Tired Of Newsreaders With Too Many Choices? Try Palimpsest For Those Long-Form Articles
Palimpsest ($3.99) by Navanit Arakeri is an iPad-only app that delivers multiple full-length article to you everyday, with no syncing required. Enjoy the article on the bus, over your lunch or while winding down at the end of the day.
Do all the newsreaders out there have you overwhelmed with where to start? Fret no more with Palimpsest. Webster’s Dictionary defines palimpsest as: “Writing material (as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased.” The name is fitting for what this app does. Everyday you will receive one brand new long-form article. The next day you are presented with a new article. You have some choice over what is delivered by giving the articles a thumbs up or thumbs down. The app will learn your preferences, and begin delivering articles tailored to your interests. This is based on 15 different characteristics of an article which includes details like paragraph size, keywords and if the article has lots of numbers or dates.
Palimpsest delivers a featured long-form article that has been optimized for text only. All of the extra photos and other images have been removed, so you can simply focus on reading. The app presents these in long-form, with a link to the original article. The link will bring you to the periodical and you can see the images included in the original article and browse other articles within that publication.
Navigating Palimpsest is very simple. There are six buttons: thumbs up, thumbs down read another article, information, settings and view original. The feature article immediately opens, and is available for offline viewing. There is no need to sync or choose your preferences. In the few days I have used this app, the articles have come from a diverse selection of periodicals: Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Gourmet. Palimpsest has more than the one feature article for your reading enjoyment. It includes 40 articles for you to read at one time and provides 10 articles for offline viewing. As stated in the apps definition, you cannot go back and read a previous article or choose your next article. However, when you select and view the original article, you can open it in a browser where you can email, bookmark, send to Instapaper, and print.
If you like to go in depth with quality literature and articles, you will appreciate Palimpsest. If you enjoy simply reading the headlines and moving on, then your favorite newsreader is the app to stick with. Palimpsest draws from some fairly expensive periodicals, so you do have a chance to view some of the best on a daily basis.
