USA Today 2.0 Hits Digital Newsstands

**Wiley John Wright** · 01-24-2011, 12:48 AM

USA Today for the iPad has been updated to version 2.0. This is a major upgrade from the previous version and promises to be a much more stable app than its predecessor. There are several new sections to choose from, including new tech and travel sections. USA Today is still a free app and it doesn’t look like they will be charging for it any time soon. Many publishers want Apple to offer paid subscriptions to their publications on the iPad, but so far no agreements have been finalized.

The tech section has several sub-sections to choose from including App Insider, which features current app reviews. Another section called TechWatch includes “a video player which features Talking Tech reviews with Ed Baig and Jefferson Graham and other gadget, gaming and industry news.” A “Week in Space” photo gallery rounds out the tech section of online paper.

USA Today’s travel coverage includes the latest travel related news and photo galleries. There is also a section that details the latest airport delays nationwide organized either by map or list. Specific delay information is given for each airport as well. This can be quite handy if you find yourself stuck at an airport without access to current information.

This version of USA Today is compatible with iOS 3.2, but to get the most out of it, you’ll want to use iOS 4.2. Multitasking is also supported, but only if you’re using the latest operating system. The latest bug fixes are also present and the crash at startup that plagued many users has apparently been fixed as well.

With so many newspapers and magazines beginning to embrace the iPad, it’s refreshing to know that there are still some news apps that remain free. With rumors of Rupert Murdoch launching a paid subscription service for access to publications under his control at $.99 an issue, it seems likely that more publications will try to follow suit. News apps that remain free, however, will surely have better sales than even the best paid news apps. USA today for the iPad is a fine example of a great looking news app. Hopefully, we’ll see more apps like this in the near future.

Source: TUAW

**theomer** · 01-24-2011, 12:51 AM

I'm excited to see what the world will look like without PAPER newsstands

**ev_ol** · 01-24-2011, 01:15 AM

I hated their iPhone app. It was incredibly slow, and like Cydia, you had to wait for everything to finish loading before you could even think about doing anything.