google reader

Digg to release Google Reader replacement beta in June

Digg surveyed thousand of people to find out what features they want in its upcoming RSS reader in preparation for a June beta launch, the company said in a blog post Tuesday.

"Our beta release in June will be just the beginning, a product built with experimentation in mind by a team eager to work with you to build something you love," the Digg blog reads.

This means Digg will start testing its RSS reader, which will probably be a subscription service, just a month before Google Reader shuts down.

This round of user feedback, gathered from over … Read more

Feedly mobile apps add better search and more features

Wasting no time after the death of Google Reader was announced, multiplatform RSS solution Feedly has already updated its mobile apps, not only with new features, but also with some new power under the hood.

With a new search-and-discovery engine running, finding feeds from around the Web is noticeably faster. The search bar even immediately tries to autocomplete what you type, to help you more quickly discover topics and sites. According to Feedly, the new search algorithm leverages millions of interactions from other users, which means the tool will even get better over time.

Now, as you're sifting through … Read more

Digg provides a few details on upcoming Reader replacement

Digg, the social news site that has gone through its fair share of ups and downs, provided a few more details on its anticipated RSS reader.

The company today discussed the four feature ideas it says it received from users that they'd like to see incorporated into the company's upcoming RSS reader. Chief among the suggestions was that the platform "keep it simple." Users also asked Digg to make it fast and work across a wide array of devices. It should be easy for users to import their feeds from existing Google Reader accounts.

Google Reader prompted Digg to fast-track an RSS reader of its own. … Read more

T-Mobile changing the contract game

CNET Update will pay you Tuesday for a smartphone today:

Google Reader is shutting down in July, and its demise can impact citizens who have Internet access restricted by their government. The Change.org petition to keep Google Reader has about 12 percent of its signatures from people living in countries that have Internet censorship. People in Kazakhstan and China have left comments urging Google to keep the Reader tool because it's the best way to access banned websites and uncensored news.

Also featured in Tuesday's news roundup:

- Next week, T-Mobile is expected to announce a new way to pay for smartphones … Read more

How to get the most out of Feedly on your desktop

Google Reader is going to be retired on July 1, 2013, giving users of the RSS service about four months to find alternatives. With more than 500,000 new users since the announcement of Reader's demise, Feedly appears to be one of the more popular choices to replace Google Reader.

Feedly may be receiving a lot of interest because it's one of the few alternatives with clients on multiple platforms (iOS, Android, Kindle, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari). If you're interested in trying it out as your Google Reader alternative, we've got some tips to help you … Read more

Google undeletes RSS extension for Chrome browser

The 868,163 people who've installed Google's RSS-handling extension for Chrome can breathe a sigh of relief, because Google has resurrected it after its deletion last week.

"My RSS extension was removed by mistake, but it is now up again," said Finnur Thorarinsson, the extension's author, in a comment to a Chrome RSS-handling feature request. The extension detects RSS and Atom feeds on Web pages and lets people subscribe to them with feed-reading software; it's been updated so it no longer offers Google Reader as an option for subscribing.

Google's RSS extension for Chrome disappeared last week … Read more

Google scraps Chrome's RSS extension along with Reader

Google's decision to kill its Google Reader service has caused some collateral damage: the end of a related Chrome extension that let the browser handle RSS feeds.

RSS and the similar Atom technology make it easier for people to subscribe to regular updates published on Web sites, and Google Reader was a popular way for people to read that content. Google announced that it's scrapping Google Reader on July 1, but it's already gone ahead and withdrawn the feed-finding Chrome extension.

The extension would detect Web sites' feeds then let people use a variety of RSS reader … Read more

Grieving for Google Reader's death

CNET Update feeds your need:

Emotions are high over Google Reader shutting down July 1. Thousands have signed online petitions begging Google to reconsider closing the RSS feed reader. Digg announced it is working on a replacement for Google Reader, but if it doesn't come soon enough, here are some replacements you can try now.

Also in Thursday's tech news roundup:

- Facebook redesigns Timeline profile pages

- Twitter adds line breaks, gets hit with ugly stick

- Netflix connects with Facebook to share what you're watching

- Angry Birds cartoon launches onto TV this weekend

Watch … Read more

Digg says it is building a Google Reader replacement

Digg, the once-mighty crowdsourced news aggregator that stumbled only to find new life as a curated collection of links, said today it would try to fill the void that'll be left once Google Reader disappears July 1 and leaves the world without a dominant RSS reader.

"We've heard people say that RSS is a thing of the past, and perhaps in its current incarnation it is, but as daily (hourly) users of Google Reader, we're convinced that it's a product worth saving," Digg's Andrew McLaughlin said in a blog post. "So we'… Read more

Death knell sounds for RSS, and Google knows it

Like some of you, I was once a power user of Google Reader. I needed it to do my job. But as Twitter started to gain steam, I started checking it less and less. It was less a pleasure and more a chore.

And then suddenly, I just stopped. I created a Twitter account to track tech news, and I never looked back.

I'm fascinated by the outcry resulting from the news that Google is shutting down Reader. The backlash shouldn't surprise anybody: Reader's power users consist primarily of hard-core bloggers, who were obviously going to complain (… Read more