7 ms·

Google Reader. Now I have a mix of HN, Reddit and GMail, and none of them work really how I like.

by fphhotchips 8y ago

appwiz 8y ago
Google Reader without a doubt. In my opinion, the demise of RSS started the day Google Reader was killed.
- sitkack 8y ago
  > demise of RSS started the day Google Reader was killed Maybe killing Reader was a means to an ends.
- samstave 8y ago
  Or when Aaron Schwartz died
Ninjaneered 8y ago
Google Reader for sure. I use Feedly now, but it lacks the social aspect GR had.
- IdontRememberIt 8y ago
  There is a "halfbacked" function on the mobile phone (ios only?) version which is "Explore". It seems to be curated by editors. Would be interesting to have something based on your consumption or subscriptions.
acemarke 8y ago
BazQux is an excellent replacement for Google Reader. One of the rare products I'm happy to pay for consistently: https://bazqux.com https://bazqux.com .
pupppet 8y ago
It ticks me off to this day. I can’t imagine it being terribly difficult to maintain, particularly with Google’s limitless resources. They burned so much good will with their developer base just to save a few bucks.
- neuronexmachina 8y ago
  It would have been amazing if instead of having Google Plus be an entirely separate thing, they had added Google Plus's sharing and discussion features onto Google Reader and grown from that as a base. Something like that could very well still be a thriving product today.
  - ramphastidae 8y ago
    They did, it was called Google Buzz.
    - trynewideas 8y ago
      They did it before Buzz, it was the bookmarklet and RSS item sharing and discussion features built into Google Reader. Even had rudimentary friend-of-friend-only visibility for shared articles and discussions.
kapauldo 8y ago
Agreed, feedly is half the product. It was great.
xref 8y ago
I'm gonna say Reader was like a dysfunctional relationship for me, once they shut it down and I had to move on (currently using newsblur.com) I saw how good an actively devoped RSS app could be
negutron 8y ago
QuiteRSS https://quiterss.org/ https://quiterss.org/
__warlord__ 8y ago
Honestly, ever since Reader was killed I have way more free time on my hands. Maybe it was my poor time management but it was a time hole for me, I'm actually glad that, at the time, nothing as good was around to make me stick on the endless RSS feeds I was subscribed.
- davewasthere 8y ago
  Think about how much collective time that would be multiplied amongst the millions of users. Huge! So maybe Google did the world a favour by binning Reader. I used Feedly for a while, but I pretty much abandoned my RSS fix after the demise of Reader.
- tomjen3 8y ago
  I have the opposite issue: I love newsblur so much, because I can fast forward through RSS feeds and read them quickly, which means I don't have to keep going to the sites.
geuis 8y ago
Yes this. When I started listening to podcasts years ago, Reader was my primary tool. When Google announced the pending shutdown, I screenshot every part of the app so that I could rebuild it from scratch if needed one day.
chrisfinne 8y ago
Agreed. I'm sure there were many reasons it died, but my theory is that Google strategically wanted to kill it because the User was in control of the data-sources and the algorithm. Google wanted people to migrate to Google+, News, etc. where they control what you see. This is what Facebook and Twitter did. Their feeds used to be a simple chrono sort of sources you determined, but then they slowly took control. In my mind, all these companies have shifted from being Platforms to being Publishers. While they aren't writing the content, they are actively choosing what content you see and don't see, i.e. being the Editor.
- _nub3 8y ago
  This is by far the best explanation I've read. Thx for making my day.
  - rexpop 8y ago
    It's a chilling distillation of the fact that making us happy is tangential to underlying corporate motives.
- wp381640 8y ago
  I can't figure out what I've read up to on Twitter anymore since it shuffles tweets around and inserts random "your follower also follows this person" tweets which I didn't ask for
  - jpindar 8y ago
    Have you tried using Tweetdeck? It puts that kind of stuff in a separate column which you can show or hide as you wish. The main column is chronological.
    - larkeith 8y ago
      The fact that such a service is necessary is a bad sign for Twitter's UX.
  - 8y ago
rexf 8y ago
I miss Google Reader too. Now I use TheOldReader (no affiliation) which tries to be like Google Reader. It does the job for me.
terryf 8y ago
I recommend http://inoreader.com/ http://inoreader.com/ - I'm not affiliated with it in any way, however I am a very happy user of it.
- mih 8y ago
  Seconded. With Google reader, I never really was a fan of their web interface and preferred the Feeddemon desktop client. Sadly it was discontinued after the death of GReader. Switched to Inoreader since then and I must say the web interace is much more to my liking.
alhunt 8y ago
I just started using Feedly which is pretty neat.
loco5niner 8y ago
Feedly works for me
padraic7a 8y ago
I was going to say Google Reader too but have just reconsidered. I do miss it, and the idea that this was a popular way to consume news / content etc. However I can still use RSS on feedly, inoreader and a bunch of self-hosted alternatives. By moving away from Google I am also escaping their all-seeing eye, albeit to some minor extent. In the time since Google retired Reader I have begun to see them as a negative presence in the world. I have moved from Gmail and Google Calendar to Fastmail, self-host my contacts and will move on from Android as soon as Ubuntu Touch or another alternative become fully featured enough.
- knowingpark 8y ago
  https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-5/ https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-5/ next year
puzzlingcaptcha 8y ago
I've was hit by this hard too. Tiny RSS works well as a self-hosted solution.
charlzbryan 8y ago
Came here to say the same. Although, Feedly has taken over well.
anujdeshpande 8y ago
Amen. Post reader I gave up on RSS because Feedly wasn't it for me. I even tried the one as part of Thunderbird. I have been using https://elytra.app https://elytra.app recently. Pretty happy so far (iOS only at the moment, but the developer is working on a web version)
Uw7yTcf36gTc 8y ago
check out theoldreader.com. They suck at marketing but it's essentially a clone of Google Reader. Really surprised it is not as well known as the other guys.
basch 8y ago
add https://redef.com https://redef.com https://www.aldaily.com/ https://www.aldaily.com/ and https://www.mediagazer.com/river https://www.mediagazer.com/river if you want a little more variety.
benrapscallion 8y ago
Try NewsBlur
rkangel 8y ago
What did Google Reader do that something like Newsblur doesn't? I transitioned from Reader to Newsblur before Reader was killed and have been happy ever since.
kennu 8y ago
I use Feedly now but miss Google Reader. It was a great way to follow the Internet chronologically and could have been developed much further from that point of view. Nowadays you are supposed follow the Internet randomly, based on whatever you happen to see in social media by chance or curated by algorithms. It’s not a good way to get a balanced view.

Google Reader. Now I have a mix of HN, Reddit and GMail, and none of them work really how I like.

appwiz 8y ago

Google Reader without a doubt. In my opinion, the demise of RSS started the day Google Reader was killed.

sitkack 8y ago
> demise of RSS started the day Google Reader was killed Maybe killing Reader was a means to an ends.
samstave 8y ago
Or when Aaron Schwartz died

Ninjaneered 8y ago

Google Reader for sure. I use Feedly now, but it lacks the social aspect GR had.

IdontRememberIt 8y ago
There is a "halfbacked" function on the mobile phone (ios only?) version which is "Explore". It seems to be curated by editors. Would be interesting to have something based on your consumption or subscriptions.

acemarke 8y ago

BazQux is an excellent replacement for Google Reader. One of the rare products I'm happy to pay for consistently: https://bazqux.com https://bazqux.com .

pupppet 8y ago

It ticks me off to this day. I can’t imagine it being terribly difficult to maintain, particularly with Google’s limitless resources. They burned so much good will with their developer base just to save a few bucks.

neuronexmachina 8y ago
It would have been amazing if instead of having Google Plus be an entirely separate thing, they had added Google Plus's sharing and discussion features onto Google Reader and grown from that as a base. Something like that could very well still be a thriving product today.
- ramphastidae 8y ago
  They did, it was called Google Buzz.
  - trynewideas 8y ago
    They did it before Buzz, it was the bookmarklet and RSS item sharing and discussion features built into Google Reader. Even had rudimentary friend-of-friend-only visibility for shared articles and discussions.

kapauldo 8y ago

Agreed, feedly is half the product. It was great.

xref 8y ago

I'm gonna say Reader was like a dysfunctional relationship for me, once they shut it down and I had to move on (currently using newsblur.com) I saw how good an actively devoped RSS app could be

negutron 8y ago

QuiteRSS https://quiterss.org/ https://quiterss.org/

__warlord__ 8y ago

Honestly, ever since Reader was killed I have way more free time on my hands. Maybe it was my poor time management but it was a time hole for me, I'm actually glad that, at the time, nothing as good was around to make me stick on the endless RSS feeds I was subscribed.

davewasthere 8y ago
Think about how much collective time that would be multiplied amongst the millions of users. Huge! So maybe Google did the world a favour by binning Reader. I used Feedly for a while, but I pretty much abandoned my RSS fix after the demise of Reader.
tomjen3 8y ago
I have the opposite issue: I love newsblur so much, because I can fast forward through RSS feeds and read them quickly, which means I don't have to keep going to the sites.

geuis 8y ago

Yes this. When I started listening to podcasts years ago, Reader was my primary tool. When Google announced the pending shutdown, I screenshot every part of the app so that I could rebuild it from scratch if needed one day.

chrisfinne 8y ago

Agreed. I'm sure there were many reasons it died, but my theory is that Google strategically wanted to kill it because the User was in control of the data-sources and the algorithm. Google wanted people to migrate to Google+, News, etc. where they control what you see. This is what Facebook and Twitter did. Their feeds used to be a simple chrono sort of sources you determined, but then they slowly took control. In my mind, all these companies have shifted from being Platforms to being Publishers. While they aren't writing the content, they are actively choosing what content you see and don't see, i.e. being the Editor.

_nub3 8y ago
This is by far the best explanation I've read. Thx for making my day.
- rexpop 8y ago
  It's a chilling distillation of the fact that making us happy is tangential to underlying corporate motives.
wp381640 8y ago
I can't figure out what I've read up to on Twitter anymore since it shuffles tweets around and inserts random "your follower also follows this person" tweets which I didn't ask for
- jpindar 8y ago
  Have you tried using Tweetdeck? It puts that kind of stuff in a separate column which you can show or hide as you wish. The main column is chronological.
  - larkeith 8y ago
    The fact that such a service is necessary is a bad sign for Twitter's UX.
- 8y ago

rexf 8y ago

I miss Google Reader too. Now I use TheOldReader (no affiliation) which tries to be like Google Reader. It does the job for me.

terryf 8y ago

I recommend http://inoreader.com/ http://inoreader.com/ - I'm not affiliated with it in any way, however I am a very happy user of it.

mih 8y ago
Seconded. With Google reader, I never really was a fan of their web interface and preferred the Feeddemon desktop client. Sadly it was discontinued after the death of GReader. Switched to Inoreader since then and I must say the web interace is much more to my liking.

alhunt 8y ago

I just started using Feedly which is pretty neat.

loco5niner 8y ago

Feedly works for me

padraic7a 8y ago

I was going to say Google Reader too but have just reconsidered. I do miss it, and the idea that this was a popular way to consume news / content etc. However I can still use RSS on feedly, inoreader and a bunch of self-hosted alternatives. By moving away from Google I am also escaping their all-seeing eye, albeit to some minor extent. In the time since Google retired Reader I have begun to see them as a negative presence in the world. I have moved from Gmail and Google Calendar to Fastmail, self-host my contacts and will move on from Android as soon as Ubuntu Touch or another alternative become fully featured enough.

knowingpark 8y ago
https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-5/ https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-5/ next year

puzzlingcaptcha 8y ago

I've was hit by this hard too. Tiny RSS works well as a self-hosted solution.

charlzbryan 8y ago

Came here to say the same. Although, Feedly has taken over well.

anujdeshpande 8y ago

Amen. Post reader I gave up on RSS because Feedly wasn't it for me. I even tried the one as part of Thunderbird. I have been using https://elytra.app https://elytra.app recently. Pretty happy so far (iOS only at the moment, but the developer is working on a web version)

Uw7yTcf36gTc 8y ago

check out theoldreader.com. They suck at marketing but it's essentially a clone of Google Reader. Really surprised it is not as well known as the other guys.

basch 8y ago

add https://redef.com https://redef.com https://www.aldaily.com/ https://www.aldaily.com/ and https://www.mediagazer.com/river https://www.mediagazer.com/river if you want a little more variety.

benrapscallion 8y ago

Try NewsBlur

rkangel 8y ago

What did Google Reader do that something like Newsblur doesn't? I transitioned from Reader to Newsblur before Reader was killed and have been happy ever since.

kennu 8y ago

I use Feedly now but miss Google Reader. It was a great way to follow the Internet chronologically and could have been developed much further from that point of view. Nowadays you are supposed follow the Internet randomly, based on whatever you happen to see in social media by chance or curated by algorithms. It’s not a good way to get a balanced view.