Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
Regator provides news aggregation for the more blog-minded
Catching up on the happenings around the blogosphere is a difficult task. Luckily, I happened to stumble upon John Burke's Download Squad piece on the release of Regator [iTunes link].
So, if you'd like to get caught up on the latest news, insights and commentary on Rod Blagojevich around the blogosphere (now that's a tongue twister), Regator could be of assistance.
Regator's user-interface is similar to USA Today's iPhone app [iTunes link]. A horizontal menu displays a number of categories -- such as sports, lifestyle, and entertainment -- that are touch-scrollable. Tapping on a category displays its subcategories. For instance, NBA news would fall under the basketball branch of the sports tree. While a breadcrumb trail displays your viewing hierarchy, the browsing menu disappears as you scroll down; this was my only annoyance with the app, although it's a relatively minor one.
Regator's stand-out feature is what it calls "trends." Like a tag cloud on a blog, in which bigger clouds are usually associated with more hot topics or issues, trends provides a listing of the latest hot topics around the blogosphere.
For instance, a look at sports trends shows Tiger Woods at the top of the list -- which is no surprise given Y.E. Yang's surprising victory over him this past weekend. And Brett Favre's retiring-unretiring-retiring-unretiring-retiring-unretiring puts him near the top of the trends list as well.
Regator is available as a free download at the iTunes app store. Domo arigato, Regator!
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
brotkel said 8:43PM on 8-19-2009
Sorry, but my time on the internet has made me untrustworthy of any software that has the word "gator" in it.
Reply
Kimberly said 11:38PM on 8-19-2009
It's got "gator" in it because it's an aggreGATOR. That's why so many aggregation sites, apps, etc. have the word in there.
amro said 9:38PM on 8-19-2009
Goooo Regator!! Fellow Atlanta Startup.
It's actually a pretty nice app. :D
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milkmage said 10:55PM on 8-19-2009
@brotkel - i was afraid of the same thing, but you don't have to sign up for this app.
its nicely done. spent about 15 minutes with it looking for random stuff and found a few blogs I might have to check out again. kind of a nice way to discover new content.
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Jamus said 9:57AM on 8-20-2009
Is this the revamped NetNewsWire app from the NewsGator group?
Reply
Scott Lockhart said 2:40AM on 8-21-2009
Jamus - Nope, this is not NetNewsWire. It's an iphone version of the Regator.com website.