Store is open for the NewsOK iPhone app
We launched an iPhone application about a month ago.
There wasn’t a lot of fanfare. There was no ticker-tape parade. We didn’t shout it from the mountain tops.
But we did launch the product. It happened right before the iPhone 4 was released. The new iPhone operating system gave us a few hiccups. Frankly, for a handful of days, the app just didn’t work on iOS 4.
But that was fixed, and now the app’s arrival can be sung from the top of the mountain.
If you look at the reviews for the application in the iTunes store, you’ll see that people who have downloaded it (it’s only $0.99) have either really enjoyed it or hated it.
Most of the people (ok … all of the people) who gave it the poor review were iOS 4 users in that 5-day window of trouble. I don’t blame them for being upset and disappointed with their purchase, but I do encourage them to try it again, if they haven’t already.
Here are some of the good reviews in the store:
Easy to navigate …all the top stories. Great app!
Updated and it works great on 4.0 now. Lots of content for a local news app.
Tons of ok news – love it
Here’s one of the bad review:
The app has yet to work, it just shows a black screen. Waste of money.
The poor review came on June 30, which is just about the time the updated version for iOS 4 came out. We hope that user has had a better experience since they were alerted about the update via the store.
Check it out. It’s cheap, and it has tons of information. Really … it is loaded with headlines, blogs and videos.
Ryne Sandberg ages on NewsOK.com
Ryne Sandberg, circa 1984
I grew up as a child spending many sweltering summer afternoons watching the Chicago Cubs on WGN.
And as a result, Ryne Sandberg was my first sports hero.
I’ve recently given up on following baseball. I’m a big sports fan, but something had to give, and baseball has been dropped from my sports to-do list.
But this video caught my eye last week.
And the first thing I thought was, “Man … Ryno’s looking a little old these days.”
And that led me to realize that I’m not 10 years old anymore, either.
I can thank NewsOK for shedding light on that information.
I also made this quick realization. When Ryne Sandberg is promoted to be the Chicago Cubs manager, I will likely start following baseball closely again.
Restaurants page added to NewsOK lineup
We added something new to Life this week.
And when I say, ‘Life,’ I’m referring to the Life navigation on NewsOK.com.
We added restaurants to the LIFE sub-navigation on NewsOK to complement our already deep food and recipes coverage we’ve always had.
It’s something we had to do. The Food/Recipes page was just getting so deep, and with all the Resturant reviews Food Editor Dave Cathey (a.k.a. The Food Dude) has been producing lately, it just makes sense to release a separate page for that information.
Plus, the Restuarants page, we have the ability to showcase wimgo’s The Corner Booth blog by Greg Elwell - a great resource for reviews about the places you might be eating.
Check it out. See the list of stories, or even better, browse all the showcase reviews we’ve produced about Oklahoma’s most visited restaurants. We have mroe than 120 of those reviews, so there’s plenty to read.
Search the candidates in Oklahoma with our 2010 Elections Page
You’ve seen the yard signs.
You’ve probably had some people stop and talk to you while you were mowing your yard.
You know it’s coming quickly.
It’s the 2010 elections.
I know. If you’re not a political junkie, you might not be all that excited. The primary that’s scheduled for July 27 has a lot of people interested — but generally it’s the people that belong to a party and are keenly aware of the process.
The rest of you? Well, frankly, it’s hard for you to keep up with what the candidates stand for. It’s not that you don’t care. It’s just easier to know all the differences when the candidates are pared down to two or three per race.
But NewsOK’s 2010 Elections page makes it easy to find out more. The candidate data base is packed with information about every candidate that has filed to run for office in 2010.
- You can see all the candidates.
- You can click through to see their bios.
- You can see what they stand for.
- You can see the information they are providing you.
- You can see what information they might not want to provide for you.
We have a searchable database on the 2010 Elections Page, and you can follow this data all the way through election nights, beginning on July 27.
NewsOK customer misses Story Wall project
A NewsOK user contacted us on Twitter yesterday:
@NewsOK Just wondering, is the StoryWall dead? I thought it was really snazzy, what happened? http://bit.ly/StoryWall
Coincidentally, we had just been speaking about a Story Wall project for later this summer. So we told him:
@DarrenWasHere No, not dead. We’re still in the beginning stages. Look for more throughout the year. Glad you enjoy them.
Frankly, the Story Wall was an experimental way of telling a story. We completed a handful – and we actually received a good amount of positive feedback from our users about those projects.
We are anticipating some upgrades to the way we produce the Story Walls and the way we display them. Currently, we are planning to use the storytelling technique during our State Fair coverage in September.
That made our customer happy:
@NewsOK good to hear, StoryWall is one of those “I wish I’d developed that” kind of ideas!
Web editor Nick Tankersley is most responsible for the Story Wall concept. He deserves that credit. And he will work with the NewsOK development team to upgrade the product.
If that goes well, I expect big things for the future of our Story Walls.
Decision time: iPhone, Evo, iPad or Blackberry?
So my Blackberry finally took all the beatings it could handle.
I was in my driveway a few weeks back saying good-bye to friends who had stopped for a visit. I pulled the Blackberry out of my pocket and it slipped out of my hand. As the phone hung in mid-air, I swung my hand down to catch it (I’m quite the athlete, you know).
But I didn’t catch it. Instead, the force of my attempted catch resulted in the phone essentially being thrown to the pavement.
The phone separated into five pieces upon impact with the ground. Frankly, it appeared to shatter into pieces.
I know what you’re thinking. That was it, right? The phone wouldn’t work anymore, right?
Wrong.
Within minutes, I put the pieces back together (including the track ball). It worked fine, but it was scratched up. And … the ‘T’ button didn’t work anymore.
So, for a couple weeks, I sent e-mails and text messages using my skills as a wordsmith to use no words containing a ‘T’. That’s not easy, but I succeeded.
But then I was on vacation with my family in Galveston, Texas. We were staying in a condominium with a third-floor balcony. On the final day, as I relaxed with a cup of coffee on the balcony, my 3-year-old daughter played with crayons and markers and baby dolls on the balcony with me.
I warned her ….
“Be careful with those crayons.”
and
“I don’t want your baby to fall off the balcony.”
You can never be too careful with these kids, you know. They can be mighty clumsy with their toys.
I was browsing the web on my scratched-up Blackberry on the balcony when I set the phone on the ground. I wanted to move my chair back out of the path of the sun. As I scooted, my foot pushed the Blackberry off the balcony.
The phone fell one story, clipped a balcony below and fell the rest of the way onto some landscaping rocks near some bushes.
I could only watch as the phone tumbled to the ground. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the continued misfortune of that poor phone. Somehow, I knew it would be resilient.
I made my way down to the ground and began my search. I found ….
- The battery
- The two pieces of the Blackberry shell
- I even found the track ball within the brush. That was a real coup.
Not my actual Blackberry. Mine looked more like the photo to the right.
But I could not find the piece that clips in to hold the track ball in place.
I know what you’re thinking. That was it, right? The phone wouldn’t work anymore, right?
Wrong.
Not my actual Blackberry.
The device still worked fine. It looked kind of like the Terminator from the original movie, but it worked. Unfortunately, the fall didn’t miraculously revive the ‘T’ button. Regardless, I still used the phone the rest of the weekend.
But after a few days, the exposed mouse area of the phone continued to unravel. Apparently, there are many pieces in there that can come apart without the proper safeguards.
It became clear I would need something new. My awesome company allowed me to carry a loaner Blackberry — even after being witness to what happened to the first one.
(For the record, I was due for an upgrade, anyway).
So here I am. It’s time to decide what to buy.
I wrote months ago that I would be ending my Blackberry days and finally enter the ‘smarter’ phone world. At the time, I was thinking about a Droid. A co-worker recommended a Nexus One. And, of course, everyone else recommends an iPhone.
I had decided on an iPhone 4, but I refuse to stand in line for anything, so I didn’t buy one on the first day. Now, some of the recent reviews about the reception have changed my mind a bit. Plus, who really wants to be just like everyone else?
And my wife, who loves Apple products more than anyone I know (except for OPUBCO creative director Scott Horton; he has to be getting kickbacks), is saying I should get the HTC Evo. She said – and I quote -
“If I didn’t already have an iPhone, I would get the Evo.”
So, here are my options ….
- Buy an Evo
- Buy an iPhone 4
- Reconsider a Droid or a Nexus One.
- Use my current Blackberry and buy an iPad. Then, when the contract is up, buy a new Blackberry for e-mail and phone use.
- Buy an Evo and wait to buy next-generation tablets – perhaps even an Android-based tablet (one that might sync with my Evo?).
I’ll be shopping this weekend. It’s almost decision time.
I can already think of one vote for the iPhone 4 (see the video below of NewsOK videographer Kyle Roberts).
And Scott Horton is certainly going to place his vote for the iPhone 4.
Any other votes out there?
