I am in RSS hell
Published 6 Sep 2005
Every so often, I come to a point in my life where I hate all my software. This is one of those times.
It seems like all my apps are conspiring against me to make my life a fractured inefficient hell. While some love their web apps, I tend to love/hate mine. While the apps are useful, I hate having my data spread out all over the place.
I work on two computers regularly (work and home), and you’d think that moving to web-based apps would help with my synchronization. And it does, for the most part. I use del.icio.us, Backpack, Basecamp, FeedBurner, gmail, and Flickr, and while I can access all this stuff from wherever I am computer-wise, it still makes me feel disjointed and slightly schizophrenic. And I need to have about 80 tabs open in my browser at all times. And my two machines are on different operating systems, so my version of Saft won’t work at home, but I digress.
What brings all these fractured apps together for me, is my use of RSS to keep track of it all. Which leads me to the point of this post: I currently hate every RSS reader in production.
I own NetNewsWire and NewsFire. While they are both great products, I really would like something web based. I am trying to simplify my life these days, and it seems like I shouldn’t need to have another app open just to read my feeds, when I already have a browser open. I should just be able to read my feeds from there. I always click through to a browser to read articles, and the switching back and forth between the reader and the browser is driving me nuts. Plus synchronization across my machines is a chore. NNW can synchronize, but the method is clunky and annoying. NF, while I love the simple interface, can’t synchronize at all.
I have tried Bloglines: too frickin’ ugly. This is shallow, I know, but I can’t stand looking at it.
I have tried Rojo: this to me is the epitome of an app that was designed by men for men. That part is stupid, and I take it back, see comments. While the interface isn’t ugly, per se, it does nothing for me. Also, it is too slow, in several ways. It takes forever to refresh the display when you click on a certain feed, and articles show up hours after they have been published. This would be OK if I used my feeds only to read blogs, but as I said above, I use them to keep track of all my data. When my student assistant completes a project I set up for him and clicks “Done” in Backpack or Basecamp, I need to know right away.
I have tried Kinja: it has the same problem as Rojo with feed being updated too slowly, and seemingly pretty randomly. This is a shame, because Kinja currently has the interface I like the best. Simple and to the point.
I was in love with Feedness for all of Saturday, until I figured out that it is the slowest of them all in updating feeds, and it can’t understand the feeds from Backpack. I was all ready to write a post about how all those years of Spanish came in handy after all. Rats.
So, what to do? Currently, I am leaning toward NewsFire because it understands all my feeds, updates them reliably, and doesn’t have a lot of features I don’t need. The synchronization is an issue, though. I really would like something web based.
So what aggregator do you use? Have I missed any worthy web-based readers? I’m really hoping one of you can point me to a gem I’ve been missing…
In: Margarita on the Rocks
This section contains all the rants and most of the fun posts. It’s the kind of stuff we would talk about if we went to the bar for a drink. I may be full of it when I post things here, so take it with a grain of salt.
Coffee at my Desk
Thanks, Ada
I think Matto has said it best for me today:
I have it on decent authority that the world is full of women who kick ass in Tech. …More »
Cocoa on the Couch
SXSW 2009 wrap-up
I’ve been trying to figure out how to sum up SXSW 2009 since I got back, and I’m still not sure I can do it. It was a much …More »
Commentary
Elaine writes
Sep 6 at 07:40 AM #
I used a hacked-up version of feed on feeds which I’m relatively fond of, but wouldn’t recommend to others. (it’s darn ugly.)
I think I remember that Alex King (of Tasks Pro fame) is working on an alpha of a aggregator service…but it’s not generally open yet.
John Oxton writes
Sep 6 at 01:42 PM #
I have tried Rojo: this to me is the epitome of an app that was designed by men for men. Y’know that shit really pisses me off. I can take the constructive criticism because I know first hand that Rojo is evolving and is doing so because of good, constructive user feedback. But once again you are throwing these ridiculous accusations of sexism in design, why? Did I do something to offend you somewhere along the line?
Thomas B. Aschim writes
Sep 6 at 07:20 PM #
Personally, I’m hanging in there with Bloglines (barely), just because FeedLounge is still in alpha-testing. But when that hits the streets, I’m swithcing!
Andrea writes
Sep 6 at 08:25 PM #
John: Ack—point taken. I guess I didn’t express myself well there. And I had no idea you were so invested in Rojo, so no you haven’t done anything to offend me. Quite the opposite really.
I wasn’t trying to say that the design is sexist. I don’t even think that is possible ( I guess unless there was offensive photography or something). What I meant was that something about it doesn’t resonate with me at all. I agree that it was irresponsible for me to blame that on gender-type stuff. For all I know they are women developing it—I don’t even know. So, I’m going to officially take that part back, and learn to wait a while before I hit publish on these frustrated posts of mine.
I do stand by the slowness to update, and the unresponsiveness of the interface—and I’m glad they’re evolving, because I really want to love a web-based reader.
Elaine writes
Sep 6 at 08:29 PM #
Thomas: FeedLounge is the one I was thinking of. And it is darn tempting. (TasksPro is an absolutely vital component of my daily life @ work.)
goodwitch writes
Sep 7 at 01:51 AM #
(glenda reaches over and pulls andrea’s foot out of her mouth while handing both John Oxton and Andrea each a pint)
my my my…sometimes we say the silliest things. lord knows that good design and sex have no correlation. or was that good design and gender?
John Oxton writes
Sep 7 at 03:40 PM #
Well, that’s all furry muff (which is British for fair enough) I hate being called sexist and much as you hate there not being enough women in the business.
With regards the sluggishness, I am holding about 200 RSS feeds in my account and I agree it can get a bit slow at times, but then so can Bloglines. I have, other motives aside, grown to genuinley like Rojo as a web app but I agree it’s not as fast as say, Sage or NetNewsWire.
What I will say about Rojo is do send in your feedback, they are listening.
Andrea writes
Sep 7 at 08:31 PM #
John: Thanks—I will send in my feedback. And I did notice some changes last time I was in there—favicons showing up and the like. And I’m definitely not writing them off, or any of the others I mentioned either. I’m using about 3-4 right now trying to settle on a solution.
Elaine & Thomas: FeedLounge does look interesting. Wonder how long it will be til it’s available?
Mark Garrigan writes
Sep 8 at 03:56 PM #
First question: OSX or Windows or Other?
Andrea writes
Sep 8 at 08:11 PM #
OSX or Windows or Other
I am on OS X.
Dan Klyn writes
Sep 12 at 11:58 PM #
There’s some buzz about Start.com on Steve Rubel’s blog (S.R. being a tireless advocate for and promoter of RSS), but don’t try goin in there with Safari.
I think there’s an opportunity here for some new comer(s) to create a badass web-based rss-o-matik service/UI/aggregatormabob. The new Studio 8 toolset from Macromedia is supposedly superfly when it comes to creating Flash/Flex/XHTML user interfaces with hooks into RSS.
-----