NY1 and NY1 Noticias have launched free apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch that bring the latest New York City news, weather reports, Living segments and features to your mobile device. NY1's Technology reporter Adam Balkin filed the following report.
Anyone in New York or beyond who can't start the morning without watching NY1 morning anchor Pat Kiernan read the papers can watch the segment online – but now there's also an app for that.
NY1 and NY1 Noticias are launching free apps this week for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, to offer the channels' latest New York City news, complete with some of the highest-quality streamed video found in any app. The NY1 Minute, top stories and Living segments like the NY1 Tech Beat are among the app's offerings.
The app's 15 sections are updated to include the 25 latest stories, which gives access at any one time to more than 300 news segments with video. Users can customize their app and drag and drop sections to reorder them and determine which sections get updated. Unique among those sections is Weather On the Ones, which lets users play meterologist and pull up forecasts, high and low temperatures and even Doppler radar and satellite maps.
Any item can be easily shared on Facebook, Twitter or e-mail. Users can search for stories and view hot topics.
Perhaps the most innovative item is a "report" button that turns viewers into NY1 news-gatherers. Any user who sees something newsworthy can easily fire off an e-mail or photo attachments to the channel's news desk, or press one button to directly phone it in. The NY1 and NY1 Noticias apps are free downloads on iTunes. There are plans later this year for an iPad-optimized app and apps for Blackberrys and Android phones.