Category Archives: headlines

Get the chance for a free copy of Headlines 2 (ends March 24th)

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Last week Google announced the sunset of Google Reader. Since then, many users looking for an alternative for reading their preferred RSS feeds.
Well, with Headlines 2 an app for webOS that is around for more than a year there is such an alternative. Syncing between devices isn’t supported, because all the feeds and articles are stored on your Touchpad, but a pro of this is, that you can read synced articles offline while commuting for example. It supports different reading modes and all your RSS needs.

If you haven’t bought the app yet, you have the chance to grab a free copy over at webOSNations App Giveaway. The contest is open till sunday 24th March.
Or you can head over straight to the AppCatalog and buy one :-)

Headlines2 2.0.7 submitted – What’s new

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I just submitted version 2.0.7 to the AppCatalog.

Yes, it is quite silent here on the blog, but I still support the webOS I’ve developed. This version brings no new features. Also there are no bug fixes included since I haven’t found any bugs in the last couple of months. There were also no reported bug fixes from users, so I’m quite happy with the stability.

This version was submitted because of Twitters API change that will deprecate API v1.0 on March 5th 2013. Headlines 2 has built-in Twitter support, so I started my good old editor again and did all the little changes that where necessary to get Headlines working with v1.1.

  • [CHG] Switched to Twitter API 1.1 since Twitter deprecates 1.0 soon.
  • [FIX] Twitter text handling fixed in rare circumstances

I submitted this version to Palm/HP/LG (anyone knows how the developer division is now called, I’ve no idea!) today so it should be available in the next few days.

Headlines2 in HP AppCatalog

Headlines2 2.0.6 submitted – What’s new

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I just submitted version 2.0.6 to the AppCatalog.

Maybe you ask where is 2.0.5, well that version was never released and was an internal development release that I only tested with two users that had issues with the DB. Thanks to the 2 guys for support and testing!

This release is a big change on how Headlines2 is handling saved articles internally. Generally unread articles are now deleted after 30 days, before unread articles were kept forever and this brought issues to the underlying webOS database with handling huge amount of data. Also the cleanup of read articles is now on a shorter period as before.

Especially the last one could lead to new unread articles that you already read on low-traffic feeds. But without that change the database gets to huge and this can lead to problems as described in the first paragraph. Of course the current handling can be adjusted and if you see a lot of new unread articles that you already have read in the past please inform me and I will try to find a more balanced value. For now it should be o.k. and I haven’t had any problems with internal test versions.

For articles that you want to keep in Headlines2 I implemented a new feature that let you mark articles in the list view and this way you can keep interesting articles in the app without being deleted during cleanup runs.

Here are the changes that made it in 2.0.6.

  • [FIX] App should now work as expected when deleted and re-installed
  • [CHG] GetPocket.com added (formerly known as Read It Later). If you used the service before you don’t need to do anything
  • [FIX] The way articles are stored in the database has changed. Read articles are now deleted more often
  • [ADD] Unread articles that are older than 30 days are now being deleted automatically
  • [FIX] Articles older than 30 days are ignored when fetched from the feed, this changes the behavior of low-traffic feeds
  • [ADD] Ability to mark (favorite) an article, this way an article will not be deleted automatically

I submitted this version today to HP so it should be available in the next few days.

Headlines2 in HP AppCatalog

Headlines2 2.0.4 submitted – What’s new

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I just submitted version 2.0.4 to the AppCatalog.

This is mainly a bug fix release but I also updated some of the core components that are responsible for Readability processing. I also improved the pull-to-read feature for swiping down in article view. This solution should now be better to handle with and isn’t displayed when you just swipe and the scroller stops near the end.

Here are the changes that made it in 2.0.4.

  • [FIX] In some rare cases feeds could not be loaded if some attributes where missing (e.g. Instapaper Folder RSS)
  • [FIX] added some missing German and French translations
  • [ENH] added the author name if available in reading pop-up
  • [ENH] updated feed parsers for better performance
  • [ENH] updated Readability parser, should now produce better articles for sites that could not be processed before or had incomplete articles
  • [FIX] sometimes articles in Readability view couldn’t be displayed

I submitted this version today to HP so it should be available in the next few days.

Headlines2 in HP AppCatalog

Would be nice to get some feedback what you think of the changes.

Headlines2 2.0.3 submitted – What’s new

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I just submitted version 2.0.3 to the AppCatalog.

There are a lots of changes and cool new features that will make Headlines2 even more useful as it already is to users who use the app offline and as well as all of you who love to share articles with your friends on social networks.
But that’s not all, read on to see all of the changes that made it in 2.0.3.

  • [ADD] share an article directly to Tumblr
  • [ADD] share articles to your BufferApp account to schedule posting to your social networks.
  • [FIX] some german translations were added
  • [ADD] french translation of the whole application (Thanks to @KratusFr for translation!)
  • [FIX] some small glitches and bug fixes
  • [ADD] Queue support! You can now queue articles to Instapaper or ReadItLater when offline. The queued articles will automatically be posted to this services when you are back online.
  • [ADD] Switch between different Mobilizer Services (Google, Instapaper (default), ReadItLater)

I submitted this version today to HP so it should be available in the next few days.

And I have a lot of enhancements on my to-do list for the next version. I will continue to develop for webOS as long as I love it, and this could be a long time ;-)

Headlines2 in HP AppCatalog

 

Headlines2 2.0.2 submitted – What’s new

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I just submitted version 2.0.2 to the AppCatalog.

After providing a list of changes a few days ago, here is the complete list what’s changed in this version:

  • [FIX] small glitch with article read pull down switching the article to fast
  • [FIX] current position (read count) in the article pop-up is now updated also in WebView
  • [ADD] Font size in list view is now selectable, we included three settings (small, medium, large) and need your feedback as soon as it’s available if the sizes fit your requested needs
  • [FIX] Some german translations
  • [ADD] You can now edit the title and URL of saved RSS feeds
  • [ADD] You can now reorder your RSS feeds and CustomNews searches
  • [FIX] Some small bug fixes that we found during the last few weeks
  • [ADD] Visual “spinner” when deleting an RSS feed to provide visual feedback
  • [ADD] You can now select the default view pane for each feed when opening the article pop-up

Also as noted, the price will be changed back to $3.99, so there is still the chance for a short time to get it for $1.99 as long as HP hasn’t approved the app.

 

Headlines2 update 2.0.2 coming soon

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It’s time for an update of Headlines2. I currently work pretty hard on fixing some small reported bugs and glitches and also include some new things in the next version. It will take a few days, but here are the already finished fixes and changes.

The changes will be (subject to change…):

  • [FIX] small glitch with article read pull down switching the article to fast
  • [FIX] current position (read count) in the article pop-up is now updated also in WebView
  • [ADD] Font size in list view is now selectable, we included three settings (small, medium, large) and need your feedback as soon as it’s available if the sizes fit your requested needs
  • [FIX] Some german translations
  • [ADD] You can now edit the title and URL of saved RSS feeds
  • [ADD] You can now reorder your RSS feeds and CustomNews searches
  • [FIX] Some small bug fixes that we found during the last few weeks

It’s currently planned to submit the Version 2.0.2 to HP next week.

Also I will change the reduced price back to $3.99 with this update, so if you haven’t bought the App yet for only $1.99 you should be fast to get a 50% rebate.

More info about Headlines2 is available here.

AppCatalog

Headlines2 is featured in latest HP newsletter

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We were really surprised as we read the latest HP App News January issue, that we got via mail from the HP Newsletter subscription service.

There is Headlines2 featured in the “App special deals” section. The price is currently at $1.99. Now for a few more days, we decided to keep the price a little longer that low as we got featured. So if you haven’t you should grab a copy before the price is back at $3.99.

More infos about Headlines2 can be found here.

Headlines 2 for webOS holiday sale!

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During the holiday season this year, we dropped the price for Headlines2 for webOS to just $1.99. That’s incredible 50% off the normal price. Available now in HP AppCatalog

So if you haven’t bought it yet, you can now save a coffee some bucks and start enjoy reading on the HP Touchpad right now!

Price drop will only be a few days. We’ve reminded you! :-)

For more info and some screenshots, head over to the official website.

Headlines 2 now available in the AppCatalog!

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After teasing our new app for the last couple of weeks and answering your questions only with, “soon” we’re proud to publish this blog post today.

Finally, the day has come, our first native Touchpad application is available now in the AppCatalog.
We’re really happy that Headlines 2 is the next chapter of Google News reading and also provides RSS support for all your feeds from different blogs and websites.

Features:

  • completely rewritten from scratch for the full screen size
  • landscape&portrait mode
  • specify a language for each news topic, finally, yep!
  • track of already read rss articles for the last 30 days
  • background update and offline support
  • pull-to-refresh
  • advanced sharing options, completely customizable
  • Instapaper & Read It Later support
  • advanced Browser & neato! Support
  • read articles in a readability like view
  • Touch-to-Share support
  • much more!

We build a website for some screenshots and some more info.
If you like, head over to the AppCatalog and grab your copy today!