Hello Google Reader
I know what you might be thinking. You’re probably thinking: “Isn’t he the guy that said…”
… my main reason for not using some of the most popular web applications has been because I can not use them offline. I am a firm believer in having all of my data available to me at anytime. — Why I’m excited about Google Gears
Yes, I am. But there comes a time when you must give something a try, regardless of your preconcieved notions, even if just for the sake of trying something new. I had tried to switch to Google Reader, prior to yesterday, with no luck. But finally I took a few hours, yes - a few hours - and bit the bullet and switched because I was having a few problems with NetNewsWire.
My tags in Google Reader
My main reasons for wanting to switch to Google Reader, prior to actually doing so, were:
- It is free.
- I can use it on my iPhone. Again, for free.
- I can access it from any Internet connected computer.
- The interface is completely customizable.
- It makes good use of “tags”.
- The keyboard shortcuts are amazing.
- With Google Gears, I could use it offline.
I was having some trouble, only recently, with NetNewsWire where it would crash without generating a crash report. Normally I would have gone through the process of emailing the developers a copy of my .console log - but I decided to use it as an opportunity to try out Google Reader, and also slim down my number of subscriptions substantially.
As of yesterday if you had asked me how many feed subscriptions I had I would have answered you with “750+” or “too many”. As much as I enjoy reading, it was getting harder and harder to keep up with everything in my feed reader and I was finding myself unable to retain as much of the information because I ended up skimming everything.
As of today I would answer “less than 200″. In fact, until I went in and subscribed to a few “activity notification feeds” I was down to 157. That means I slimmed down my number of subscriptions by over 80%! Sometimes a fresh pair of clothes is all you need to really get something done.
I’ll check in on this subject again in the future (perhaps in a month or so)… but so far my experience with the latest version of Google Reader has gone swimmingly. Far better than it had in the past.
July 30th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
I can has your opml? I also use Google Reader and have been for about 9 months now, much easier to use with multiple computers and all of that.
July 30th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Hmmm. Releasing my OPML is a good idea. I’ll need to clean it up just a bit, but I’ll do that.
July 30th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I’m also trying Google reader out as of yesterday. Will see how it goes.
I have a terrible habit of moving to a new reader when I become overwhelmed with unread items, then subscribing to heaps of feeds again…and…. rinse, lather, repeat
I got a HTC Hermes last week ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_TyTN ) and can use google reader to read my feeds there too.
With a few UI tweaks, this windows mobile 6 phone isn’t too bad. Couldn’t wait for the iPhone with 3G to get here to australia.. anyway, i digress.
July 30th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
If you like google reader, you should really make it look prettier with Hicks’ user style modification. I’ve been using it for a while, and it not only makes Reader better looking, it also makes it more usable! Just try it… you’ll see.
July 30th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
J. Bradford: I have indeed tried this out before. Its great. But can I get it to work in Camino? Camino is just sooo much faster than Firefox on my system.
July 30th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
D’oh, I guess I should read more thoroughly! I see the Camino installation instructions right on the page. I shall give it a try soon.
July 30th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Installed and now using via Camino. It isn’t “perfect” but I’ll give it a shot. I actually don’t mind Google’s default style.
July 31st, 2007 at 6:33 pm
I prefer the default style. And yea, greader is awesome. Make sure you add the bookmarklet to subscribe, oh and the NEXT bookmark is cool too, you click it and it takes you to a new article, like it loads the site.
And they have a layout for the Wii which i use on my browser cause it’s easier to browse: http://www.google.com/reader/wii .. go there and press 1 and then 2, it’s pretty neat.
July 31st, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I also use the bookmarklet, but the Reader Notifier will pass feed:// to Google Reader (which seems to work OK). As per keyboard shortcuts; I use J, K, and V.
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:25 am
I’ve been loving greader so far. reading feeds on mac, phone (a windows mobile 6 device) and my wii. lets me get through my feeds quicker. more time slots open to me now to fill with reading.
August 8th, 2007 at 7:28 am
Nifty tip about the Wii reader, josue. Gonna have to use that.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Goddamn, man, I really love having a desktop RSS reader, but I can’t deal with all the buggy crap I’ve been getting from NNW (random crashes, deleted subscriptions, etc). I know Google Reader has it’s own share of issues, but NNW just deleted my ENTIRE opml (luckily I just yesterday exported it) and I’m out.
August 9th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Mark: Yeah, I was having crashing issues too. As I said though, so far I’m very happy that I’ve made the switch.