NEW YORK (JTA) – The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles has released a free app through Apple’s App Store.
The app provides news articles, blogs, video and photo content from The Jewish Journal, JTA and Reuters. A deal was finalized recently with the Forward, the oldest Jewish news outlet in the United States, to include some of its content on the Jewish Journal app. The only featured advertiser on the app is LivingSocial, a group discount website.
Pinch/Zoom Media, a Seattle-based developer, worked with the Jewish Journal over the course of a year to create the app. Since its release on Oct. 2 it has been downloaded 328 times onto iPads.
“The goal of the app is to be the ultimate Jewish source, not just for Jewish news, but for Jewish life as well,” said Jay Firestone, the Jewish Journal’s web director.
Future plans for the app involve increased social networking capacities, user-uploaded galleries and integration of the app with a directory of local Jewish resources.
Meanwhile, a new mobile app developed by the World Zionist Organization’s Department for Diaspora Activities provides a database of information about Zionism and Israel.
The free "Zionation" app for iPhone and Android devices includes a Zionist calendar that marks and provides background information on significant dates in the history of Zionism and the State of Israel.
The app, which supports Hebrew, English and Spanish, also notifies users about conferences and events occurring in their communities or around the world.
Gusti Yehoshua-Braverman, the co-chair of the Department for Diaspora Activities, said the app is designed to resonate with a younger Jewish generation.
"We believe that now more than ever, given the alienation among large segments of the Jewish community from the State of Israel, that it is our duty to encourage the younger generation to create their own Zionist Jewish identity based on knowledge and familiarity with major figures and historical events, values and achievements,” he said in a statement.
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