TechMunch 1.1 on its way!

News Update June 1 2009: TechMunch Update 1.1 has been approved and is now available from the AppStore

The first version of TechMunch (iPhone application for TechCrunch blogs) received a wide spread welcome, I sincerely thank everyone who've encouraged the initiative and provided feed backs on the first version.

I have just uploaded version 1.1 to the Apple App Store (might take a couple of days for review to finish, hold the excitement till then ;) ).

This version features a significant performance boost and usability improvements. Especially the table columns now feature smooth scrolling and image caching. The application loads significantly faster. Well, with this version, you can instantly share the stories using twitter via Twitterific application! (also email).

The reading pane has several improvements as well, now the jumpy nature of the reading pane has been removed as it was annoying. Also the formatting has been improved a lot, with more legible font, spaces between lines and rightly sized pictures.

The tables now alternate in color, differentiating the stories, making it more readable. Yup, the most sought after feature, smooth scrolling of the table even with pictures! I would say the improvement is to the scale of at least 4x

Several optimizations have been done to provide a crash proof experience, hope you all like it.

Yes you might have noticed, the application features a new much more professional looking icon! Nicholas from apporacle.com was kind to work on this, I must say Nicholas is a very talented designer, he came up with very nice prototypes; We narrowed in on this one in a very short time. The best thing, he was very proactive in following up with me on the design, when I had thousands of things running in parallel. Also he does this for a very reasonable price. I would definitely recommend him for any one who wants a designer for their iPhone apps.

What's planned for the future releases:

1. Searchable news! a search bar to do a full text search on the news items

2. Facebook connect! Share your stories instantly using you Facebook profile

3. Extended viewing of pictures in reading pane

4. Allowing hyperlinks in reading pane (this is kind of tricky, in terms of usability)

Please feel free to suggest more features / report bugs, hope you'll all enjoy the new release.