Cablevision has announced the launch of Newsday for Westchester. It is available as a regional website and iPad and iPhone applications.

The content is specifically designed for Westchester County, Rockland County, and Hudson Valley residents. Starting today, Newsday for Westchester delivers in-depth news for the region as well as videos from Cablevision’s entities, including Newsday, News 12 Westchester, News 12 Hudson Valley, and MSG Varsity.

The site or app is provided free of charge for Optimum Online customers. Others can subscribe to the Digital Subscription package, which includes complete access to the regional website and apps for $1.15 per week following a one-month free trial.

Users can visit Newsday.com/Westchester to access the website. The iPad and iPhone applications will be available for download from the iTunes App Store beginning today.

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In the latest roll-out of the MetroFocus plan, WNET’s online local news destination is now located in the mobile app world.

MetroFocus is debuting an app for the iPhone and iPad. The app gives users a little touch of New York at their fingertips. Users can get the commute started on the right track with customized weather and traffic alerts. The app also features original articles from the MetroFocus Web page, videos, photo galleries, plus downloadable podcasts covering local news, politics, arts, and culture.

“The legacy model of public television is changing and the new MetroFocus mobile app is a prime example of WNET’s vision to innovate the way in which we serve our public mission,” said WNET president and CEO Neal Shapiro. “As we approach our 50th anniversary, I am thrilled to see WNET’s local content expand to a new mobile platform.”

Other features of the MetroFocus app include:

• Interacting with the city on foursquare. This is the first mobile app to utilize the “Save to foursquare” button, which instantly adds locations features on MetroFocus on your foursquare “to-do list.”
• Checking the daily “can’t miss” headlines from other media outlets.
• Have a tip? In just a few taps you can share your idea with MetroFocus editors.
• Users can share any story with friends or family via Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

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Over the past several days, complaints about how bad magazines look on the iPad have been rolling in. The reason, according to Mashable, is that the older magazine apps simply weren’t built to handle the new iPad’s high resolution “retina display,” so everything looks blurry.

Publishers are now racing to update the apps so that they’re compatible with the technology, but there are drawbacks: the new apps will be significantly larger files, which means longer download times and less memory available for other things.

For new iPad owners who want to read magazines, it’s going to be a hard knock life.

[Image via Mashable]

Aereo is the new way to watch TV, connected to your online device of choice. Needless to say, this was not greeted with open arms by the television industry.

The service, which launched last week only for programming in the New York market, was promptly sued by broadcasters. Aereo, backed by former broadcast executive and billionaire, Barry Diller counter-sued. Aereo then added a second countersuit filing yesterday citing News Corp’s Fox, the Public Broadcasting System, and Univision. Additionally, the latest suit names WPIX/Channel 11 and WNET/Channel 13 as defendants. It was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

This follows the path Aereo took last week against the Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, CBS, and Comcast’s NBCUniversal, and NBC’s Telemundo.

Earlier in the month, broadcasters sought an injunction against Aereo to stop the transmitting of their programming on phones, tablets, and other devices.

Aereo is asking for a court declaration insisting that it’s not infringing on the broadcasters’ copyrights.

We’re big fans of The New York Times Magazine under the direction of Hugo Lindgren. It’s pretty much the number one reason we subscribe to the weekend edition of the Times. Judging by Lindgren’s talk at Columbia Journalism School yesterday, he knows that the magazine is doing well, but he did admit one mistake: Not pushing for an iPad app.

Lindgren explained that he had the chance to get a separate app made, but let it slip by:

When I got there, we had a budget to create our own app. Literally, we were about to hire our own people and the budget disappeared. And I got pretty focused on the magazine, on the print magazine, because that’s where we needed a lot of attention. And I probably kind of blew it a little bit not fighting that hard enough, and we’re going to get that restored.

Exciting, right? We’d love to read the magazine separate from the Times’ app. But Capital New York reports that Lindgren said the app won’t be ready for about two years.

Two years! Will there even be an iPad in two years??? We might be living on Mars in two years! Will we even want to read on Mars, since it’s a new planet and all?

Life is unbearably difficult sometimes.

Apps, apps, and more apps.

Bon Appétit’s new digital edition for tablets launches with its March Tastemaker issue. The aim? Transform the magazine into a kitchen companion for home cooks.

The edition’s “Kitchen Mode” breaks down recipes into step-by-step instructions that are accompanied by video, photos, tips, and slideshows.

“With features like Kitchen Mode, an easy-to-navigate recipe index, and exclusive content, this app will become your new favorite kitchen tool,” says editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport.

Print subscribers will have access to the digital edition. Bon Appétit can be purchased digitally for $4.99 for a single issue. A monthly subscription to the tablet edition is $1.99; an annual subscription is $19.99.

The tablet edition is available at the iPad App Store and BarnesandNoble.com.

The worst thing a magazine can do when designing an iPad app is to forget that people are using an iPad to read it. It sounds crazy, but it happens. A magazine is great, but when we’re using an iPad, we want to swipe, scroll, tap and gently caress (okay, maybe that’s just us). Newsweek’s new iPad app, which just went live, makes sure that happens.

Dirk Barnett, Newsweek’s Creative Director, told us back in November that he wanted to make sure the iPad expanded on the strong design elements in the magazine, and he definitely succeeded. Barnett, along with the bow tie appreciating Mueller Twins, have created something special. The images are bold and the overall look is uncluttered, yet extremely engaging.

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Maybe you’ve never heard of Yuck, the Dum Dum Girls or Kurt Vile. It’s okay. We haven’t either. But the editors at Spin have, and those are just a few of the artists that made its Top 40 Albums of 2011 list, so they must be worth knowing. The bands also happen to have their songs featured on Spin’s iPad app, which is available for free, from now until January 5.

The best part about this offer is that once you download the app, the playlist that Spin curated from the Top 40 Albums list is yours to keep forever. That means you can stream this playlist during your New Year’s Eve party and act annoyed with your friends when they don’t know — but love — the songs that you’re blaring.

There’s also 35 videos available with the app, but remember to act unimpressed with them if you play any of them for your guests. The secret to being a Knowledgable Music Person is to be tired of everything, all the time.

FishbowlNY has learned that Newsweek is launching an iPad app in January. To help the debut go smoothly, the magazine has hired Melissa Lafsky as its iPad Launch Editor. Lafsky has the chops to make the app a hit; she’s worked at The Huffington Post, edited the Freakonomics blog and has written for The New York Observer, The New York Times and Wired.

Details are sparse (we do know that print subscribers will be able to access it for free) but Dirk Barnett, Creative Director at Newsweek, said a broad goal of the app is to expand on the design elements found in print. “Newsweek’s iPad app will enhance the strong design landscape of the magazine, building on the visual strengths with interactives, video elements and an extension of the strong photojournalism that has been a hallmark of the magazine for decades,” explained Barnett.

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Jann Wenner is finally breaking down and joining the rest of the free world publishing companies by launching iPad apps. According to mocoNews, Rolling Stone and Us Weekly will be coming to Apple’s tablet in early 2012.

Up first though is “The Beatles: The Ultimate Album-by-Album Guide,” an app that will accompany the Rolling Stone book by the same name. The app will be available for $9.99 and feature interviews with musicians, over 60 pictures and — this is completely unconfirmed — a lengthy report on the socio-economical ramifications of naming your child Ringo.

The foray into the tablet world is some rather shocking news, considering that just a few months ago Wenner said magazines launching on the iPad was “crazy.” Perhaps when he heard that the iPad is boosting magazine sales he realized that being a little insane can be quite lucrative.