Circa app cuts up news into digestible bytes

Offering a new way to read the news on a mobile device, an app launched Monday delivers content in "flash card" segments in an effort to optimize new formats.

"Rather than trying to shoehorn existing content into a new environment, we've created the first truly mobile-first news experience," said a blog post from the creators of the Circa app for iPhone and iPad.

"Circa brings comprehensive yet to-the-point news updates delivered in an engrossing mobile experience."

Circa was co-founded by South Korean entrepreneur Ben Huh, creator of the humoristic Cheezburger Network, and software developer Arsenio Santos.

Instead of articles, Circa presents the news with flash card-like segments of facts, statistics, quotes, pictures or maps.

"Each story on Circa has the same details you'd find in traditional articles, but broken down into individual chunks of information that are much easier to consume," the blog posting said. "It's the facts, without the fluff."

Circa said it had hired "a team of excellent journalists from around the world" to produce stories "and easily keep them up to date as new details emerge, providing great coverage around the clock."