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PimpMyNews Scheduled Downtime Today, We're Upgrading!

We're continually looking for ways to increase the speed of our service for you, our valued users.

Today, from about 12 pm to 2 pm eastern time, we'll be taking the service off line to make some performance enhancements.

So, if you find that the service is unavailable today, please rest assured that it will be back online shortly.

Thanks for listening with PimpMyNews, and please tell your friends about us.

The PimpMyNews Team

Macworld Magazine Features PimpMyNews

If you follow this blog, you probably saw our post about Macworld's online review of PimpMyNews in May.

To our surprise, we just learned that Macworld just published a review of PimpMyNews in their August 2009 print magazine. Since the review appears to only be available in hard copy, we've published it below.

Here's the MacWorld Review by Ben Boychuk:
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PimpMyNews:

"Here's an innovative reader that actually does the reading for you. The highly customizable, though unfortunately named, PimpMyNews let's you create "playlists" of blog items, or news stories, from more than 1,200 sources.

The app then reads them aloud on the fly in an almost lifelike voice. The personalized daily podcast, featuring a 10 minute round up of your 10 favorite feeds is particularly appealing."

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On another note, please stay tuned for upcoming news about a new product we're launching to make it even easier for you to get current, and get things done, on the go.

Thanks for listening with PimpMyNews, and please tell your friends about us.

Twitter Meme: Robot Pickup Lines, Now Spoken By Real Robots!!

Hello Twitter friends and PimpMyNews users. I'm Wesley, one of the PimpMyNews robots, who reads your favorite blogs to you in your car, at the gym, or wherever you happen to be.

I love Twitter, so, I'm going to take a shot at being "transparent." Despite my prowess at reading news and blogs, I have to admit that I get a little tongue tied when talking to the ladies.

To my surprise, I just noticed that the top "Trending Topic" on Twitter right now, as I speak, is "Robot Pickup Lines." [#RobotPickupLines] In fact, MG Siegler over at TechCrunch just posted about it, and it's racking up a lot of comments.

So, without further ado, here are my Top 10 favorite Robot Pickup Lines from Twitter:

#10, "Let's talk about hex, baby." by Um Alawi [http://twitter.com/UmAlawi]

#9, "I love a girl with nuts." by jaspenelle [http://twitter.com/jaspenelle]

#8, "Wow, your buttons are so sensitive!" by Jackie Jeffrey [http://twitter.com/JackieJeffrey]

#7, "I want to stick my flash drive in your USB port." by love is haight [http://twitter.com/loveishaight]

#6, "Can I have your serial number? I'm virus free." by split PZ [ http://twitter.com/splitPZ ]

#5, "It's not the size of the monitor that counts. It's the refresh rate." by kosher [http://twitter.com/k0sher]

#4, "Once you go Mac, you'll never go back." by brad wheeler [http://twitter.com/bradwheeler]

#3, "Processor? I hardly know her!" by tavit [http://twitter.com/tavit]

#2, "You turn my software into hardware!" by X hailey X [http://twitter.com/xhaileyx ]

#1, "Is that a CD tray, or are you happy to see me?" by caustic bob [http://twitter.com/causticbob]

What's your favorite Robot Pickup Line?

Tweet it to @PimpMyNews, and I may just speak it out on Twitter.

And, be sure to follow PimpMyNews founders John Atkinson and Roy Georgia on Twitter.

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If you'd like to listen to your blogs, and multitask on the go, sign up free at PimpMyNews.com, or download PimpMyNews for your iPhone on The App Store.

Lifehacker Asks How You Get News, Tell 'em PimpMyNews

I was just listening to Lifehacker with the PimpMyNews iPhone app, while relaxing on the couch, and I came across this interesting post by Jason Fitzpatrick. [audio version]

If you're not familiar with Lifehacker, it's a great resource on all things productivity. I listen to it several times a week in the car, or at the gym, and I frequently pop on over to read the comments section.

In the post, Jason asks, "How Do You Get Your News?" He then goes on to say, "if your great grandparents wanted to stay current on news, they had to make a conscious effort to be places where people were talking about it. Now you can have it streamed, beamed, and delivered."

As you know, the news industry, which was dominated by traditional sources for nearly 200 years, is undergoing a massive change. We, as consumers, are now in control, and we expect the news and blogs we care about to automatically come to us, no matter where we happen to be.

We also expect it to be available in multiple formats, so we can choose the format that fits best with the situation we're in, whether we're driving, riding, working out, or lying on the couch.

Be sure to head on over the Lifehacker and answer Jason's question, "How Do You Get Your News?

Hopefully, Jason will be compiling the data and sharing the findings in a future post.

Have a great, productive week!

John Atkinson

Co-founder & CEO

[Image via Digital Inspiration]

Macworld Review of PimpMyNews iPhone App

Macworld's Ben Boychuk recently reviewed our new iPhone & iPod touch application.

PimpMyNews received a respectable 3.5 stars out of 5. Considering Macworld's reputation as a tough critic, and the fact that The New York Times and ABC News came in at 3 stars, we couldn't be happier.

From the level of detail in Ben's review, it's obvious that he spent a few hours using PimpMyNews, customizing his playlist, listening to various news and blog posts, and composing a well thought out review.

If you keep up with this blog, you know we're diehard user feedback proponents, so any time some one takes the time to do a "deep dive" on our service, we're all ears.

In the review, after Ben finished ribbing us about the "ear-catching" name, he turned toward the unique utility of the app. Ben summarizes the app by saying, "Very simply, the app lets you create 'playlists' of blog items, or news stories, from more than 1,200 sources, and reads them aloud, and on the fly, in a voice that’s almost lifelike."

He then goes on to the core value proposition, stating that, "For people on the move, in their cars, at the gym or multitasking at work, PimpMyNews offers an innovative way to 'read' your favorite Web sites by listening." Ben also cited the daily podcast feature, which plays continuous stories from your playlist for hands-free listening, as his favorite feature.

On the "suggested enhancements" side, Ben suggested that we add the following features, most of which are already in the works:

- A "select your voice" feature
- The ability to add more than 10 feeds to your playlist
- More "continuous play" features, in addition to the existing podcast feature
- The ability for users to manage their feeds on their mobile devices

Thank you Mr. Boychuk. We appreciate your feedback - and we're acting on it.

Be sure to check out the full PimpMyNews iPhone app review on Macworld, and download the app on The App Store. Stay tuned, more time saving enhancements are on the way.

Please keep the feedback coming to Suggestions@PimpMyNews.com

John Atkinson
Co-founder & CEO

Keeping it in the San Francisco Family

Last week, I took the family out to visit my brother's family in San Francisco. It was great to be in the bay area for a week of rest and relaxation. (that's my niece, Nicole, modeling her stylish new PimpMyNews Tee shirt)

The "hard part" of the trip from Cincinnati to SF (if there was one) was navigating all the trains, planes, and automobiles with our two little kids, car seats, strollers and way too much luggage.

Of course, I used the two 8 hour stretches of on the go travel time (going there, and coming back) to catch up on my blogs by listening to them via PimpMyNews.

On the plane, I was able to catch up on a full week's worth of PR Squared, CenterNetworks, Mashable, TechCrunch, Seth Godin, and The Wall Street Journal.

Of course you would expect this, but using PimpMyNews on my iPhone is the way I get all of my news, whether I'm at home, at the gym, or out of town.

I'd love to hear how you use PimpMyNews to stay current and multitask on the go.

Please shoot me an email at John@PimpMyNews.com

Be sure to download our newest iPhone app on The App Store [http://bit.ly/PMNiPhone]

Take care,
John