BBC News app gets go-ahead

I missed a significiant announcement while away on hols for the past two weeks: the launch of the free BBC News app for the iPhone and iPad.

The app was originally due in April, but the launch was delayed while the BBC Trust assessed the proposals and their impact on the rest of the industry.

According to Dominic Ponsford, editor of Press Gazette, "The concern the newspaper industry has is that the survival of our big independent news organisations largely depends on them being able to make money from new platforms other than print."

Of course, this is basically a reference to digital - both mobile, in the form of SmartPhones and apps, and the internet (in the form of ad-lead and subscription-based sites). It seems that iPhones and similar devices are the next big hope for the newspaper industry - although reports of the sector's death are 'greatly exaggerated' (as Mark Twain famously said in reference to his prematurely published obituary notice) since small business can still benefit from gaining coverage in the local media.

Android Apps

Mashable is just one of the resources I use to stay up-to-date on what's happening in the social media and mobile technology arena, so I wanted to share this post about "7 Mind-Blowing Free Android Apps".

Now, I don't have an Android phone such as the Nexus One (I use an iPhone), but the review makes each of these apps look pretty cool. Out of interest, I looked for them (or something similar) on the App Store and found:

* Google Earth (in the Travel category!) and NASA's "Space Images" app (Education)

* Only a handful of free translation apps, with mixed reviews (although there's "Dog Translator" for converting barks into English!)

* Several free movies apps, including the one I have "Movies". While it does have a US bias, you can still track down what's playing in your local cinemas via the location-based search, get the show times and read the relevant reviews. Useful.

Hope that helps?!

Black Hawk Down (on your iPhone)

According to a recent post on online social media guide Mashable, the US Army has launched its own app - available free from the News category within the App Store.

While the reviewer expected it to be "little more than a recruitment app", the new tool actually offers access to the official US Army site (which links to all the Services) and its database of facts on equipment and vehicles - including Black Hawk helicopters.

And to prove that US Forces are 'with it' in marketing terms, the website's Home page also features a video and a link to a social media page that includes dozens of entries on Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.