Google Reader
I’ve recently started using Google Reader instead of NetNewsWire. Mainly because I wanted to be able to check my feeds from several locations without having to read the same items again when I got home. Also having the little “x Items Unread” badge in the dock was a huge distraction, begging me to read them while I was working. With Google Reader I can now read feeds at my own leisure. I know I could set the update in NNW to manual, but that would require just a bit more work than I was willing to put into, having to go to the application and then refreshing. Now while I’m in Safari (which is pretty much 99% of the time) I can just hit my bookmark and see what’s going on in the world.
As for the choice of Google Reader, well, it was mostly because Scoble is always talking about it. After exporting an OPML file from NNW and importing into Google Reader, I was pleasantly surprised.
The interface is ugly, but functional. Which is something of a Google trademark now that I think about it. I like the way I can just make a list of all the unread items and scroll down it and Reader will automatically mark them as read. This actually makes me read more items. Whereas in NNW I would just look at the headlines and if one didn’t catch my fancy just hit “Mark All As Read”, I now actually scan them. I will probably find a few gems I would’ve otherwise missed this way.
I haven’t used any of the sharing or starring features. Nor have I used the supposedly excellent mobile interfaces (with special optimized version for Mobile Safari and the Opera Wii browser), but the Trends feature could prove interesting.
The only thing I wish it had was a skinning feature so that it could be more pleasing to the eye, because now it’s a functional eyesore. Truly made by engineers.