To effectively learn currency trading can be long process, but if you stick to that process, I guarantee you will become very good at it. This is a business that really favors effective learning through experience and if you're willing to do that, you will do great.

Do I need a plan?

Yes. Everyday, you should have a plan of action. Something that lists each action in order. This is the best way to apply a technique over and over again. You can look back after a short period of time and determine if the plan is good or not. If you don't have a plan, that means you're going to have to figure it out every time you attempt to trade. You're going to have to invest a lot of energy on figuring that out, and you won't have much energy left over to apply it. That is why you need a daily plan you apply over and over again. It makes it easy on the head and for you.

What on the news should I be watching out for?

You should be looking out for economic and political news. The political news should mainly about economic issues, but things like domestic terrorism can have an effect. What is going on inside a country has an effect on the value of a currency. Each currency is just a piece of paper, the value comes for the economy of a country. Pay particular attention to economic news like interest rates, GDP growth, unemployment rates, etc. Also pay attention to political policies that effect taxes, regulations, business, etc.

What kind of software should I get?

You should get a nice piece of forex software that is automated, like Forex Killer. It will automatically do your trades and find out profitable trends for you to profit on.