Some of the developers that were Apple only have broadened their horizons and are developing for both houses. Others like the exclusivity and the glamour of being an Apple only object. To combat these items Google and in light of the fact that no other developers have risen to the occasion Google has often written their own app in response.

Today we hear about the launch of one of these apps. It is called Google Currents and is meant as a direct competitor to Apple’s Flipboard.  The application is intended to look like a new publication (in a similar manner to Flipboard but without the page turning effect). They both have options for connecting to your favorite major news source like Forbes, CNet, AllThingsD, and about 147 others. However, where Currents differs dramatically is that ANY site can create a page for themselves.

When Flipbook first hit we contacted them and they did add us (even when we had just started) but it took a while and we were not able to choose the content we wanted to show. With Currents we were able to setup a page that contains not only site news, but also forum feeds, Facebook posts and our YouTube channel all on one simple process.
The only downside to the publishing process is that Google requires you to use its Chrome browser to access the publisher’s site. I personally am not fond of Chrome, but in the end I found a way around that little issue.  For Website owners that are concerned about their content being hijacked you do not have to worry Google does require a validation phase before the content can be published. How secure this is we do not know yet, but we are sure someone will tell us pretty soon if it is or not…

Google’s Currents is new and has an awkward feel compared to Flipboard, but with its ease of use and quick setup it may just bring in new partners in especially in the technical section where the number of blogs, review sites and forums are growing every day. We do expect there to be hiccups and many, many updates, but we are already happy with what we have seen.

If you want to check out Currents on your iPad, iPhone or Android device you can grab them now from iTunes or the Android market. If you are looking for DecryptedTech you can search for us in the Science and Tech section or browse to the link below on your mobile device

DecryptedTech Google Currents Feed

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