As a geek, nerd and entrepreneur I’ve been obsessed with tech. That also means I’ve also been obsessed with tech news. As a former Network Admin/IT guy I had the benefit of setting up web servers, databases and watching the birth of RSS (Really Simple Syndication). RSS Feeds were once the once lifeline of all blogs and tech news. RSS “news readers” were launched like mobile apps today and while successful at the time struggled to gain enough traction outside of the teach world. While a lot of RSS News Readers, had a slow death such as Google Reader. My Google Reader once categorized over 3100 tech news RSS feeds. I had categories for Apple News, startup news, investor news, mobile news and design news.
Using Google reader and RSS feeds is how I learned about the launch of Twitter( Twttr) in 2006. I was in North Carolina at the time and read a blog post about via either Gigaom or TechCrunch which lead me to being one of the first 1000 Twitter users. Little did I know Twitter would literally change my life and how the world communicates today.
Google Reader was discounted in 2013 and a new generation of news readers such as Feedly without users even thinking about the technology behind the service such as RSS. Today RSS is barely a thought but continues to be a blood line for tech news on the backend. Mobile apps dominate the airways of information along with SMS, mobile OS notification and messaging services. Email is never going to die and will always play a role in the curation of information but mobile apps are the hope, hype and opportunity for innovation despite the continued failed disruption attempts by entrepreneurs and investors.
Ironically, in the last quarter of 2015 the tech industry saw two venture funded mobile news startup shut down, Circa and Prismatic. Both had high hopes to keep their readers engaged but were unable to gain enough traction to be a leader in the growing demand for users attention. CB Insights which tracks data on private companies and investors published an articled titled “The Rise And Fall Of Venture-Backed News Readers In One Chart” which showed news readers being funded since 2010. In the article it also explores how most venture funded news readers are not succeeding due to lack of a business model in additional to the similar faith of Circa and Prismatic… hard to get users attention.
It doesn’t matter if a news reader or app is focused on tech or not with millions of status updates, tweets and notifications it’s difficult for any new or existing platform to be successful by just sharing news. Still there are some faithful few and new promising apps that we’ll just have to wait and see if they’ll a) raise more funding to stay up and running or b} get acquired. Two apps that fit this category are Flipboard and Nuzzel.
There’s no one stop shop to keep up with all tech news, but we try… right? Below are my apps/resources I use to stay current in tech news:
1. Nuzzel
I love how Nuzzell works based on my social graphic and interest. The daily email is a nice add-on. Take notes Twitter!
2. Feedly
Feedly replaced Google Reader. I imported most of my RSS feeds to Feedly.
3. Twitter
From #hashtags to trending topics any major Tech News you will find on Twitter.
4. LAUNCH Ticker Daily Email Newsletter
Not exactly an app but I do use the Inside.com app from time to time. But seriously the LAUNCH Ticker is one of the best way to keep track of mainstream high tech news.
5. Flipboard
honestly I haven’t been a big Flipboard user but that’s changing in 2016. Also you can follow me on Flipboard here https://flipboard.com/@waynesutton/news-0mcmcqnmy or search for “Wayne Sutton”.
6. Mattermark Daily Email Newsletter
Mattermark is great for data and news from the tech investor community.
Bonus: The Score is my favorite sports apps
The Score is one of the fastest and simplest ways to see game highlights and scores.
What apps do you use for tech news and sports?
Post News Reader Graphic via CBInsights
