Got a little time to kill while waiting around the airport? Why not read a magazine? Digital-mag publisher Zinio now offers 20 titles you can access on your iPhone (or iPod touch), and they’re all free of charge.
The selections include Kiplinger’s, Men’s Health, PC Magazine, and U.S. News & World Report. (Full disclosure: I’m an occasional contributor to PC Mag.) Just tap the cover of the magazine you want to read, then browse through thumbnail images of each and every page in the latest issue. Tap any page to zoom in.
Because these are scanned pages (which look dazzling, by the way), there’s no text reflow like with Web sites. Thus, there’s a fair amount of zooming and dragging involved in the actual reading experience, which is a little irksome. But that’s a small gripe considering the wealth and quality of free (for now) content Zinio is offering. If you’re an iPhone or iPod touch user, you’ll definitely want to check this out. Point your device’s browser to www.zinio.com/iphone and you’re good to go.
