Windows Phone App of the Day: Weave

I realized while talking to my parents this weekend that I am seriously behind on the news. For instance, I asked my dad the location of this summer’s Olympic Games. Apparently, they are NOT in Brazil this year. With that in mind, I downloaded Weave, a fun, friendly way to present the news on all of your favorite topics. I begrudgingly added “Politics” to my list of chosen categories.

Weave is a free RSS reader for Windows Phone 7 brought to you by Seles Games. Though it is an RSS feed, it is easy enough to use for even those users who are unfamiliar with RSS feeds or website publishing. Users simply select their categories, and the latest news articles are presented in the classic “reverse date” format you’d expect from a blog.

Pros

• Free!
• 33 pre-loaded categories to choose from with the option to add new categories anytime
• Real time news
• 180+ pre-loaded, high-quality news sources from around the world, including: CNN, MSN, Wall Street Journal, ESPN, Engagdet, USA Today, New York Times, IGN, Entertainment Weekly, etc.
• Search news feeds by topic or outlet name
• Easily manage news feeds
• Preview articles
• View audio and video clips in Windows Media Player
• Clean, uniform presentation that makes reading and viewing articles easy
• Customize font size and layout
• Option to open article in your web browser
• Share articles with friends through Email and post to Facebook and Twitter

How it Works

• Download Weave from the News / Weather section of your Marketplace
• Select your interests from the Welcome Screen (you only need to do this once)
• Once your interests are “Weaved,” it generates a screen that lists all of your interests in once place
• Select a category (i.e. “Celebrity Gossip”) to view the latest news from that category (Today’s top story: “Rob and Kristen Kiss At Twilight In Cannes”…Honestly? The cast of True Blood is crying tears of blood at the absurdity of that top news. Other top story: “Jenna Jameson Arrested for DUI”….moving on.)
• Hit the back button to view news in other, more tolerable categories
• From your home screen, scroll to the right to view “Featured News” and “Tasks”
• The “Tasks” tab allows you to find additional news feeds, manage your categories, manage feeds, and write your own reviews
• Choose “Settings” from the main screen to manage your categories, create a new category, and find new feeds
• Add a new category by searching for outlet titles or categories. Choose “Find New Feeds” from the settings menu and input your topic or website of choice (i.e. TheUnlockr) Choose your desired feed, and select the category (i.e. Technology) Click the save button at the bottom of the screen to save your selection

Conclusion

OK, so other than my poor category selection that led me to waste some valuable breaths reading absolutely terrible celebrity news, this app is great for anyone who finds Reddit.com absolutely overwhelming and who likes to have their news from a variety of sources in one place. The user interface is clean, simple, and nice to look at. The image tile presented with each article makes viewing and selecting articles much more enjoyable, and news is loaded in real time from reliable sources. Categories include books, travel, sports, and wine, so I really can’t complain, especially since it’s free!