Ok, so I’m a big fan of just about every Google product. For the record, however, I’ve been critical of the Google Voice team for not implementing certain features and I’ve also ripped on Google Docs. Notwithstanding, Google has hit a home run with it’s Google Reader app. I’ve previously pitched RSS (Really Simple Syndication) readers generally. They allow you to aggregate your favorite websites into a global inbox. Your favorite websites basically come to you when you subscribe to their RSS “feeds.” The amount of time you can save by reducing page loads and clicking around the web is astonishing.
Google Reader Rocks. There are many RSS readers available but Google Reader womps them all. First, it’s accessible from any web browser at http://google.com/reader so it’s fully portable. Second, today a new feature was added that allows you to input any website (not just those with RSS feeds) and Google will crawl it for changes and notify you of them. This new addition enables you to monitor just about anything that exists on the web (some websites might opt-out).
Blackberry Tip. Crackberry started a petition near Christmas for Google to add a Google Reader app for the Blackberry. Despite a fair amount of participation, no Blackberry app exists. Instead, Blackberry users are expected to use the browser and Google’s WAP website. However, it was posted on Crackberry today that a more feature rich website is available at http://www.google.com/reader/i . Point your Blackberry browser there and if you have full page mode and Javascript turned on, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Add a bookmark on your ‘berry if you like it. If you don’t like what you see, you can still use the Viigo app to reader Google Reader feeds. I posted instructions a few weeks ago.
If you’re into RSS and/or frequent the same websites repeatedly, then Google Reader is a dream come true.
P.S. I’m still long GOOG (if you couldn’t tell). It’s been ugly lately. My “Honk and Buy GOOG if You Love Google” campaign must not be working.
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