I still miss Google Reader almost every day. I now use Inoreader but for some reason it just doesn't feel the same.
RIP Google Reader
181–190 of 424 posts
Re: RIP Google Reader
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, Google's launch validates a market, creates enthusiasm, and once they shut it down you can be there to catch the users.
This is the VC cycle in a nutshell: venture capital does some PoC, business/tech R&D, and when it fails (usually does!) the lessons are still available to others. It's no different even if the (defunct) startup has a patent: IP law doesn't really matter when the IP doesn't have any money behind it.
> It's no different even if the (defunct) startup has a patent
Not true - VC's are scared of giving money to anything that directly infringes a patent. If the company ever does wildly well, you can be sure whoever bought that patent for cents will be trying to collect millions...
Re: RIP Google Reader
#183Does anyone have a good RSS reader suggestion?
I'm looking for a desktop application (Linux preferably).
I'd really like one that does download all the feeds, but lets me tag words and topics that I'm interested, and get a notification based on that.
Maybe I need to write my own...
Re: RIP Google Reader
#184As someone who was born too late for Google Reader, I genuinely don't understand why people bring it up every 5 minutes. There are 1000 feed reader apps that exist right now, some of which have the branding of "it's just like Google Reader", so what am I missing here?
I think one thing that you're missing that hasn't been mentioned is content caching.
If your favorite website went away, you could still read and search all of the articles in the cached feed. I don't think there was an expiry time on it (other long-term users, feel free to correct me).
These days there is no equivalent. If someone you follow decides to take down their website, you have to hope that someone archived some of their content on the popular archive sites.
Re: RIP Google Reader
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
Marketing is hard for me because I've hired a few folks to do targeted ads and it ended up being a big cost sink. Beyond that, I try to blog regularly and use big screenshots for new features, which helps a bit with SEO and discoverability. But getting NB onto lists? I'm not sure what that requires.
I'm a subscriber so I have self-interest in you being successful and I've paid money to help support that. If there's one thing I would encourage/plead you to do, it's to hire one person who will do "advocacy marketing". You said "Marketing is hard" and there's no doubt. But you'll know the right person, because they'll be __more__ excited about talking about your product and how it can be used, and who can use it ..…
Set up a referral scheme. Anyone who refers a new paid user to NewsBlur gets a month free. Anyone who refers 10 people gets a tshirt. Anyone who refers 100 paid users gets actual cash...
Make sure you run the messaging past a bunch of existing users to make sure you pique their interest but don't alienate them in the process.
Re: RIP Google Reader
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed, Google's launch validates a market, creates enthusiasm, and once they shut it down you can be there to catch the users.
This is the VC cycle in a nutshell: venture capital does some PoC, business/tech R&D, and when it fails (usually does!) the lessons are still available to others. It's no different even if the (defunct) startup has a patent: IP law doesn't really matter when the IP doesn't have any money behind it.
> IP law doesn't really matter when the IP doesn't have any money behind it.
But that IP could end up owned by a patent troll that does have the money to enforce it in court, or at least threaten to do so.
Re: RIP Google Reader
#187I miss pre-Google+ Google Reader. It's social features(shared feeds and comments) make it the only social network I've really enjoyed using without any serious dislikes.
Re: RIP Google Reader
#188So basically, one can begin slapping together a competitor as soon as Google rolls out a service—because the service is likely to go the way of the Reader in a few years.
Google Keep is next. It is neat and simple, though I haven't been using it lately.
Re: RIP Google Reader
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Marketing is hard for me because I've hired a few folks to do targeted ads and it ended up being a big cost sink. Beyond that, I try to blog regularly and use big screenshots for new features, which helps a bit with SEO and discoverability. But getting NB onto lists? I'm not sure what that requires.
I'm a subscriber so I have self-interest in you being successful and I've paid money to help support that. If there's one thing I would encourage/plead you to do, it's to hire one person who will do "advocacy marketing". You said "Marketing is hard" and there's no doubt. But you'll know the right person, because they'll be __more__ excited about talking about your product and how it can be used, and who can use it ..…
@conesus You found your advocacy marketeer :)
More seriously, if you follow this advice, your own users might be the best place to find someone like this.
Re: RIP Google Reader
#190It was in the summer of 2008, three years after Google launched Reader and had at least 5 million users, when I decided to write my own RSS reader. There were just so many features I wanted that I knew Google would never build and for some strange reason I thought I could make money with my own opinionated take on a news reader. Then at 4pm on March 13th, 2013, I got an email from Nilay at The Verge asking if I'd hea…
> "My hosting provider, Reliable Hosting Services, was neither reliable, able to host my increasing demands, or a service I could count on."
I cried when I read this. Beautiful.