iPad Apps for News Lovers

One of the most talked-about apps is Flipboard. A killer app for the iPad, this alone is a reason to hand your money over for the tablet. Flipboard takes any website, news feed, or social network and then builds them into a magazine-styled layout. Flipboard makes discovery simple by maintaining fully-curated "channels" ranging from News, Business, Cool Curators, Photos & Design, and tons more. Companies that partner directly with Flipboard bring custom formatting to each story. You can add Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google Plus as sources too.

Sports and ESPN go hand-in-hand. Score Center XL takes ESPN’s wealth of knowledge and delivers it to your iPad beautifully like Jordan flying overhead for a dunk. ScoreCenter XL fully customizes to follow your league of choice, down to your favorite teams. A sidebar runs down the left with live scores of each game, letting you monitor the entire league with just the flick of a finger. Need more detail? Tap a game and you’re brought to the full recap, box score, and video highlights of the match-up. The Top Events section shows the latest news and quick links to the top videos. You’ll never ask ‘What’s the score?’ again with ScoreCenter loaded up on your iPad.

Fox Business is an app to access just the news around business. The main screen will display the stock market visually, the main stories, and their recently aired video segments. There are also tabs on the bottom to access video, news, my money, and channel finder. The videos tab provides access to most of their previously aired segments. The news tab provides a way to get caught up on the latest news, market news, personal finance news, and small business news. My money is a way to actually watch stocks and see how they do within the app. Channel finder will show you the different stations in your area where you can watch Fox Business. The app is well done and provides a great way to keep current on the news in the business world.

Pulse News for iPad is simply a beautiful app that makes news reading fun and engaging. You can add your favorite sites into Pulse or just go with the included sources. Sources and articles will be rearranged into an interactive mosaic, and reading an article will take you to a clean and elegant reading view. You can sync reading material with Pulse for iPhone, or save articles for later with Instapaper and Pocket integration. Be social by sharing your articles on Twitter and Facebook. Pulse News is a definite must-have for any iPad user.

With News.me on your iPad, you can always find great stuff to read from your friends. Simply connect your Twitter account and follow other users that are also using the app. You will then be able to see what they are reading and read it yourself, too. The interface itself is beautiful and elegant, and extremely streamlined. It provides a beautiful reading experience with full article text and images. There are definitely some hidden gems in what people read and what appears in their Twitter feed, so take advantage of it! News.me has an endless stream of articles, and you can always send the stuff to Instapaper or Pocket if you don't have the time for it at the moment. It's a free app, so if you are a frequent Twitter user that is always wondering where the top industry professionals, such as Arianna Huffington or Nick Bilton, get their sources, this is how you can do so.

When it comes to reliability, features, and good reporting, you can’t beat CNN. CNN doesn’t mess around, blanketing your iPad’s screen with a beautiful grid of photos and headlines the second you open it. Scrolling through the grid gets you near-infinite rows of four-stories to read. When you tap on an article, you’re brought into the full text, complete with video and more photos on the right to complement the reporting. Want to post a comment? CNN’s got you covered. Sharing to Facebook or Twitter? The familiar share-arrow icon is easy to find. Navigation through CNN’s app is seamless and fluid with intuitive menus. You won’t get lost here. The articles snap up with minimal load-time. Even more impressive is the ability to watch CNN TV live. If your cable company is a participating partner, you can log in and watch via Wi-Fi or cell connection.

The BBC news app for the iPad provides a great way to get caught up on world issues. The app features news from Europe, Latin America, UK, Asia-Pacific, South Asia, Middle East, and Africa. The app also features news in entertainment/arts, health, sport and audio/video news. Many of the stories include a video segment to go along with it. The app also features news in different languages. These include Mundo, Brasil, Chinese (Traditional/Simple), Russian, Arabic, Persian, and Urdu. The app also features a live radio stream from the BBC. The radio will even run in the background. The app is a wonderful addition to any iPad.

The Washington Post provides access to all of the publication’s content. The various sections include: Politics, Opinions, Local, Sports, National, World, Business, Lifestyle, Entertainment, Multimedia, and Top News. Local in this case means news local to Washington D.C. You can skip through the various sections by flicking left or right. Flicking up and down will let you view all of the stories each segment has to offer. The app is completely free right now for a limited time. Even though the app is free, a free account is required to view the full articles. The app is a great way to get access to the Washington Post on your iPad.

The Huffington Post is a completely free way to access the publication’s content. The app is well-designed and provides access to many different sections including: politics, business, media, entertainment, comedy, sports, style, world, green, food, travel, technology, living, health, divorce, arts, books, religion, impact, education, college, New York, L.A., Chicago, and Denver. The app is loaded with great content and the fact that it is and always will be free makes it an essential app for your iPad's news folder.

The NYTimes app for the iPad is free to download, and it will get you access to the Top News section. For access to the rest of the sections (over 25), you will need to get a subscription. The app will get you the best writing from one of the most reputable sources of news in the world. With the NYTimes in your Newsstand, you will wake up to the latest headlines every morning. You can refresh throughout the day to get the latest breaking news and information from all over the world.

Can’t read while you’re driving? Too tired to keep your eyes open on the train? No problem. NPR has brought their quality reporting to the iPad. In true NPR fashion, all articles feature a prominent ‘Listen Now’ button. NPR takes it further by letting you search and listen to your local NPR station, create a playlist, and share stories to Facebook and Twitter. NPR hosts a wide variety of shows from news to arts to quiz shows, so there’s no shortage of content to keep you entertained. So plug in your earbuds and let NPR bring you up to speed with the day’s events.

Back in 2004 when podcasts weren’t in the lexicon, tech guru Leo Laporte launched the weekly show ‘This Week in Tech’. The show mixed top news stories with notable industry-insiders and became the centerpiece of the TWiT network. Dubbed by Laporte as ‘CNN for geeks’, TWiT has become a 24-hour streaming network of content you can both watch and listen to. Aside from the titled podcast, you can get the latest Android news, social network tips, Mac talk, photography expertise, and more. Through the TWiT app you get this all on the go in both audio and video formats. Incredibly this is all completely free, which brings the value up even further. Like The Verge, the app itself is only part of the reason to keep coming back. Great personalities keeping their fingers on the pulse of what’s happening lets you stay up to date no matter what.

AP news on the iPad is a great way to get news directly from the Associated Press. The app contains news from these sections: Top News, Sports, Showbiz, U.S. News, Small Business, World, Wacky, Technology, and Business. The wacky section is a fun place to go to get a laugh on what is happening today. The app also features local stories. Stories can also be saved to your iPad for reading offline. The app deserves a spot in your news apps due to its wonderful content and user interface.