It’s always exciting to make news. Today is one of those days.

This morning Palo Alto Online announces, with help from partner SachManya and YAPPER (short for Your APP MakER), our first Apple iPhone and Android-based device apps, with iPad and Blackberry apps to follow soon. (UPDATE 2:30 p.m.) We’ve seen press already from places like SiliconANGEL, Editors Weblog and a short story on Editor and Publisher.

Here’s how we got to this place…

At Embarcadero Media, we’ve tossed the idea of an iPhone app around for some time. My thought has always been to go the WAP route (which we still haven’t done) rather than native apps. To develop a native app in-house would take expertise we’d have to learn and time we don’t currently have. Plus, the thought of having to develop for multiple platforms was daunting. Therefore, it’s been on the back burner for a while.

Right around the first of the year, I got a call from Chintu Parikh (now known as chiefYAPPER). He was pitching an app (360News), which allowed users to not only get news on their mobile devices but also send news, photos and video back to news sources. Being in the position I am and where we are located, I get about five or six calls a week from people like Chintu, but his pitch made a lot of sense and was similar to what I had envisioned our entry into “mobile” being like, so we met. The thought was for Palo Alto Online and the seven news Websites to be the “local partner” on 360News. If you were in Palo Alto, when you launched the app, you would see our content from Palo Alto Online.

This seemed like a reasonable thing and a great way for us to test out the mobile space.

A couple of week later, I saw caught up with Chintu at MacWorld, where YAPPER had just won the distinguished 2010 Macworld DEMO Best of Show award and he had showcased the revolutionary technology on the main stage.

At that point, he was talking about two apps… one for the 360News content and one for our content. I suggested, if there was a way to combine them into one, then there is really something I’d be interested in.

Not long after, he said it was “totally possible” and I set up a meeting between the CEO of Embarcadero Media and Chintu. The rest, as they say, is history.

This is a great example of a company who wants to help media companies, such as the one I work for, to better their content, make it more accessible and add new features we don’t have the time to produce.

So, what is YAPPER? With YAPPER, in minutes and without a single line of code, anyone can build their own native iPhone, iPad, Android and Blackberry mobile application starting at just $299 (our solution was more, but not that much more, because of some custom items). YAPPER is an end-to-end solution for publishers and includes many options, including in-app purchases, advertising support, analytics, app store submissions, and publish under your own company account.

You can check out the Palo Alto Online app here.

Good thing I gave myself time to get to the airport this afternoon. It didn’t dawn on me I had to go through customs before getting to the screening and onto the plane.

About 200 of my close, US-bound friends were waiting for me as I walked through the customs door. The line was long and took about 40 minutes to get through. No problem, but no stamp. I guess that makes sense since I’m a US Citizen.

Onto the screening where there was another long line. I had forgotten the people at NOW Toronto, who hosted the convention, had given us a bottled water, which was still in my swag bag. They took it away and said I could buy more before I leave, if I want.

So, here I sit, waiting for my flight in about an hour. I’m excited to get home, but that won’t be until after 11 p.m. tonight.

Goodbye Toronto!

Yesterday Palo Alto-based startup Hawthorne Labs announced Apollo, which they are saying will “finally finish off newspapers”. Their iPad-only App will aggregate news from the Web and create a Pandora Radio-type experience for the user, learning what the user likes and delivering new content based on the previous preferences.

I don’t have an iPad so all of this is based on what I’ve read from Hawthorn and from sources online. (I would love to try it to see what’s up with it, if someone wants to dump an iPad my way!)

There is something, however, Hawthorn just doesn’t get. Where do they think a lot of the content comes from?

A lot of the content it looks like they are going to be presenting in their App is actually generated by… wait for it… newspapers, at it’s heart. Granted, the screen shots they show on their sites have things like Yahoo!News and Yahoo!Sports, but a lot of the Yahoo!News content comes from newspaper companies. New York Times, for instance, is a huge source for Yahoo!News.

Blogs, of course, is another one of their primary sources, but what I think they are missing is a lot of bloggers work for newspapers. If newspapers were to go away, these news sources will dry up.

While I agree there are some larger sources of independent bloggers, which are really good, the elimination of the “newspaper voice” will only shrink the choices of news content, thus making news less expressive and less diverse.

Bottom line, however, is something I’ve wondered for a while. How long before all these “newspaper-killer” apps are going to learn they don’t really want to kill off newspapers, but instead should be finding a way to support them, build them up, and help them move to provide good, accessible digital content?

I realized on my first walk all over Toronto, I missed where the Toronto Maple Leafs play, so after the sessions today, I headed back out in search of it. Ends up it was a block from where I was several times yesterday!

I got there via the PATH, which is this maze of tunnels under the city. It’s like a city in a city. Around every turn, there are new shops or places to eat. I had made a text file of the directions before leaving the hotel, so I knew more or less where I was going. I am proud to say the Yahoo!Map directions were not all that good and I was only lost for about five minutes!

Anyway, I took a look (not much to see, but saw signs that Rush will be here Sunday) and headed off looking for dinner. I had looked and saw a salad shop, which looked a little like Fresh Choice, not far away. It was in the 400 block of a street where I was at the 100 block. Seemed close enough. It wasn’t all that close!

So after over a 3 mile walk, salad in hand, I’m ready to eat and then off to bed.

To the hockey rink and then looking for food on 07/16/2010

I’m not a huge hockey fan, but I appreciate the sport and the people who play it. I don’t ice skate well, especially skate backwards!

When we first walked in, we were allowed to take a photo with the Stanley Cup! Pretty amazing given we were able to touch it no less. Would they allow you to take a photo with and tough the Vince Lombardi Trophy at the Football Hall of Fame in Canton? The answer is no (I’ve been there). I think they realize how much the cup means to hockey fans and to make it available to the fans is amazing.

I made an appearance at the bar (which was the draw for most of my colleagues) and then I escaped to the exhibits. It was amazing! They had a special tour of all of the Olympic medals from all of the years on display. Ironically enough, they didn’t have a sample of the 2010 medals, but did have a huge display to both of the hockey teams who beat the US in the finals.

I spent some time talking to Patrick, an employee at the Hall. He asked about my job and where I was from. I asked about his and how it was working at the Hall. Spent quite a bit of time, but worth it. I thanked him and was back off to the hotel.