Flipboard updates to include sound

Flipboard, the app on iOS and (unofficially) Android that presents the articles, pictures and photo albums that your friends post to the social network in a magazine format, was primarily a read-only application. Now, the service has released an update that includes sound in your regular Flipboard feed. The app now includes posts from music/podcast sharing service, SoundCloud as well as audio posts from NPR and Public Radio International. If an article has an audio accompaniment, the app will allow you to listen to the accompaniment as well. There is also a feature wherein you can explore recommended audio feeds in the new Audio category in the Content Guide. If you select a track to play, you will continue to hear it even if you start reading another article. A menu tab on the bottom left corner of the page will let you control volume, skip tracks and pause or play a track.

You can now listen in Flipboard

Flipboard Head of Marketing Marci McCue said to Mashable, "It’s interesting to us. Not only integrating with popular music sources like iTunes, but also allowing new artists that are out there to have some social exposure and commerce related to their music. It’s not currently on the road map, but it’s stuff we’re looking at." The update brings another use of audio to Flipboard. Visually impaired users can now access the app a little more easily. The app has integrated Apple's VoiceOver service, which will help visually impaired users navigate Flipboard and listen to articles.

Other features that Flipboard brought in the update, include a fully localized Japanese edition of Flipboard, a feature called Readability, which will let you save articles for later reading and you can now view related sections for social networks (which is new on the iPhone). So now, when you tap on the Twitter section title, you will be able to see sections like "Your Tweets", "Your Favorites" and "Tweets Mentioning You". This is Flipboard version 1.9 and is available for free from the iOS App Store. For Android users who downloaded the app unofficially, you may not be able to have this latest version yet, but have no fear for Flipboard is coming for you soon.