google reader
by Eli
for the past year or so i’ve been using netnewswire lite as my feed reader. it’s a really good example of a simple mac app that does it’s one job really well, but one of the limitations of the lite (free) version is that you have to check your feeds on the computer where you have the program installed. over the past couple months i’ve been doing quite a bit of my interneting on my computer at work, so i couldn’t check my feeds.
the pro version of netnewswire hooks into newsgator so you can check your feeds online or with the aggregator, but that costs money that i’m not willing to pay. so… in comes google reader.
basically, google reader does what newsgator does, but for free and without the mac os x app. you can subscribe to feeds (from blogs, news sites, flickr, etc etc), and when you check them on google reader it tells you all the sites that have been updated. overall, it’s much slower than a computer program, but it works well and does exactly what i need it to. the thing that knocks it over the edge though (into awesomeness) is the google reader notifier. with this little gem you can see what feeds have been update right in the menu bar! it’s great.
with the notifier you get all the specifics of the feeds you haven’t read, and shows you how many unread posts you have waiting right in the menu bar! if you click on the icon in the menu bar, it shows you more specific info: the feed title and then the post title. if you select an individual post from the list it takes you to that post on the actual site (and marks the post as read), or if you hold down apple (cmd) it allows you to mark it as read straight from the list (as seen from the picture because i had to hold down apple to take the screen shot).
it’s totally awesome, and it makes google reader like at least 3 times as better. i think i’m hooked, and will soon be getting rid of netnewswire. you should check it out.
UPDATE: if you check the comments on this post, you’ll notice one by Jonathon McDougall from NewsGator. he was kind enough to post on this lowly blog and let me and my readers know that the newest version of NetNewsWire Lite (2.1.1) actually DOES link up to NewsGator, and it’s totally FREE!!
it turns out that i only had version 2.0.1, and when i upgraded (for free) just a second ago, it asked me if i want to link it with NewsGator online. so, that’s pretty cool. i might be re-thinking this whole thing, and i’ll keep you posted in the sitch.
If you ever feel like going back to it, NetNewsWire Lite ALSO can sync with NewsGator Online – This isn’t one of the features that is restricted to the paid version. You can check your feeds anywhere in the world, and the read state will be reflected when you get back home. You can get the latest version here:
http://www.newsgator.com/NGOLProduct.aspx?ProdId=NetNewsWire&ProdView=lite
sorry for the misinformation, i guess i just assumed that was the case. i’ll definitely look into that option and see what i can find. i guess one of the other reasons that i’m hesitant to go to newgator is that i’d have to create yet another username and password with some other online service. i like using google reader because i can just use my regular gmail login. despite that, i’ll probably give it a try and report on that in another post. thanks for the comment!!
more like, nerdle reader.
now that just doesn’t make any sense, nate.