I'm pretty short on time. But I also love to keep up with world affairs. Previously I wrote about The Week, which is my favorite "magazine". However, I do a lot more reading of random things across the internet, mostly in the form of blogs (Feedly is my favorite news reader). I've been toying around with other various options for daily news. I've tried the New York Times "Now" app, and it's just OK. However, a few weeks ago I stumbled across a news publication called "Quartz" that is produced by Atlantic Media.

What is it?

Quartz is primarily a mobile first news publication. There are two pieces to it:

1. Their web site, which looks amazing on mobile

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2. Their daily digest - which is a very short and concise way to catch up on what is going on in the world (subscribe by clicking the little envelope icon on their website). It's delivered early in the morning.

Quartz

I really appreciate a few things about Quartz:

The mobile design is amazing. These guys have great designers
The content is professionally written
The topics come from all over the world, which I also appreciate.
The email digest is convenient to read or just delete. All your current "workflows", that is if you have any, work well for digesting information

Here is how the Atlantic describes Quartz:

Quartz is a global business news brand launched in September 2012 for people who are excited by change. It serves as a digital guide to the new global economy. Designed for an efficient, mobile reading experience, Quartz serves business professionals who travel the world, are focused on international markets, and value critical thinking. Free and built for social distribution with no pay walls, registration walls, or app downloads, Quartz can be accessed simply at qz.com.

Wikipedia has a better description:

Quartz is the business news publication of the Atlantic Media Company and was launched in 2012. In a 2012 news story, The Guardian reported, "Quartz is a fairly light operation based in New York and headed by Kevin Delaney, a former managing editor at WSJ.com. Its team of 25 staff members was pulled together from prominent brands in business journalism: Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and the New York Times.

Quartz is a web-native news outlet and it differs from most other news sites by having scrolling stream of news.

My only complaint with Quartz is that they don't have a native mobile app. I really like native apps because I get an icon on my phone, as well as the ability to get notifications for things like breaking news. Perhaps one day they'll add that.

But for now, here is how you can work around that on an iOS device (and create a pseudo native app)

1. Go to qz.com on your iOS device.

2. Click the little up arrow "share" icon on the bottom

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3. Select "Add to Home"

Now you have a shortcut that runs in full screen mode (like an app) on your iOS device.

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Why did you get it?

I love news, and I'm short on time. So Quartz is the perfect way for me to catch up and stay in touch with world happenings. It's free too which is a big plus (no pay wall)

How has it made your life better?

I spend a few minutes now in the morning catching up on what is doing on, and then at night I read some articles on my phone before going to bed. I've found a lot of interesting commentary and perspective that I appreciate a great deal.

Are you going to keep it?

Time will tell on this one. I see no reason to stop reading this. And in fact, by writing this post I'm trying to get the word our to my friends and readers. It's worth checking out.

Go to qz.com on your PC and subscribe to the daily brief
Bookmark or at a Home Screen shortcut on your phone
Set as your Browser homepage

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