Feed Readers
I use a feed reader to browse updates of blogs and news sites.
I have tried many different services and software tools, but I have stayed with Google Reader. I can keep upto date with all my feeds on a variety of devices including my MacBook, school computer and cellphone. The latter is helpful for reading in the bathroom, but this also leads me open to suggestions that surfing the Internet on the toilet in China is likely to cause constipation.
Google Reader is an example of a web or cloud based reader, which forces you to be online to read your updates. However, the service now uses Google Gears, which offers offline viewing. Google Reader would be perfect for me except it does not have satisfactory support for bookmarking and sharing content to Twitter, Diigo or Delicious. I am also waiting for the day that I have a writeback feature for writing comments from within the browser.
I have tried alternatives to Google Reader such as Flock’s in built RSS reader and Newsgator’s readers for Mac (NetNewsWire) and Windows Mobile. The latest online/offline RSS reader I have discovered is Sharefire, which is a light weight Adobe Air application. I may stick with this reader for a while, because it lets me send links to Twitter and Delicious. The interface is quite plain and I had to parse Lifehacker’s feed through a proxy to get it to work in China.
Still, a new feed reader is a welcome diversion for 10 minutes and it will give me something to read on the bus.