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Goodbye Google Reader

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Re: Goodbye Google Reader

#51

Post by mwill »

bobcattr wrote: post #47
sek wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://getpocket.com/ I use it every day, it's almost perfect.

How do they make money?

Pocket used to be Read it Later, a paid app. Early this year they switched to Pocket, went free, and raised $5m. So right now, afaik, they don't make any money.

The founder has said in articles/interviews that going free was the right choice for pocket, they're not looking to be acquired, and not ready to talk about their future business model/revenue streams, heres him from July when asked about their plan:

We’ve known where we are headed since last year. But like anything we do with any product or feature, we don’t release it until it’s ready. This is a new, uncharted space and we’re not prepared to release something that isn’t right.

I'll admit, I'm pretty weary of the whole thing, but willing to see where it's headed, I guess. I think if their plan was to just flog off their users data, they would have started doing it already, but it seems like they have something else (Hopefully interesting/unique) planned.

Re: Goodbye Google Reader

#52

Post by mehmeta »

conesus wrote: post #24
knowtheory wrote: post #13

I used Google Reader for years and years as a central repository for all of the webcomics i read. I switched to Newsblur this year and haven't looked back. It definitely has a better take on sharing.

Glad somebody mentioned NewsBlur. I run NewsBlur and have been aggressive in developing it into a world-class feed reader. Native iOS and Android apps, a nice shared stories feature, and it's actively developed. See for yourself, since it's open-source: http://github.com/samuelclay . And because I run my own feed fetchers, you don't have to worry about the inevitable sunsetting and neglect of Reader. Also means I can…

Just curious, how come your premium to free user ratio is 1:2? Seems incredibly high to me.

Re: Goodbye Google Reader

#53

Post by shmerl »

* Bookmarking: Mozilla Sync. It works perfectly for all my web bookmarks. It's free software, free service (as free of charge), it's encrypted so no one else can peek there for advertisement or what not. And it obviously works right in the browser syncing between all your instances.

* RSS: There are many different FOSS RSS aggregators. What do you need to pay for there? Akregator for example.

* Social network: Diaspora. Ad free, privacy oriented, free software as well. Free service too (no fees).

In essence, not every free service is built on breaching privacy of users to sustain itself.

Re: Goodbye Google Reader

#54

Post by ojiikun »

wyclif wrote: post #6

It's a real shame that Google Reader has been neglected for years now.

Neglected? GOOG tore out all of the most awesome sharing/commenting features from reader around the time G+ was launched in order to force users into their facebook clone. They also highly messed with the UI around then, too. Of the folks I knew who were using GReader two years ago, at most 25% are still there. They destroyed Reader due to their crazed obsession with G+.

Re: Goodbye Google Reader

#55

Post by smsm42 »

conesus wrote: post #24
knowtheory wrote: post #13

I used Google Reader for years and years as a central repository for all of the webcomics i read. I switched to Newsblur this year and haven't looked back. It definitely has a better take on sharing.

Glad somebody mentioned NewsBlur. I run NewsBlur and have been aggressive in developing it into a world-class feed reader. Native iOS and Android apps, a nice shared stories feature, and it's actively developed. See for yourself, since it's open-source: http://github.com/samuelclay . And because I run my own feed fetchers, you don't have to worry about the inevitable sunsetting and neglect of Reader. Also means I can…

Interesting interface. With my almost 500 feeds, not sure yet if I'd like to use paid version, since Google one is free, but I'll take it for a test drive.

Some feedback: - "Original" button definitely didn't do what I expected. It just closed everything and took me to the target site. Maybe it's just for some "unframeable" sites but that's how it worked.

- "Keep unread" and "Mark as unread" definitely missing. Sometimes after I start reading it turns out the item needs more time than I have now and I want to get back to it later. Not the same as "Save" which means I definitely want to keep it - here I just don't know yet.

- Clicking on triangle and gear in the feed display seems to do the same thing? Why there are two of them then?

- In feed stats for some sites, it says: "IF YOU WENT PREMIUM, THIS SITE WOULD UPDATE EVERY". That's it, nothing after that.

- Something weird going on with stories display - folder with no unread content shows yellow "27" and clicking on folder that shows no content at all opens set of stories that seem to be unread stories from elsewhere.

Re: Goodbye Google Reader

#56

Post by Shooti »

leephillips wrote: post #41
wyclif wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, neglected. More features isn't the point, nor is whether I personally like it (disclosure: I still use it every day). Google Reader is apparently not being developed; it's in "maintenance mode" and run by a skeleton crew.

What kind of development does it need? It does what it's supposed to do, no?

I'd be content if they added back the feed/folder autocomplete on the search box which was removed after the UI refresh.

Re: Goodbye Google Reader

#59

Post by zanny »

mistercheese wrote: post #49
rdl wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RSS + IM/IRC were a lot better than Twitter today, even for how most current Twitter users use the service.

For HackerNews readers, and also for me that's probably true. However, the popularity of Twitter would indicate to me otherwise.

Twitter became popular because Firefox / Chrome got rid of their in-navbar subscribe button and Google didn't advertise Reader. They had incentives to monetize doing things their own way, and every average joe who would go to twitter would have the easy path to just using what is in front of them or having to discover feeds in the page info, install an addon to return the subscribe button, and find an RSS application.
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