Chris Webb's Publishing Blog » blackberry http://ckwebb.com Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:40:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 90 Days with Google Reader – Back to NewsGator and FeedDemon http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/90-days-with-google-reader-back-to-newsgator-and-feeddemon/ http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/90-days-with-google-reader-back-to-newsgator-and-feeddemon/#comments Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:16:46 +0000 Chris http://www.ckwebb.com/technology/90-days-with-google-reader-back-to-newsgator-and-feeddemon/ NewsGatorBack in April I declared myself a Google Reader user, and ditched my trusty FeedDemon RSS reader and the accompanying NewsGator Online service.  Google Reader was getting all the press, seemed to be on a roll, and had some features I liked.  But after dealing with some frustration in Google Reader today when I went looking for my friend FeedDemon to get the job done – I had uninstalled it.

Luckily, the fine folks at NewsGator remembered me, and I had a new registered version of FeedDemon 2.5 up and running in minutes. I am pleased to say that the new beta of NewsGator Online is shaping up nicely, and they have added several of the features I liked in Google Reader – including simplified linkblogs.

Not only that, but FeedDemon is truly the king of RSS readers – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.  With Google Reader I found myself installing GreaseMonkey scripts over and over to force Reader to work the way I wanted, or add a feature that should be in there anyway – I shouldn’t need to hack a Google application to add search capabilities.

Back in April I chastised NewsGator for wanting me to pay for a reader for my BlackBerry in addition to FeedDemon.  Well, I’ve learned that you get what you pay for, and will likely be taking Kevin Cawley up on his offer to buy NewsGator Go!

Oh, and by the way – there are some cool GreaseMonkey scripts for NewsGator too.

]]> http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/90-days-with-google-reader-back-to-newsgator-and-feeddemon/feed/ 5 Waiting on a Better Google Reader Mobile Experience http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/waiting-on-a-better-google-reader-mobile-experience/ http://ckwebb.com/technology-and-internet/waiting-on-a-better-google-reader-mobile-experience/#comments Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:29:06 +0000 Chris http://www.ckwebb.com/internet/waiting-on-a-better-google-reader-mobile-experience/ I have been trying out Google Reader for the past week, and so far there is a lot to like. I especially apprecaite the ease at which I am able to create a linkblog from my shared items, and even share them with you via the right sidebar. Go ahead, take a look. I’ll wait.

Having used FeedDemon for quite a while as my regular desktop reader and the integrated NewsGator as my online reader, moving to Google Reader has taken a bit to get used to. I can deal with most of the little things I don’t like about Reader (like the option of marking items read when leaving a feed) but the feature I really want from Google Reader right now is an improved mobile experience.

Like many of you, for better or worse I spend quite a bit of time with my BlackBerry, and read a lot of feeds via NewsGator’s mobile feature. For the most part the free NewsGator mobile service is very usable. I know they recently released a NewsGator Go! product for BlackBerry but I cant seem to force myself to pay another $30 for a mobile app when I already paid for a NewsGator and FeedDemon subscription and when there are so many other options available for free – which brings me to Google Reader.

Google has 2 great mobile apps which I use on a regular basis on my BlackBerry – GMail for mobile devices, and the related program for Google Apps for Your Domain. Both provide a great interface to my mail accounts, synch in real time wirelessly, keep my Gmail messages separate from my corporate mail and provide a more enjoyable experience than their standard HTML-driven counterparts.

So, where is the comparable application for Google Reader? Hey Reader Team I know it’s Beta and all, but is this something you are working on?

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