Synapse Multimedia
Designs that inspire, Technology that works

Synapse has developed a new Mobile News Application for the Apple iPhone and Google Android/Droid mobile devices. The mobile application delivers News, Video, Weather, Ads and much more.

The application has be designed so that it can easily be configured to work with any Content Management System (CMS).

The iPhone Application has been seamlessly integrated with the Synapse CMS, this allows the Synapse iPhone application access to all the same news content posted to the Synapse CMS. Advertising in the mobile application is also controlled through the Synapse CMS Ad Management System.

Mobile Device Application Features

The Mobile News Application has five main sections, these can be changed during the setup process of the application. These sections (or buttons) appear at the bottom of the screen after the application has loaded on an mobile device such as the iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad or Android. Each section supports advertising and this can easily be inegrated with OpenX, DART or Burst Media. 

Content Categories

Throughout the application, users have the ability to drill down into content categories for additional information. These categories are represented by a File Folder Icon to the left of the content category. Clicking the folder opens it and displays the next level of information with a title, image and publish date and time. This feature is used on News, Video and More sections.

1. Home Screen Section
   The Home screen is the first screen to load when the application opens. The application administrator has the ability to select the categories and number of stories to display in the section. The application looks at the publish date and sort order for each story and displays it. The number of stories shown is based on the value set by the application administrator.
   
   Stories are listed with one story per line on the home screen. However, a story title can be a maximum of two lines. If a title is too long the application will truncate the title at the end of line two, this is indicated by the use of three dots at the end of the title. Each line item/story supports one image on the left (77 x 57), the story title, and a publish date and time.
   
   When a user clicks a title the application drills down and loads the full story. Each full story supports a title, an image (300 x 226) located at the top of the story just below the title, and the full story text.
    
   
2. Video Section
   The application administrator has the ability to select the categories and number of top videos to return for this section. The application looks at the publish date and sort order for each video and displays it. The number of videos shown is based on the value set by the application administrator.
    
   
3. News Section
   The News section works in the same manner as the homepage, but with a few additional features. The application administrator has the ability to set the maximum number of stories to be returned for each category. The application looks at the publish date and sort order for each story and displays it. The number of stories shown is based on the value set by the application administrator.

   When a user clicks on the story the application drills down and loads the full story. Each full story supports a title, an image (300 x 226) located at the top of the story just below the title, and the full story text.

4. Weather Section
   The Weather section supports the following automated functions: 
   1. Radar Stream (Video Feed)
   2. Current Conditions and Today's Forecast
   3. School Closings
   4. Current Doppler
   5. 8-Day Forecast
   6. Current Temperatures
   7. Storm Tracker Warnings
   8. Valley Temperatures
   9. Lightning Strikes
   10. SkyCam

Each line item supports 1 image on the left (77 x 57), a title, and a publish date and time. When a user clicks on the line item the application drills down and loads the full content. Each item supports a title, and an image (300 x 226) located at the top of the story just below the title. This section can easily be customized by adjusting the XML for the application.

5. More Section
   Items in the more section can be changed before the application is submitted to the Apple store for approval. These items do not all need to be used at the time of launch just defined because they can be turned on or off through the XML configuration at any time. Items currently available/supported in the More Section are as follows:
   

Items in the More Section can be mapped to a category in the Synapse CMS or any mobile application. When a user clicks on an item in the more section the application drills down into this section and displays the information. Each line item supports 1 image on the left (77 x 57), a title, and a publish date and time. When a user clicks on the line item the application drills down and loads the full content. Each item supports a title, and an image (300 x 226) located at the top of the story just below the title.

1. Advertising
   Advertising on the Mobile Device Application is controlled by the Synapse Ad Manager in the Synapse CMS, OpenX, DART or Burst Media. Each section except for live video has the ability to support a banner (300 x 60) from either the top or bottom of the application window, but not both simultaneously. Only one ad spot can be utilized at a time and this preference is controlled by the application administrator.  The Mobile Device ad statistics are available in the Synapse CMS, OpenX, DART or Burst Media.
    
   
2. User Statistics
   When users connect to the Mobile Device Application the system will record their navigation through the application similar to a traditional website. Each section the user navigates to is recorded as a page view. The following information is tracked and reported on by month or day:
   
   1. Total Application Downloads
   2. Visitors
   3. Unique Visitors
   4. Return Visitors
   5. Page Views/Section Views