When Google announced its plans to shutter Google Reader in March, the Internet freaked out. Twitter users raised their virtual pitchforks in outrage. Bloggers wept, scrambling to find a suitable replacement by the service’s July 1 death date.
Google Reader will unfortunately be shutting down in July, despite the fact that it still maintains a loyal following. When the news broke out, Reader users started looking for alternatives. There were many, and the once mighty Digg threw its hat in the ring as well. The folks at Digg said that they want to rebuild the best Reader features, which includes its API. Digg then unveiled several key points that they will be keeping in mind while developing their own RSS solution, and today they finally revealed that the beta version of this new service will be available in June albeit in beta mode.
Digg also conducted a research in which 8,600 participants took part, 40% of all participants said that they would pay for a Google Reader alternative if it offered the proper functionality. Since Digg also found out through its research that most Reader users weren’t fans of its social features, its own service wouldn’t be launching with mighty social features at first, but it hasn’t ruled them out for the future. Since the beta version goes live in June, we can only hope Digg will launch its new service soon after Reader shuts down on the 1st of July. Impeccably timing the release might provide a boost to new sign ups.
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Google recently announced its list of spring cleaning, the list contained names of services that the company was shutting down. This year’s spring clean took away Google Reader, which has a very loyal user base. Yahoo too is indulging in some spring cleaning, they’ll be shutting down several services by the end of this month. These include Yahoo Kids, Yahoo Deals, Mail and Messenger apps for feature phones and SMS Alerts.
Yahoo believes that by shutting down services like these they’ll be able to focus their energy on building beautiful products for their users, such as the Yahoo Weather app for iPhone and Yahoo Mail app for Android and iPad which were released earlier this week. In the first week of June 2013 the older versions of Yahoo mail will not be available. Those using old versions are advised the company to switch over to the new Yahoo mail. Starting the 30th of April none of these services will be available. A lot of hue and cry was raised when Google announced it was closing down Reader, are there any Yahoo services in this list that you wish the company wasn’t shutting ?
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With the impending death of Google Reader, RSS fiends are scrambling to find a replacement platform. And options abound. Feedly knows this, and it wants to make your transition to the other side as painless as possible. Meet the revamped Feedly mobile app. More »
As soon as news broke out of Google Reader being shut down, the search began for viable alternatives. Feedly stood out among the rest, amassing over 500,000 new users in a matter of days. They’ve really been stepping up their game. Today Feedly updated its iOS and Android apps with a host of new features, which includes better search capabilities. The new search and discovery engine makes it easier to find feeds faster. Search bar now autocompletes typing, in a bid to make it easier for users to discover new sites that they might be interested in. The new search algorithm takes in to consideration user interaction, this would result in the feature getting better as time passes.
Users can now mark any item in their RSS feeds as a “Must Read” item. Such an item is then featured in Feedly’s Today section automatically, ensuring that users don’t miss out on what they’ve saved for reading at another time. The new Tile view affords an easy glance of the headlines. The sidebar now comes with the pull-to-refresh gesture baked in. Users can choose which sharing services get a shortcut in the sharing panel, support for sharing to Google+ has now been added. The new Feedly apps for iOS and Android can now be downloaded from iTunes App Store and Google Play Store respectively.
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Earlier this month, Google announced it would be discontinuing its Google Reader service with a petition on Change.org reaching over 100,000 in hopes Google would change its mind. As a result, a number of companies are scrambling to provide their own Google Reader replacement, with once popular news aggregator website, Digg, gaining the most attention.
Digg didn’t reveal any details at the time as to what it plans to do exactly, but today, they’re lifting the veil of secrecy just a tad to give us a glimpse as to what we should expect from the service. The company went through 800 comments on its announcement post to come up with four important key points for its RSS reader: (more…)
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According to a report from AllThingsD, lack of customers wasn’t the only reason Google Reader will meet its untimely end on July 1st. It was also, for Google, a potential source of bungling that it wasn’t worth shoring up. More »
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 7 days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The impending death of Google Reader has sparked much wailing and gnashing of teeth, petition-signing, alternative-seeking, and rending of garments. But what about the people who made RSS? Dave Winer, one of the fathers of the both RSS and the blog, couldn’t give less of a shit. More »
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