After a long wait, a new version of NewsRack is now available in the App Store. There are a lot of improvements, as you’ll see in the iTunes release notes and I’d like to highlight just a few of them here:
Support for iOS 4: While the previous versions did also work on iOS 4, they did not take full advantage of its new features, specifically fast app switching and background task completion. Version 2.5 can now complete synchronization in the background, so you don’t have to wait for articles to be marked as read in Google Reader before switching to another app. You can also start a synchronization, hit the home button and watch the unread articles counter on the home screen go up (if you have the icon badge option enabled). Another benefit of fast app switching is that when you come back to NewsRack, you’ll find it exactly as you left it – whether you have scrolled down in an article or navigated to a specific dialog in the settings.
On a related note, the iPhone 4’s Retina display is now also supported, so that icons and other interface elements look crisp.
Faster sync: If you synchronize NewsRack with Google Reader, you’ll notice that refreshing your feeds is a lot faster now. 2.5 contains an entirely new sync engine that is designed to improve both speed and accuracy. There is one compromise though: NewsRack no longer automatically downloads articles you’ve already read. If you want to read a blog’s archive however, you can download as many older articles as you like manually, which wasn’t possible before. Just open a feed, scroll down and select “Load More…”, just like in the Mail app.
Mark as unread: This is probably one of the most-requested features. You can now mark articles as unread by either tapping the light gray dot in the list of articles or the circle icon when viewing an individual article. Please note that if you sync with Google Reader, it’s possible that this option is unavailable for older articles.
Slideshow: On the iPad, you can now start a gorgeos anagram-style slideshow from a list of articles. Tap the “images” button to get started.
Improved sharing interface: The interface for sharing articles on the iPad gets a lot less in the way than before. Most sharing dialogs now open in non-modal popovers, obscuring a lot less of the article you’re about to share. Also, the progress indicator for sending to Twitter, Instapaper etc. no longer blocks touches, so that you can continue to browse while an article is being sent.
Another new feature of the sharing interface is the ability to easily share just part of an article. Simply select some text and it will automatically be used as the email body or as notes for delicious and Instapaper.
These are just a few of the new features and improvements and I hope you’ll like them. As always, you can use the contact form to leave feedback.