read more

Create custom Flipboard magazines

Flipboard is a must-have newsreader and social network hub that lets you organize the info you want to look at, then flip through it like you would a magazine. The latest version of the app for iOS lets you create custom magazines from the sources you like most so you can browse through your favorite topics, share your magazine with others, or find magazines about topics you're interested in created by other users.

Get started by creating an account with Flipboard, then sign in to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. You also have the option to connect with your … Read more