I’ve long searched for the type of app that makes reading the news – news as in, general headlines for the day – a pleasant experience on a phone. Most apps simply reformat articles for a smaller, thinner screen. So while the news is easier to read, the articles are simply reformatted for mobile, and completely unglanceable.

Circa News eschews this concept – instead of taking long-form articles and simply reformatting them, Circa is based on smaller excerpts which serve to convey the overall meaning of a story without the lengthy details and explanation. Circa offers multiple excerpts, which does actually allow for the full story to be conveyed, albeit in a much shorter way. There are also options to read the full story on the source’s website, and to share the story with various social networks. Circa also allows users to “pin” their favorite stories, creating a hub of sorts which is constantly updated with news.

Frankly, the design is brilliant, and the execution is fantastic. This app has earned a place on my homescreen, finally having filled a need I’ve seen since the App Store was launched.

[iTunes, Cir.Ca]

Focusing on the education sector, Apple today has announced iBooks 3.0 at its special October media event in San Jose. iBooks 3.0 has continuous scrolling, integrated iCloud that allows you to read where you left off, new sharing options and support for over 40 languages. iBooks 3.0 is available today as a free download from the App Store.

Apple also introduced a new version of iBooks Author for publishers, including new Apple templates and the ability to implement mathematical expressions directly into a textbook. There are also multi-tough widgets in textbooks and easier ways for publishers to update their textbooks. iBooks Authors is available today as a free download from the Mac App Store.

In the realm of Silicon Valley, it’s common for a company with absolutely no interest in the product of another  company to end up buying said company. Confusing? Slightly, but it helps to remember that a company is only as good as the people behind it.

Which is where the term “acquihire” comes in. Obviously a pun, the word simply describes what happens when a larger company purchases a smaller company simply to absorb the talent. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly what has happened over the last few days between Apple and Color, a decently well-known app which has recently been the source of some drama as various sites claimed that it was shutting down.

That isn’t the case: instead, Apple has purchased the company for something like $5 million dollars, according to All Things D:

What’s really happening is that Color’s engineering team — about 20 people, comprising almost the entire company — is being “acqhired” by Apple at what’s being called a “nominal” price of something like $2 million to $5 million, according to multiple sources familiar with both sides of the situation. To repeat, there are no “double-digit” millions involved, according to many people familiar with the deal.

Apple is not buying Color’s technology, intellectual property, domain names or liabilities. Those are being left with the company, which still has considerable cash in the bank — something like $25 million — and is going to be wound down.

So there you have. The CEOs of their respective corporations refused to comment, but this seems to be confirmed – after all, All Things D has spectacular sources in the Silicon Valley world.

[All Things D]