Newsy.com – Video News from Multiple Sources
Newsy.com is an impressive approach to online news broadcasting, presenting professional video reporting based on a variety of major sources for each story. A team at Newsy.com researches the stories every day using footage from broadcasters including the BBC , Al Jazeera and CNN, and publications including national newspapers. The researchers synthesize news from various perspectives and from different countries so that the viewer is able to see the story from various sides and form an independent opinion.
The presenters are professional, dynamic, and make the news interesting to watch. Rotating research teams monitor blogs, newspapers, magazines and the internet, and the stories are then edited to a high standard for broadcast. Viewers are invited to post comments to have their opinions heard about each news story, and links are provided to the sources used. This is an excellent news service, so it’s no surprise to see level of experience in the management team, headed up by president and founder Jim Spencer who was VP of Content and Answers at Ask Jeeves, and has also helped lead other startup and established online companies. Newsy.com provides an enjoyable and time-saving way to get a multiperspective and multinational view of the news without having to spend hours scanning the media.
Maggwire – Magazine Articles Online
While Maggwire is at beta stage it’s free for readers, and well worth a look. Subscription services for individual well-known publications are already successfully established so there’s good potential for Maggwire when a premium service emerges. The difference with Maggwire is that it aggregates articles by a huge selection of magazines – 650 at the time of writing this review and growing. The selection of magazines is impressive, including major titles and a vast range of subjects.
The website is well laid out with the possibility of searching by publication title or via a toolbar of main subject categories, each with a drop-down menu of sub-categories. The articles are then arranged according to popularity and ratings given as feedback by readers. Rating the articles lets Maggwire see where your interests lie, and on future visits it will personalise the service to suit you.
Clicking on article titles takes you to each publication’s website, and Maggwire also lets you share articles you find interesting by email or on social networks. There’s a Maggwire community so you can post comments and discuss the articles. With reading moving more and more into digital form the likelihood is that services will be needed to select articles and books that should only be available by subscription, and a comprehensive website like Maggwire would have a key role to play.
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