We all have our favorite selection of blogs and news sites that offer the information that interests us. Acrylic offers a streamlined way to take all the news that interests you, and places it in one location. Pulp for Mac offers what one has come to expect of Acrylic — a gorgeous streamlined interface that delivers what the user needs.
I previously reviewed Wallet, another app by Acrylic, and made note of its streamlined interface. Pulp also offers a simple and attractive layout that allows users to select their favorite news sites, and Pulp displays the information in a newspaper style.
One of the great parts of Pulp is that users can customize the reader to include all the information they care about in a way that they choose. For example, I have a personal interest in tech news. As a result, I made a section of Pulp dedicated to my favorite tech sites. Instead of opening up my browser and pointing it to three different blogs, I have all the information I need in an awesome looking newspaper layout.
Users can create a number of different sections for their personal “newspaper” and truly make it their own. Pulp allows user to add new columns to their layout and customize what news is displayed in each column.
Adding news blogs or news sites is fast and intuitive and requires simply searching for the site you are looking to add. A list is created with the best matches for your search.
However, customization is only a part of Pulp. Reading the stories is another aspect that Acrylic took time to work with and improve. After selecting a story or post to read, Pulp opens up a drop down window containing the story. Looking to read the whole article in a clean manner? Pulp has a feature called “Magic Reader” that at the press of a button pulls the whole article from the web for your reading pleasure.
Recently, Pulp updated the app to make use of some of the great features of Lion. Full screen mode helps to create a designated space for Pulp and gestures are intuitive. However, I have found myself wondering if there are more gestures available that I am not aware of, but I can’t seem to find a list of them. A personal favorite is the ability to increase the size of the text via pinching.
While I cannot review the iPad version of Pulp, I can attest to its ability to sync across devices. After customizing the app on one of my Macs, syncing it to my other Mac was as simple as logging in using “Pulp Sync.” Syncing helped to save me the time of customizing my layout and sites all over again.
Verdict
Pulp is an awesome news reader. I have found myself opening Pulp in the morning instead of making my daily blog runs. If you find yourself visiting the same few websites to find your news, Pulp may be your answer to keep it all in one place. With a unique interface and a daunting amount of customization, it is hard to go wrong with Pulp.
Rating: 4.5/5
[rating:4.5]
Pulp is available in the Mac App Store for $9.99
Pros:
- Customization
- Easy syncing across devices
- Great for those who want all their news in one place
- Great Lion integration
Cons:
- The reader view seems to leave a large amount of unused space, although full screen view in Lion helps fix the issue
