With print media going the way of the dinosaur, the industry’s journalists are having to adapt to the new environment. The Web produces much of our resources, so providing quick and relevant news means using technology such as the iPhone to remain competitive in the journalism field.
Here are some iPhone apps that will help you produce and process news on the go, turning you into a live reporter anytime and anywhere.
iPhone apps for resources and leads
Byline is a news aggregator for the iPhone, featuring sync options with Google Reader and folders for feeds organization. Create and share notes for stories of interest, bookmark your favorites and mark items for later reference. Offline viewing is handy for iPod Touch users interested in this $3.99 iPhone app.
Scanner911 lets you listen in on live police scanners, providing feeds for over 100 channels. For 99 cents, you can get the scoop on a news story. Access active or recently played stations, find nearby stations via GPS, and view activity on a map. A police code list is included in the app so you can keep up. Record channels for later playback.
Need to get in touch with someone immediately, either for an interview or a quote request? Fring’s free iPhone app offers chat, VoIP and instant messaging tools all in one. Receive email and Twitter updates, call friends for free and toggle between discussions quickly and easily.
iPhone apps for productivity & organization
If you still do a great deal of work on your computer, accessing those files remotely comes in handy while on the go. The Air Sharing Pro app for the iPhone turns your device into a wireless drive, syncing files and organizing folders. Share files with others, secure certain files, and save images to your iPhone gallery with this $9.99 app.
OmniFocus tracks your tasks, activity and contacts in its iPhone app. Pricy at $19.99, this all-inclusive app sorts your life by contact, task, due date, priority, and more. Access tasks and notes with OmniFocus search and map tasks with corresponding text context. Mac OmniFocus users can back up data through iTunes as well.
iPhone apps for content creation & sharing
WordPress 2 for the iPhone works as well as can be expected on a mini mobile device. The free app gives you options to create, share and read blogs on its platform. Access your blog’s dashboard, edit posts and respond to comments. Many bloggers already use WordPress for their publications, so the iPhone companion is key for mobility purposes.
Kyte’s Mobile Producer on the iPhone lets you create professional content and publish it directly from your phone. The free app records photos and videos to be uploaded to your Kyte channel. Content can then be shared across the social web. Primarily a video iPhone app, Kyte’s video-recording capabilities are limited to the iPhone 3GS.
Pixelpipe is an all-in-one solution for creating and sharing content on the iPhone. Photos, videos and text can be sent through Pixelpipe to be distributed on nearly every major social media outlet. Free, the Pixelpipe app sends content to WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, TypePad and more.
Those interested in being published through a mainstream news channel can check out CBS EyeMobile. This iPhone app is free and gives you the chance to be a citizen reporter. Vote up stories from other citizen journalists, browse CBS news content and follow stories and reporters of interest.
The Fox News UReport iPhone app does not feature a community for citizen journalists, but it does encourage photo submissions from mobile users. The free iPhone app takes your submissions and considers them for airtime either online or on television, promising big rewards for photo submissions.
