Price: Free    Score: 10/10    By A. Papachristos

The news never sleeps, even when everyone else is nestled comfortably in bed.  And sifting through news-oriented websites can be quite the hassle as you try to weed out the extraneous from the pertinent.  But with the News360 app by News360, users will find all of the moment’s most important stories neatly organized with the ability to swipe through and peruse the latest headlines.

Connecting with over 300 newspapers and magazines all over the globe, News360 incorporates a vast variety of articles with beautiful images all in a single, intuitive stream.  At the top of the screen, users will find a drag bar that lists an array of news categories, featuring Top Stories, Breaking News, World News, Tech, Entertainment, Sports, Health and much more.  Drag the bar all the way to the end and you will find the Customize button, which allows you to alter which buttons appear in the drag bar.  Remove them entirely or simply turn said news categories off whenever you wish.

The top news stories in each category will appear on the main screen, also labeled the Top News tab, allowing you to swipe between given stories.  Swipe left for the previous story and right for the next.  For those who wish to peruse local news, simply tap the locator icon in the top left corner.  News360 will detect your location, gathering the most local articles and displaying them as a category all their own.

Under Favorites, users can choose people, subjects and companies they may wish to track.  If you find something you are interested in while reading, simply tap the highlighted text to reveal the particular topic’s profile.  Tap “Add to Favorites” so you may monitor their latest news items.  You may also do so using the search tool, marked by the magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner of the main screen.  Settings allows users to adjust their preferences, such as GPS detection, while also providing a forum for feedback, the ability to connect with various social networking websites (Facebook, Twitter) and much more.

Considering catching up on all the latest happenings can be quite time consuming, News360 provides a wonderful alternative, for you no longer have to search numerous websites for all the information you seek.  The beautiful layout simply contributes to this application’s easy use.  For those who want to stay up-to-date with their area’s local news, they need only hit a button.  Tap again and you can return to sifting through national and world news.  And, for those times when pleasure outweighs business, users can dive into entertainment, fashion or sports as a way to escape from the often-melancholy news that tends to dominate the headlines.  News360 truly epitomizes the all-in-one application, and all for free!

News360 [iTunes Link] requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer to speed up the publication of this review.