December 9, 2011

Scientific American Expands Its Mobile Offering with Launch on Google Currents

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Scientific American Reader edition in Google Currents as viewed on an iPad

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Scientific American is excited to work with Google on the launch of their new Reader App for smart phones and tablets, Google Currents (only available in the U.S. Android Market and Apple App Store at this time). Google Currents is a new application for Android devices, iPads and iPhones that lets you explore online magazines and other content with the swipe of a finger. It brings together this content in a beautiful and simple way so you can easily navigate between words, pictures and video on your smart phone or tablet.

The “Scientific American Reader” edition will feature content from SA‘s Science Agenda (top stories featured on our home page), the latest news and features, our Ask the Experts series, and select posts from our Blog Network.

Our edition was produced using Google Currents producer, which allows publishers to build and manage their content on Google Currents. It enabled me to create sections based on our RSS feeds as well as customize the app to include the Scientific American logo, fonts and color scheme.

Scientific American Mobile Site

In the coming days we will use the Currents platform to create our own stand-alone apps, which will be featured in Android Market for Android phones and tables as well as in iTunes for the iPhone, iPad and iOS devices. These apps join our mobile family, including SA‘s Origins and Endings iPad app and SA‘s mobile site the latter of which launched in November. The mobile site automatically detects a visitor’s device and directs him or her to the version of our Web site optimized for viewing on that specific phone.

“Throughout our 166-year history, we have strived to play an active role in facilitating innovation in addition to reporting on it,” says Mariette DiChristina, editor in chief of Scientific American, the longest continuously published magazine in the U.S. “Scientific American‘s goal is to make science content available to interested readers anytime, anywhere no matter which device they choose to read it on. Our mobile site skin and the free news apps we will be releasing over the next few weeks are part of that commitment.”

It’s an exciting time for mobile here at Scientific American. The next challenges we’re tackling include a paid app featuring our magazine content as well as BlackBerry mobile and tablet apps. Look here for more announcements in coming months.

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