4 ms·

It scares me that they add 500,000 users and I don't understand how they make money. At this point I'd like to either pay for a service or use something self-h

by fdb 14y ago

It scares me that they add 500,000 users and I don't understand how they make money. At this point I'd like to either pay for a service or use something self-hosted to make sure I don't have to go through a painful transition again.

Rickasaurus 14y ago
They must be selling your info. Just look at the Chrome access: "Access your data on all websites" and "Access your tabs and browsing activity"
- nacs 14y ago
  Those permission requests are because of an annoying floating "Share widget" that the Feedly extension adds (semi transparent widget near bottom right of every page you go to that you can click to share the page on FB and such). Fortunately the 'feature' can be disabled.
- dangrossman 14y ago
  Are you really just going to defame a company based on nothing but the granularity of Chrome's extension permissions? That's not just irresponsible but downright malicious. Any extension that interacts with webpages needs that permission. Even if it's just to add a button. Before you go accusing them of selling information about your web browsing, you could at least check if they collect that information in the first place. Which is easy, since a network inspector is built-in to Chrome, and Chrome extensions are just ZIP files you can open up to read the code inside. Hint: They don't. The plugin inserts a share image into the page, and the image is embedded in the plugin, not hosted on Feedly's server. It creates no network requests at all, so there's no involuntary information passing happening.
maratd 14y ago
> or use something self-hosted Take a look at: http://www.feedafever.com http://www.feedafever.com Just installed it. Works just like Google Reader, with a few bonus features. I don't have to worry about being shut down anymore.
- rmrfrmrf 14y ago
  Until your favorite blogs realize that RSS is just a money sink and shut down their feeds, which is exactly what Google is subtly prophesying and no one seems to get.
  - mkr-hn 14y ago
    500,000+ potential reach without having to scream over social media noise doesn't seem like a money sink to me.
  - marijn 14y ago
    This might sound crazy to you, but many blogs are primarily about broadcasting information, rather than showing ads. From that perspective, having a feed is a no-brainer.
  - guygurari 14y ago
    RSS feeds can be monetized. For example, Daring Fireball [1] sells weekly 'sponsored posts' on the RSS feed, in addition to selling ads on the site. [1] http://daringfireball.net http://daringfireball.net
    - shrikant 14y ago
      And a lot of FeedBurner feeds show AdSense ads in the body of the feed. (I've seen them on Scott Adams' blog and FreethoughtBlogs.)
  - maratd 14y ago
    > RSS is just a money sink You guys are missing the most obvious point and the big boys have already figured it out. Subscribe to Engadget, Gizmodo, etc. What you'll get is an excerpt of the story with a "click this link to read the rest". After I click, I'm on their site. I want to read/post comments? I'm on their site. RSS is free advertising for content providers and a way to get more eyeballs. Google is foolish for putting all of their eggs in the social basket.
    - 14y ago
mkr-hn 14y ago
They mentioned (on Twitter) plans to offer premium options in the future. They also have ads, so that may be how they pay for it now.

by fdb 14y ago

Rickasaurus 14y ago

They must be selling your info. Just look at the Chrome access: "Access your data on all websites" and "Access your tabs and browsing activity"

nacs 14y ago
Those permission requests are because of an annoying floating "Share widget" that the Feedly extension adds (semi transparent widget near bottom right of every page you go to that you can click to share the page on FB and such). Fortunately the 'feature' can be disabled.
dangrossman 14y ago
Are you really just going to defame a company based on nothing but the granularity of Chrome's extension permissions? That's not just irresponsible but downright malicious. Any extension that interacts with webpages needs that permission. Even if it's just to add a button. Before you go accusing them of selling information about your web browsing, you could at least check if they collect that information in the first place. Which is easy, since a network inspector is built-in to Chrome, and Chrome extensions are just ZIP files you can open up to read the code inside. Hint: They don't. The plugin inserts a share image into the page, and the image is embedded in the plugin, not hosted on Feedly's server. It creates no network requests at all, so there's no involuntary information passing happening.

maratd 14y ago

> or use something self-hosted Take a look at: http://www.feedafever.com http://www.feedafever.com Just installed it. Works just like Google Reader, with a few bonus features. I don't have to worry about being shut down anymore.

rmrfrmrf 14y ago
Until your favorite blogs realize that RSS is just a money sink and shut down their feeds, which is exactly what Google is subtly prophesying and no one seems to get.
- mkr-hn 14y ago
  500,000+ potential reach without having to scream over social media noise doesn't seem like a money sink to me.
- marijn 14y ago
  This might sound crazy to you, but many blogs are primarily about broadcasting information, rather than showing ads. From that perspective, having a feed is a no-brainer.
- guygurari 14y ago
  RSS feeds can be monetized. For example, Daring Fireball [1] sells weekly 'sponsored posts' on the RSS feed, in addition to selling ads on the site. [1] http://daringfireball.net http://daringfireball.net
  - shrikant 14y ago
    And a lot of FeedBurner feeds show AdSense ads in the body of the feed. (I've seen them on Scott Adams' blog and FreethoughtBlogs.)
- maratd 14y ago
  > RSS is just a money sink You guys are missing the most obvious point and the big boys have already figured it out. Subscribe to Engadget, Gizmodo, etc. What you'll get is an excerpt of the story with a "click this link to read the rest". After I click, I'm on their site. I want to read/post comments? I'm on their site. RSS is free advertising for content providers and a way to get more eyeballs. Google is foolish for putting all of their eggs in the social basket.
  - 14y ago

mkr-hn 14y ago

They mentioned (on Twitter) plans to offer premium options in the future. They also have ads, so that may be how they pay for it now.