Google Reader is being axed. I used it every day.
Evan Prodromou says on Google+:
Why, it’s almost as if it would be in your best interest to run network services under your own control instead of using quote-unquote free ones run by someone whose priorities are not aligned with yours.
I might consider it. Years ago, I used rss2email by Aaron Swartz. The irony is that I’ll be reading my blog posts—in Gmail! X(
There are other alternatives. Here’s a crowdsourced list. I see that The Old Reader, for example. “It’s just like the old Google reader, only better.” Here’s a warning sign, however: “We’re in beta right now [...]” Will it cost money eventually? How much? I’m not opposed to paying a little money. After all, I want the service to have a future.
Me on Twitter:
I read a rant once saying: “Please, services on the Internet, take my money! I want you to have a decent business plan!”
So, run a network service under my own control, or pay somebody else...
As for running something under my own control, I must confess that I’m still averse to running PHP and MySQL on a server of mine. Somehow I keep thinking of the combination as insecure. I downloaded Tiny Tiny RSS and looked at it (also on GitHub).
There is also something about RSS that makes me cringe: If every blog reader installs a feed aggregator that checks its feeds every ten minutes, this won’t scale. A few central aggregators that poll feeds and serve their user interface *when requested by users* seems like a better solution from a technical point of view.
On my portable devices I’m using the Reeder app. Like many others, it depends on Google Reader. We’ll see what its creator will switch to.
#Web
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I’m looking at both The Old Reader and NetVibes as alternatives. Like many people, I stopped using Google Reader itself to read my Google feeds long ago - on my Desktop I use Nextgen Reader for Windows 8 and I use Flipboard on my Android phone. Killing Google Reader effectively kills those apps dead unless they switch to an alternative API provider, and quick. I am guessing that NetVibes will pick up a lot of the slack and reach out to the Google Reader ecosystem.
– greywulf 2013-03-14 10:48 UTC
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Hm, there’s definitely a difference between API providers and actual user interface providers.
; Jorgen Schäfer on Google+: I generally take pretty badly to getting a “HERE BUY OUR STUFF” shoved into my face. Netvibes does that in a most annoying fashion. So much actually that I didn’t even try it. I’m not interested in constantly getting told that I totally should buy a product, and the screenshots were not really exciting, either. Also, dark background? Seriously?
I wonder... I must say that *The Old Reader* has a certain nostalgia going for it, haha.
– Alex Schroeder 2013-03-14 11:20 UTC
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This means I will either convert over to gwene (and consume through a news reader) or I’ll write something for myself. I’m leaning toward writing something.
– Josh Tolle 2013-03-14 12:47 UTC
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Wow, gwene looks interesting. It appeals to my Emacs and Gnus sensibilities. 😄 Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite solve the “reading from multiple devices” problem. I’d also have to find an iOS app that uses NNTP.
find an iOS app that uses NNTP
– Alex Schroeder 2013-03-14 12:58 UTC
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For an online reader I’ve been pretty happy with newsblur.com
– aaditya 2013-03-16 06:37 UTC
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Hm, TT RSS apparently has an iPhone and iPad app that allows offline reading. [time passes] Actually, now that I’m looking for it, I can’t find it. I guess it’s vapor ware.
an iPhone and iPad app that allows offline reading
– Alex Schroeder 2013-03-16 16:02 UTC
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I must admit that reading Three Months to Scale NewsBlur made me feel very sympathetic. I also like that it’s free software. Good call, @aadis. Also, “60,000 new users (from 50,000 users originally).” 8-D
Three Months to Scale NewsBlur
– Alex Schroeder 2013-03-18 08:47 UTC
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Lovers of information now seem to have a tough time with the recent announcement of the closing down of Google reader. However, fans of Google reader can now switch to something new alternatives to Google Reader. I came to across here, http://how-to.in/best-alternatives-for-google-reader/, with list of some alternatives of it, but still can’t decide that with whom should I go for best result. Now, here its a brief description about some other alternatives, so now its not a very much difficult task for me. Thanks for helping out on above topic.
http://how-to.in/best-alternatives-for-google-reader/
– Ellen Paul 2013-03-22 06:17 UTC