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iPhone app hunts down Web's best blog posts

Fab freebie Regator brings you an endless supply of blog goodness, as determined by the service's real-live-human editors. Browse popular posts, search the archives, and more.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
2 min read

So many blogs, so little time. If you feel like the blogosphere is passing you by, check out Regator, a new app that culls the Web's best posts.

An offshoot of the eponymous Web service, Regator (agg-regator, get it?) differs from traditional RSS feed readers in that it doesn't rely on you to choose the blogs you want to follow.

Instead, the app employs "qualified human editors" to bring you "topical, well-written, frequently updated, and relevant" posts. In other words, the cream of the blogosphere crop, at least according to these guys.

You can browse the posts any number of ways, starting with "popular" items from the Web at large or looking within a couple dozen specific topics (from Academics to "What the?").

Regator also provides a full directory of more than 500 topics, so you can really drill into the areas that interest you most. (Beekeeping? Check. Museums? Check.)

The obligatory Search option taps Regator's mammoth archive of handpicked posts, meaning you're not limited to new or recent items.

Each listing shows the post headline, blog of origin, and first couple of sentences. Tap through for a longer summary, a Share option (e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook), and related posts, tags, and images.

A tap of the Read Post button takes you to the actual post (in the source blog) but keeps you in the Regator app instead of bouncing you out to Safari. Very nice.

However, the app lacks the personalized MyRegator tools available at Regator.com, which include options like saving favorite blogs and searches. According to the developer, those features may be added to a premium version in the future.

In the meantime, Regator is a freebie, and a must-have one at that. If you have even a passing interest in blogs (and if you're reading this, you must), this is a terrific way to keep tabs on the blogosphere.