Category Archives: Freedom

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Freedom Fight set for April return

BURNABY, BC--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Viscount Systems Inc. (OTCMARKETS:VSYS.PK) a leading edge high technology supplier of security systems and software today announced that its Freedom IT-based access control technology has been successfully installed at a large industrial facility in Medicine Hat, Alberta owned by Methanex, the world’s largest supplier of methanol. Viscount’s system will enhance the Methanex’s Plant’s Responsible Care® safety and security programs and provide a platform for Business Continuity to improve the plant’s resilience and reliability. This was achieved with significant cost savings due to the use of existing cabinets and card reader wiring. In addition, due to the nature of the Freedom® advanced IP-based architecture, the installation utilized Methanex’s existing IT backbone, further improving the security of in-plant communication.

The Methanex deployment included an array of Freedom® technology, including bridges and redundant servers. In addition, Methanex has deployed other new Viscount software systems including Facility Friend, the AMS alarm management system, and ABC DataVault, a contingency planning and emergency preparedness system.

The Viscount system was installed by IRISS Inc., a high-end Systems Integrator that focuses on Business Continuity and Security Solutions. “Being ready at all times is an important element of Safety, Security and Business Continuity -- we do not just install systems, we provide integrated solutions. We also ensure a quality technical solution through systematic Factory (FAT) and Site Acceptance (SAT) Tests,” commented IRISS’ CEO and Oil and Gas Veteran, Joe Smolinski.

Richard Dworschak, Methanex Project Lead, commented, “The inherent IP architecture is one of the key reasons for choosing IRISS and the Freedom® solution. Expansion of an effective safety and security system is always a consideration with a plant of this size. With the old access control panel based system along with its proprietary communication, flexibility was not there to easily modify the system. Now we have the freedom to utilize the advantages of the mustering and access control system as the need arises; future safety and security measures can be implemented at minimal cost”.

“This is one of the most comprehensive deployments of Freedom technology so far,” noted Stephen Pineau, President and CEO of Viscount Systems. “ Large industrial facilities have specific compliance requirements that are not well suited to traditional access control systems. We worked closely with IRISS and Methanex to design a robust, multi-functional system. Through this we designed a number of special applications including emergency mustering that allows Freedom to be used not only as a security system but an integral part of the overall life safety system. With Freedom the client hardened the systems in ways not possible with a traditional security system and we expect this installation to be a benchmark for future projects in the critical infrastructure market. ”

About IRISS

IRISS (Intelligent Remote Industrial Security Solutions); is an organization formulated to deliver the integration of best-in-class Business Continuity Services and Security Technologies. We provide solutions to the dynamic Canadian energy sector, encompassing Oil and Gas, Electrical Utilities and Chemical Plants.

Our DNA is in security technology and integrated contingency and business continuity management. This endeavour is supported by best-in-class engineering, installation and maintenance resources, which assures the customer of reliable 24/7 sustainability of their entire operation; from remote locations, to processing, to client delivery. For more information visit http://www.iriss.ca.

About Viscount Systems

Viscount Systems Inc., designs unified software platforms for building security and emergency planning. Recent awards include SIA Convergence Solution of the Year 2011 and Platinum Award for Emergency Response and Gold Award for Access Control at GOVSEC 2011. Additional information on Viscount's products may be obtained on-line at http://www.viscount.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy any securities of Viscount Systems Inc., nor shall there be any sale of any such security in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

Forward looking statements: This press release and other statements by Viscount Systems Inc. may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act with respect to the outlook for earnings and revenues, other future financial or business performance, strategies and expectations. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as "believe," "expect," "estimate," "position," "assume," "potential," "outlook," "continue," "remain," "maintain," and similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," or similar expressions.

Financial statements are available from the company's registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which may be viewed at http://www.sec.gov or the company's web site http://www.viscount.com under the heading "Investor Relations". For further information, or to be placed on email NEWS ALERT please e-mail investors@viscount.com or call toll free 1-917-670-9541. 888-516-7415.

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World’s Largest Methanol Producer Installs Viscount’s Freedom® System

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - The struggling Freedom Center, which tells the history of black slaves escaping from the U.S. south, announced plans on Wednesday to merge with another Cincinnati museum to ensure its survival.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center said it would merge administrative, programming and some personnel costs, as well as expand community partnerships and fundraising opportunities with the Cincinnati Museum Center.

The Freedom Center, which opened its doors in 2004, was facing possible closure at the end of this year if it did not fill a $1.5 million funding gap,

Details are still being hammered out, but the initial overview of the merger's financial aspects look positive, according to Elizabeth Pierce, the Museum Center's vice president of marketing and communications.

"We are entering a phase of due diligence," she said. "We have some initial analysis that allows us to think it was the right thing to do. We are now going to validate those assumptions."

That process will take about four to six months to complete, she said.

Now that word of the likely merger is out, the two organizations can begin the process of working with national, regional and local partners to help raise money and support, Pierce said.

The Freedom Center has had trouble in recent years garnering support from some donors because of the perception it might not remain open.

"We are not doing to do this alone," said Douglass McDonald, president and CEO of the Museum Center. "Part of this process is going to be going to people in the community and establishing partnerships."

Almost immediately after opening in 2004, the Freedom Center began to struggle financially, eventually laying off several staff members and taking other measures to cut costs.

The museum is directly across the Ohio River from the slave state of Kentucky, and Cincinnati was a major stop on the "underground railroad" that helped slaves go north to Canada.

The museum also has an exhibit examining contemporary slavery, which includes such practices as forced child labor and sex trafficking.

Since its inception, museum leaders, including former Procter & Gamble Co. CEO John Pepper, who is co-chair of its board of directors, hoped to make the facility a national museum.

If that had happened, the federal government would take over the building and its accompanying $3 million operating expense -- although if the planned merger goes ahead, it would not now be necessary.

"This is an unprecedented opportunity for our two iconic institutions and for the men, women and children we serve," Pepper said.

"Having examined the case for joining together, I am convinced that this combination of talent and efficiencies will dramatically expand the impact of the Freedom Center's mission, locally and nationwide. Our two institutions will do things together neither of us could do alone."

Cincinnati City Councilman Christopher Smitherman, who is also president of the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP, had criticized the Freedom Center for "not living up to its potential."

He said the museum backed off its original intention to tell the story of African-American slavery for a "smorgasbord of conversation around freedom," welcomed the news. "I view the merger as a very positive step for the region," he said.

(Editing By Tim Gaynor)

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National Underground Railroad Freedom Center plans to merge

Chinese officials denied a visa to a top State Department envoy and refused to meet with her to discuss issues of religious freedom days before this week’s high-profile visit to Washington by China’s vice president, according to rights advocates and others.

Suzan Johnson Cook, the U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom, was scheduled to travel to China on Feb. 8, according to several rights advocates who were invited to brief her ahead of the visit. But as the date drew near, Chinese leaders refused to grant her meetings with government officials.

Video

Protesters sympathetic to several Chinese causes, including Tibet, massed around the White House, where U.S. officials were meeting with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping. One protester, in a suit and tie, was arrested. (Feb. 14)

Video

President Obama says good ties between the United States and China are essential and help the rest of the world. Obama welcomed Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping. (Feb. 14)

They then cited her lack of scheduled meetings as a reason for denying her visa application, according to the advocates and a congressional aide, who were briefed on the situation.

The disclosure comes one day into the diplomatically sensitive visit by Xi Jinping — China’s presumptive next president — during a week that the Obama administration hopes will help ease tense U.S.-China relations.

Rights advocates working with Cook’s office say that she and her staff were told by superiors in the Obama administration to avoid talking publicly about her canceled trip in the days before Xi’s visit.

The State Department declined to comment about the matter Tuesday. When asked about the trip last week, on the day Cook was supposed to leave, spokesman Anthony Pahigian said: “She has no specific dates at this time. We are engaging with the Chinese government to find a mutually convenient time.”

President Obama, who met with Xi on Tuesday, has been criticized by human rights groups, religious leaders and Republican lawmakers who say he has not been forceful enough in challenging China on issues such as its crackdown on Tibetans and the recent imprisonment of several religious and dissident leaders.

Xi, during a State Department luncheon Tuesday, defended China’s record on human rights, saying that his country “has made tremendous and well-recognized achievements” in the past 30 years.

“Of course,” he added, “there is always room for improvement when it comes to human rights.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday on Cook’s visa request.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), who supported Cook’s nomination, called the visa refusal “outrageous” and said the White House’s silence on the issue could have long-term consequences.

“What happens with China could have impact when we try to go to Egypt, Vietnam, all these other places,” he said. “People will look at that ambassadorship and say, ‘How effective or important is this office?’?”

The post was created in 1998 to be the highest government official focused on promoting religious freedom, often in nascent democracies and under authoritarian regimes. In China, Catholics, evangelical Christians, Muslims and Buddhists all report varying forms of government repression.

After Obama took office, religious groups criticized him for not quickly naming an ambassador to address these issues. When he made an appointment, in 2010, he upset some activists again with his choice of Cook, a former New York Police Department chaplain and well-known motivational speaker without traditional diplomatic credentials. The Senate approved her, after a long delay, last year.

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Chinese blocked visit by U.S. religious freedom envoy, advocates say

POSTED: 12:12 pm EST February 14, 2012
UPDATED: 5:15 pm EST February 14, 2012

CINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati Museum Center and National Underground Railroad Freedom Center announced plans to merge their operations.In a news release issued Tuesday, representatives of the two museums said they will take steps to "join together in a united corporate structure.""We know that joining together will strengthen our respective organizations," said Francie S. Hiltz, chair Cincinnati Museum Center Board of Trustees and Rev. Damon Lynch, Jr. presiding co-chair of National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. "The result will be creative and dynamic organizations, offering greater financial strength and new opportunities."Museum Center spokeswoman Elizabeth Pierce said the Museum Center will have oversight of the Freedom Center. Freedom Center President Kim Robinson will continue to serve as the museum's leader.The Freedom Center has been facing financial trouble because of low attendance. Robinson told WLWT last month that the museum has enough money to operate through 2012, but would need an additional $1.5 million to stay open in 2013."We are deeply motivated by the future opportunities we see to strengthen our ability to carry out the mission of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center," Robinson said in a news release.Pierce said the merger will have no bearing on the Museum Center's levy, which is to be used for operational purposes at its Union Terminal location, and will not go to the Freedom Center.The two museums will maintain their own brands and missions and will remain in their current locations, but will be united in operations and planning. The two organizations will also remain separate.City Councilman Chris Smitherman, former head of the local NAACP chapter and a critic of the Freedom Center's marketing strategy, said he welcomed the change."It's overdue for the Freedom Center to have the absolute best professionals in this business to run that organization, and I don't think their mission is going to change," Smitherman said. "I think it's going to be augmented, and I also think there'll be more clarity on what the Freedom Center is."The museums said the merger will take several months as they work through the necessary program improvements and transition details.Representatives from both museums are expected to discuss the merger further at a news conference scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Copyright 2012 by WLWT.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Freedom Center, Museum Center Announce Merger

CINCINNATI - The financially troubled National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is getting a new lease on life.
            
A new plan would save more than $1 million by combining some management operations with the Cincinnati Museum Center.
     
This is welcome news for the center, and community leaders as well as freedom center visitors.
       
With an estimated $1.5 million deficit wiped away, they hope to see this center continue to teach its important lessons for both young and old.

One of the Freedom Center's biggest fans, who is very excited to hear about the new plans for keeping the center open, is only 12 years old.

Maia Thompson, a seventh grader at Mason Middle School, was shocked to hear about the Freedom Center's financial woes.

"I was sitting with my mom and I heard that the freedom center might be closing and I started going crazy. I was like, 'What? I know this can't be happening," said Thompson.

Last year Maia decided to do whatever she could to help out the Freedom Center. It started with creating a YouTube video asking for help. In it she says, "Up here we have something called the Freedom Center. It's an amazing experience and it taught me a lot. I recently learned that the center might be closing down..."

Maia didn't stop there. She also decided to create a special Freedom Center T-shirt with the words "Fan the Flame" and "Be the Spark".

"I discovered a website and I found out you could make shirts on it, and you sell them for a profit," she said.

The T-shirts will be sold at the Freedom Center gift shop and at the "Taste of Mason" celebration on Wednesday night.

Maia's mom, Deborah Thompson, is especially proud.

"Maia is the kind of person who is always giving and always sharing and... that's one of the things she'll do," she said.

When asked if she'd like to work at the Freedom Center, Maia replied, "Yes. I think I'd like to be a tour guide because it would be really cool to show people around and talk to them about the exhibits."

Details of both museums' new management system will unfold during a news conference Wednesday morning.

Stay with 9 News and WCPO.com for updates.

Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Continued here:
7th grader helps Freedom Center

Nyreef Jackson and his Freedom High School boys basketball teammates distinctly remember what happened on Jan. 20.

Parkland rallied for a two-point victory that night to ruin the Patriots' bid for an unbeaten season.

Freedom wasn't about to be denied again.

Jackson scored 16 points to snap out of a scoring slump and the Patriots hung on for a 45-40 victory over the Trojans in a Lehigh Valley Conference tournament semifinal at Allen High School's J. Milo Sewards Gymnasium.

"We really wanted this game," said Jackson, a junior forward. "They beat us the last time and we didn't forget that. That was a tough loss and we wanted to see them again. We were really confident today."

Freedom (20-3), which has never won a conference championship, advances to the title game against top-seeded Emmaus at 8 p.m., Friday at Allen. The Green Hornets defeated Easton 52-39 in the other semifinal.

Emmaus dealt Freedom a 48-43 loss on Jan. 31 in Bethlehem Township.

"This is a special feeling," Freedom coach Joe Stellato said, "but I don't want to get too emotional. We still have another battle coming up on Friday."

Joe Lococo, Freedom's leading scorer at 14.7 points per game, was held to four points through three quarters. But the senior guard made six clutch foul shots in the final 2:51 to help seal the win.

"I've said it all year, this team finds ways to win," said Stellato, whose team was 8-14 last season. "Every game they amaze me. I'm shocked at how these kids dig themselves out of holes."

The Patriots' lead seemed safe when Derike Chiclana's two free throws gave them a 43-37 lead with 21 seconds left.

Sophomore Justin Zajko made Parkland's only 3-pointer of the night to pull the Trojans within 43-40. Chiclana was immediately fouled with 12 seconds left, and the junior center missed the front end of the 1-and-1 free throw attempt.

Parkland (18-5) got the ball into the hands of junior guard Austin Beidelman, who hit the winning 3-pointer in the first game against Freedom. This time Beidelman's high-arcing 3 bounced off the back iron. Lococo added two free throws with 1.8 ticks remaining.

"I'd let (Beidelman) take that shot again," Parkland coach Andy Stephens said. "He's pretty good in tough situations. I give him a lot of credit just for wanting to take the shot. For a junior, that's definitely a good thing."

Jackson, considered Freedom's top defender, was primarily responsible for harassing Beidelman (14.5 ppg) into a 4-for-17 shooting night for eight points.

"He's a tough player, an all-league player," Jackson said. "I just tried to keep him in front of me and not give him wide-open shots. He has a nice shot with a lot of arc. I thought that (3-point attempt) was going to sink right in."

The game evolved into somewhat of a chess match as Freedom extended its defense to deny Parkland the 3-point shot. The Trojans shot 1-for-12 from distance.

Stephens seemed content to work the ball inside to burly forwards Rob Dvoracek and Daulton Charles, who finished with 10 points.

"I thought we could pound it inside and utilize our strength," Stephens said, "and I thought that would open up our perimeter game. It was a hard-fought battle. Give Freedom credit. They have the record they do for a reason."

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Freedom High School boys basketball team advances to LVC title game with 45-40 victory over Parkland High School

PENDLETON — Freedom Fest, Pendleton’s patriotic summer celebration, will not happen this year unless a new organizer steps in.

The event has been held 1990 on the Saturday before July 4 at Veterans Park, with fireworks, vendors, games and live music.

Friends of the Park, an organization that raises money and takes care of Veterans Park, recently voted against organizing and being the lead sponsor of the event. So far no one has contacted Pendleton Town Hall about planning Freedom Fest, said Amber Barnes, interim town administrator.

On Feb. 6, the Pendleton Town Council approved Friends of the Park’s request to dedicate the $2,500 budget for Freedom Fest to the Step Up to the Plate fundraising campaign to renovate the park’s ball fields.

The group reluctantly gave up planning Freedom Fest, said Friends member Nancy Hellams.

“It was a hard decision because we always felt very good to be able to provide that for the community,” Hellams said. She was chairwoman of Friends of the Park and Freedom Fest for three years, but stepped down in January to take a break from such time-consuming projects.

About 100 volunteers and more than 25 sponsors make Freedom Fest happen every year. Finding enough volunteers for the event is not a problem for Friends of the Park, Hellams said, nor is money. But the June heat is brutal to older Friends members who man stations all day.

“People usually are willing to be help out, but we’ve gotten older,” Hellams said. “It wasn’t that we don’t want to do it. We just aren’t able to anymore.”

No other members expressed desire to pick up organization, she said.

Organizers plan entertainment and secure vendors, sponsorships and a pyrotechnics company to shoot fireworks. About 3,000 people come to the event each summer.

“I think a lot of folks are going to miss it, but it was a tremendous amount of work,” said Pendleton Mayor Pro Tem Bruce Kalley.

The town started Freedom Fest 22 years ago in honor of its bicentennial. In 2004, budget strains led the town to pass the main sponsorship and organization to Pendleton Home Builders for three years. Pendleton Home Builders approached Friends of the Park in 2008 to take over and over four years the group has raised more than $10,000 through Freedom Fest to renovate Veterans Park.

The American Legion Post 113 donates some money toward Freedom Fest each year, said member Jimmy Manley, but renovations to the post will overshadow taking over Freedom Fest responsibilities.

“We’ve been raising money ourselves to refurbish the building up there,” Manley said. “I hope somebody does pick it up.”

Past organizer Rick Moore of Pendleton Home Builders said the same thing.

“I’d hate to see it die because we put so much effort into it,” he said. He and business partner Fred Hamilton used some of their own money to fund Freedom Fest, but he declined to say how much. Moore said that at this point he and Hamilton would not consider being main organizers, but that they would help out in a smaller way.

The event has grown from a simple festival to one with a fireworks show rivaling ones held in Anderson and Seneca, Moore said. The town council allocated $5,000 to Freedom Fest in 2009, but by this year the amount was cut in half. Kalley said it’s possible that new organizers could receive town funding.

“They have to come to the council and ask and we would just have to look at it,” he said.

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Fate of Freedom Fest in Pendleton uncertain this year

Lyle DennistonIn a continuing series of posts, Lyle Denniston provides responses based on the Constitution and its history to public statements about the meaning of the Constitution and what duties it imposes or rights it protects. Today’s topic: birth control and religious belief.

The statement at issue:

“In imposing this requirement, the federal government has drifted dangerously beyond its constitutional boundaries, encroaching on religious freedom in a manner that affects millions of Americans and harms some of our nation’s most vital institutions.”

–Speaker John Boehner, Ohio Republican, on the floor of the House of Representatives, February 8, commenting on the Obama Administration’s plan to require hospitals and clinics to include insurance coverage for birth control, without an exception for such facilities that are operated by the Roman Catholic Church, which treats contraception as a violation of its beliefs.

We checked the Constitution, and…

For more than four decades, public policymakers have been trying to fashion exemptions from government programs when those would violate the religious views of those taking part in the program. And, while constitutional issues have always been in the background of efforts to write “conscience” exemptions, the constitutional boundaries that Speaker Boehner discussed are not yet as clearly defined as he suggested; the lines are blurred, and might vary depending on the details.

President Obama and his aides are continuing to struggle over ways to avoid violations of religious doctrine (mainly, Roman Catholic dogma) as they move to implement a provision in the new federal health care law requiring health insurance coverage of birth control for employees. They also are developing arguments to use in defending that provision in three lawsuits already challenging it, in cases filed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

So far, the government has given churches, as such, an exemption, but the regulations do not give an exemption of equal scope to hospitals, colleges, or other social service institutions directly affiliated with a religious organization but not primarily involved in spreading the faith. After a strong political protest came rushing at them, Administration aides began tinkering with a broader exemption, and are still working on its details.

As this controversy unfolds, in the courts if not in the political realm, judges will not find it easy to sort out where the Constitution stands. A split decision by the California Supreme Court in 2004, upholding a state law that does very much what the new federal law requires in mandating birth control coverage, illustrates how judges can and do differ on how to interpret prior Supreme Court rulings that do not deal directly with that issue (Catholic Charities of Sacramento v. Superior Court).

It is settled under the Constitution, of course, that the government may not operate a program that favors one religious faith over another, nor can it carry on a program that is based on hostility to one disfavored faith. The First Amendment guarantees religious neutrality in government action, and it assures religious organizations wide freedom to run their own internal affairs without government intrusion.

But those are broad principles, and the Supreme Court has not spelled out, in a specific case involving a “conscience clause,” just what the Constitution requires, or allows, when a public policy or scheme falls somewhere between the extremes and a religious organization claims its religious freedom has been compromised or violated.

The Justices, though, over the years have decided numerous cases that will now be parsed by lower court judges as they prepare to rule on the constitutionality of the new federal mandate on birth control for employees of religiously affiliated medical and educational facilities.

In chronological order, here are perhaps the most significant rulings that might favor the challenges to that mandate: Watson v. Jones, 1871, government may not second-guess internal tenets of faith or religious discipline; Corporation of Presiding Bishops v. Amos, 1978, allowing government to exempt religious employers from claims of religious bias in workplace policies; Larson v. Valente, 1982, government is forbidden to discriminate against one religious denomination, based on how they raise church revenues; Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah, government may not ban specific forms of religious practice if that is done out of hostility to the tenets of that faith; Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2012, government must provide an exception to laws against discrimination for workplace policies involving church ministers or faith leaders.

Also chronologically, here are the key rulings that might favor the birth control mandate: United States v. Lee, 1982, an employer must pay Social Security and unemployment taxes despite a religious objection; Alamo Foundation v. Secretary of Labor, 1985, religious organizations must pay their workers minimum wages despite a religious protest; Employment Division v. Smith, 1990, laws that apply generally and do not single out religious groups may be upheld even if they intrude on religious practices.

In the 2004 Catholic Charities decision by California’s Supreme Court upholding a birth control mandate, it took the majority and dissent a total of 80 pages to sort through those, and other, Supreme Court precedents. It involved considerable judicial labor.

Lyle Denniston is the National Constitution Center’s Adviser on Constitutional Literacy. He has reported on the Supreme Court for 54 years, currently covering it for SCOTUSblog, an online clearinghouse of information about the Supreme Court’s work.

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Constitution Check: Does mandated birth control insurance violate religious freedom?

Zite found that users of its iPhone app spend far more time reading articles during the day than do their iPad owner counterparts.

(Credit: Screenshot by CNET)

When Zite's Mike Klaas examines usage data for his company's news aggregation app, something very interesting pops out: he can pretty much paint a picture of how his users are spending their days.

The upshot? People use Zite on their iPhones pretty much any time they have a few spare minutes during the workday and when they're in bed late at night. But in the evening, they settle in on their iPads for longer, more relaxed stretches of time.

The data are very clear on this, and it's a lesson that other news aggregators with both iPad and iPhone versions are also learning and that anyone working on apps for the two devices would be wise to heed.

In looking deep into usage data showing how and when people use Zite on the two devices, Klaas and his team can tell a lot about users' actions simply from the peaks and valleys in the graphs.

This graph, from Zite, shows when its users pull out the app on the iPhone and iPad.

(Credit: Zite)

"I was surprised at how clearly the various phases of the day--morning, lunch time, and supper time--fell out of the day," said Klaas, Zite's director of technology. "It's almost like a story of what a user is doing as they move from one part of their day to another."

Mealtimes definitely seem to be a key indicator of when users' iPhones come out of their pockets. Looking at a graph that compares usage of Zite's iPhone and iPad versions, it's very easy to identify the iPhone bumps at breakfast, lunch, and dinner time. By contrast, while there are similar bumps reflected in the data on iPad usage, they are smaller in the morning and at lunch and much smoother in the evening.

Zite launched its iPad app last spring, and it quickly became a hit. The New York Times, for example, named it one of the best iPad apps of 2011. Then, in December, the company--which was bought by CNN last summer--put out its iPhone version.

The same week that Zite came out for iPhone, Flipboard, already one of the most popular iPad apps of all time, did the same. And now, with two months of data to look at, those companies, and others, are making it clear that when designing an app for both smartphones and tablets, it's crucial to make sure that the different versions accommodate short bursts of usage on iPhone, and more in-depth sessions on iPad.

Starbucks moment
The best way to consider how someone uses Zite, Flipboard, or other similar apps on the iPhone might be to think about when small windows of attention open up during the work day.

Flipboard's Cover Stories feature has been a hit on the company's iPhone app.

(Credit: Screenshot by CNET)

According to Flipboard spokesperson Marci McCue, that company's iPhone version is ideally used when, say, someone wants a quick check of what's going on while standing in line for coffee. That's why one of the most popular features on Flipboard's iPhone version is Cover Stories, a set of continuously updated set of articles and photos coming in through Flipboard users' social networks.

"Cover Stories have been an incredibly popular section for the iPhone," McCue said, "because it does have that one-hit notion of, What do I need to check in on right now in like at Starbucks."

Prior to its release of an iPhone version, Flipboard was used to seeing usage peaks in the morning and evening, with big dropoffs during the workday. Since the iPhone version release, one of the most visible impacts has been that "we've seen usage flatten out from the peaks to being more consistent throughout the day," McCue said.

At Zite, the results have been very much the same. Although the iPad is still the dominant device among users of the service, the iPhone is quickly gaining ground--and it is dominating the workday as Zite users with Apple's smart phone find that almost any free time is a good opportunity to load up the app and check in on the latest news.

Once they get home, though, the iPad takes over. "There's a huge surge in the evening, as people relax [with their iPads] on the couch," Klaas said. "For us, that's the busiest time during the whole week...when the evening of the West Coast and the East Coast intersect."

Zite has been able to identify specific usage bumps around mealtimes.

(Credit: Zite)

Yet, while Zite learned that its iPhone users like shorter bites of the app than do their iPad counterparts, Klaas said that one surprise to emerge from the data was the gap in session length between the two versions. While he had expected that iPad users would spend far more time with Zite than those on iPhones, it turns out that iPad sessions average just 20 percent longer.

'Personal prime time'
For its part, Flud, another news reader with both iPad and iPhone versions, has also seen what appears to be a daytime/nighttime division between the two devices.

Flud founder Bobby Ghoshal said the number of average articles users read per session dropped since the company's iPhone app came out. But that's a good thing for Flud, said Ghoshal, because it reflects the fact that many iPhone owners are using the app during the day to bookmark articles they want to read later and then returning at night to read them on iPads. And as a result, sessions per user is on the rise, he said.

Ultimately, the dominance of the iPhone during the day makes a lot of sense. After all, the workday is filled with small moments of what Read It Later, a service that helps people identify and save articles to read when it's more convenient, calls "whitespace." It is during these moments between tasks and locations that people reach for their phone," Read It Later wrote in a blog post last month. "These are perfect times to knock an item or two off of your reading list."

This chart showcases iPad usage by Read It Now users in the evening, a period that the company calls 'Personal primetime.'

(Credit: Read It Now)

But iPad users clearly want to save their reading for what Read It Later calls "personal prime time," the hours between dinner and bedtime. "Work is done, dinner is resting in your belly, and there is nothing left to do but put your feet up and relax," the blog post continued.

So what does it all mean?

Mobile devices allow us to read what we want when we can. With the iPhone, it's easier than ever to blast through a couple of articles on the bus, or while waiting for coffee. The iPad, on the other hand, offers a compelling experience of sitting back on the couch and catching up. As Read It Later put it, "Readers want to consume content in a comfortable place, on their own time, and mobile devices are making it possible for readers to take control."

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Mobile freedom: iPhone by day, iPad by night