Digg Reader Update | Hacker News Reader

Digg Reader Update

blog.digg.com

159 pointscoloneltcb95 comments

From their original blog post I had an impression that they will try to mirror Google Reader's API and features: "We hope to identify and rebuild the best of Google Reader’s features (including its API)"[1]

Now they haven't mentioned API at all, they haven't replied to a question about Reeder, and they did put quite a lot of focus on their web and mobile apps.

A conclusion I draw from this is that they don't want to be a dumb syncing API, and just like Twitter, they want to control the clients (their own apps).

[1] http://blog.digg.com/post/45355701332/were-building-a-reader

Or, reader is harder to build than they thought.

hey — we definitely remain committed to doing this. we just won't have it ready for launch. i personally think being the dumb syncing API is a smart play for any business. it's not as sexy but it's a more critical role.

It's nice that lots of folks are jumping in to fill the void left by Google Reader, but if there's one thing that the Google fiasco has proven, it's that we need a standardized, open protocol for synced RSS reading, to break vendor lock-in. Maybe something as basic as hosting OPML on WebDAV, with extensions to support read/unread states, sync dates, and other reading-related metadata.

I've switched my calendar and contact list away from Google to my own server running OwnCloud; it'd be nice if I could sync my feeds there as well, with support for a common protocol available in lots of clients.

As a feed reader developer myself, I find your idea for a standardized protocol very interesting. I don't have much experience designing protocols, but I'd love to help if someone is working on something like this. I have some friends who would love to see such a protocol implemented on all these readers we're seeing coming out every day ;)

I'm encouraged that they seem to have embraced that simplicity is key. I don't want a feature-filled RSS client; I want the same, zero-frills, experience that I've been enjoying with Google Reader.

After switching to Yoleo Reader [1], I don't find myself missing anything from the old Google Reader. Highly recommended. (I have no affiliation with this)

[1] http://yoleoreader.com/

Same. Coming from Google Reader, Yoleo is the one that I've found to come closest. It's clean and fast and I've had some great support when I've needed it.

It doesn't seem to have the endless scrolling that GReader had however but does have the Reader keyboard shortcuts to move through the feed articles.

And if you connect with your Google account it'll take care of everything automatically. Feels like Google Reader with a red theme.

Glad you're liking it! I am working on a "headline mode" that's going to provide more densely packed info for those who like it that way. Also I'm going to be releasing a new subscription list with a bit more functionality to it in the next week or so.

Am I missing something? Endless scrolling is the reason GReader wiped the floor with the competition, without it Yoleo's not the same at all, plus it has a three-column layout. Also, with Ubuntu/Firefox, the navigation keyboard shortcuts don't seem to work... except in the right column, which I don't need in the first place?

I'd say you are missing something :)

I'm in the process of implementing a "headline mode", as mentioned here and elsewhere that will bring that sort of two column functionality for those who like it.

Also regarding the shortcuts, you're using Firefox? I noted in the blog and through my notification system that users using firefox will have issues with shortcuts until I squash whatever bug is causing the problem.

The end-less scroll of feeds in GR is not just a UI feature. It's an incredible/killer data feature that let you go back to the entire history of a feed (since GR start to capture the feed for anybody), even if you just subscribed to a new feed. It's content sharing at its finest.

GR is not just feed aggregator but the most complete feed archive ever existed -- am I the only one who realize this?

I don't think there'll be an adequate GR replacement, ever! unless G donates the feed archive to the public, which I think would be one of the best things G can do now.

You are not the only one to realize this.

http://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Google_Reader has backed up 30 million feeds so far. (And needs everybody's OPML files to back up more.)

Shameless plug here, but Lector[1] has a two-column layout (and you can also hide the sidebar if you like) and endless scrolling. It's also surprisingly similar to Yoleo's layout in some points. If you like them, maybe you should check us out too ;)

[1] http://bealector.com

I've been procrastinating on migrating, hoping for a last minute change of mind from G :)

One of the main reasons I stuck with G is searching of my 200+ feeds over the last 5 years. Looks like none of the alternative services would ever support that. GR's been increasingly faster for me as well, probably due to lighter load from people migrating off?

Google takeout only exports a small amount of metadata (starred/shared etc.). I wonder if anybody already wrote a script to suck down complete feeds (must support gr:continuation), so it can be indexed later?

This is what I'm waiting for too. The ability to search made it a powerful tool beyond just a news aggregator. So far, I have not been able to find an adequate replacement.

I stopped using it the day of the announcement. I took the shortcut out of my bookmarks, deleted the app from my phone, and exported my feeds one last time. It felt a bit like a breakup. I don't think I'd go back if they changed their mind. Some things aren't put back together that easily.

By the same token, I'm not switching to somebody else's closed replacement. From now on, my RSS reader will always be an open-source thing that runs on my own servers. It might be klunky at the start, but if it truly matters I'll invest in it.

Have you looked at News Blur? The code is available to you if you want to do exactly what you said. I'm using the paid version and while it's a solid base it could use a few improvements.

It's still got some rough edges. I've had trouble with the Android app in particular.

Which I just updated a few hours ago. You should find the Android app to be leaps and bounds better, faster, and more stable.

So where does this space stand at the moment? Off the top of my head, I can think of:

-this (Digg) -feedly -feedbin -theoldreader

There's probably a ton that I am missing

Keep in mind the solution Google still provides as I have documented* based on common search.

*http://web-wanderings.blogspot.com/search/label/rss

Been using NewsBlur and I been liking it so far.

Totally agree; it's been great with ~ 100 feeds.

Same here. There's something 'off' about it, compared to google reader, that I can't put my finger on, but it's good enough for my needs.

I would love to know. Any hint as to what's strange?

Too much... stuff. Lots of small buttons IN ALL CAPS. Irritating UI "helpfulness" like (just one example) overriding right-click on article titles, so you have to right-click, aim pointer, left-click to open the original in a new tab.

The showstopper for me is the lack of infinite scrolling, although only today (after using NewsBlur for several months!) did I realize it's apparently intentionally crippled so I'd go upgrade to the premium version.

Think that's it. I just looked at Yoleo Reader (https://yoleoreader.com/) and realized that the clean look of that is exactly what I want/need, and what I miss with NewsBlur.

I got a premium NewsBlur account primarily because it was the only non-google reader with good keyboard support. And I kind of like the attempt to add social and commenting features.

But I might move away if I can get a cleaner UI with full google reader-style keyboard support.

This problem could be solved with a 'minimal' skin, perhaps?

Yeah. The combination of NewsBlur's speed and yoleo's minimalism would be perfect for me.

And keyboard shortcuts!

Been using MultiPLX.com for two months now and pretty happy with it than Feedly. The best part is that they allow export of user's data: OPML, JSON activity streams.

They also support feed clips and blog rolls that I am upgrading to be used on my site and blog.

Facebook will be releasing theirs in a few days, apparently.

I selfhost ttrss and it's functional enough. Not as pretty as Google Reader (and probably most of the above), but it works.

I've tried to include all the Google Reader alternatives here: https://starthq.com/apps/?q=reader

You should add Yoleo[1] to your list. It looks quite promising.

[1]: https://yoleoreader.com/

Thanks, done! https://starthq.com/apps/yoleo

nuesbyte.com is pretty nice. don't see it on your list.

Thanks, added: https://starthq.com/apps/nuesbyte

If you don't mind ones that have to be self hosted, tiny tiny rss[1] is one I've found I like. The self hosting for me is an advantage, and it has an android app to make it really easy to read them on the phone/tablet.

[1] http://tt-rss.org/redmine/projects/tt-rss/wiki

Feedwrangler has been getting good buzz too.

I'm the developer of Lector [1]. We're squashing some bugs to our first public release this week, but I can get people accounts if they want to try it first and give us feedback. It's going to be paid though.

We have a focus similar to Digg's reader: our product is simple, fast and aimed at power users. I hope people like it.

[1] http://bealector.com

http://commafeed.com is the Reader replacement I've chosen. I also like http://inoreader.com.

inoreader is nice but their mobile UI is much too slow. Try reading hacker news, where you're mostly going next, next, next...they do a full HTTPS page load on each Next click. Painful. If they could fix this by going to more of a single-page-app on mobile, I might stick with them.

Ah, I haven't tried inoreader's mobile UI. I keep hoping someone will make a Reader-compatible backend that I can use with an one of my existing mobile RSS clients, like Mr. Reader.

http://feedity.com/reader

http://www.noowit.com/pbeta, a personalized rss reader and more.

Been using http://www.netvibes.com for 10 years or more now...

yoleoreader is pretty good!

Yeah it is!! :D

Been warming up to https://mnmlrdr.com (Minimal Reader) lately. I recommend it.

Glad you're liking it! If anybody else wants a preview account, feel free to get in touch. (I'm the creator)

Yoleo Reader and feedrebel is quite good. I also like stringer, but you have to host that on your own.

fever. It's what I switched to.

http://feedafever.com/

personally the old reader has been the most seamless transition for me. It's pretty much the same as google reader UI but a bit less clean but the important thing is the keyboard shortcuts are all the same.

It looks good, but I am wary of using any of these guys stuff based on how fast they 'pivot' and shut things down.

They mentioned that Digg Reader will be a freemium product, so there's at least some kind of revenue model that should be able to sustain it, for a few years anyways.

Is there anyone from the original Digg team still there? I was under the impression the brand got bought by Betaworks but the team went to the Washington Post or something like that.

AFAIK it's just the name that's left.

Looking forward. I will give this a serious try as I am not a Feedly fan. The first key is in them providing absolute control to the users for the selection of their content and the stuff they would rather see on their own (instead of platform dictating what we should see and read).

Why is everyone hating on Feedly

I didn't use the word hate.

If I could ask for one thing: no thick header obscuring my reading experience. 75 pixels already go to the Chrome header. Let the text fill my screen.

I signed-up to feedbin last week and I like a lot so far, same focus on simplicity (basically it is Twitter bootstrap UI and a few important settings/options). Digg Reader is one of the few others I have considered, look forward to seeing what they come up with.

Feedbin doesn't have a trial period. Is that right, or am I missing it? Credit card up front seems a bit harsh.

Correct, there is no trial period and it is a bit harsh, but I already decided I wanted to pay for RSS this time around and something about feedbin appealed. Only thing I would like to see it stats, and I suspect Digg Reader will be good at that.

I wish it didn't block videos.

I haven't tried anything I like, yet. Here are my requirements:

1) fast! 2) both web version and mobile app that syncs with the web version 3) the same or similar interface to Google Reader

It seems Digg might have this eventually (they say they're working on an android app)

TheOldReader doesn't have a mobile app, and it is quite slow. But I like their interface on the web :)

I think I missed the whole RSS thing - what exactly is the benefit to RSS readers - is it really so much better than visiting a few sites and reading the articles there? What sort of feeds do people read, and why was Google Reader so much better supposedly?

One pattern is that they dramatically reduce the hassle involved with following a few dozen low traffic sites.

They also translate the task of actively keeping up with something into passively following along in the reader (which maybe isn't a positive, but it is easier...).

RSS is especially good for sites that you like but that aren't updated frequently. I follow probably 100+ sites, each of which only updates once every month or so. It would suck to have to visit them each individually to check for updates.

But how is that different than visiting any other link aggregate service like HN?

Actually controlling what's being aggregated. There are times when sourcing intel from the crowd is nice, but at the end of the day I still want to be certain that i've received all of the (periodic) updates from specific sources.

Because you choose the news sources and you see everything they publish on that particular feed. A good example here might be the blog of an open source project that you rely on. They may make a post every month or two when new releases are made. You care enough that you want to be aware of the post, and you know it's unlikely that you'll see it on HN, but it's not urgent enough that you need an email.

Another good use case is webcomics. You like to read every new xkcd when you have time, and you don't have to worry about loading the page and not seeing any updates. Friend has a blog or tumblr that you feel obligated to follow, but you don't want to ever have to load it up and see stale content? RSS is perfect for that. Like reading David Brooks when he has a new column, but wading through Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd is a chore? Just subscribe to the RSS feed on his author page.

It's also useful for other things, for instance jungle disk provides an RSS feed for backup jobs. So do many bug trackers.

Because a curated feed of news that you pick for yourself solves a different problem than a USENET facsimile.

I hope Digg Reader will be simple and usable product, because there aren't many quality replacements for Google Reader. I have to say that I transitioned successfully from Reader to Gwene (RSS/Atom to Usenet News gateway) so I can read articles in any Usenet reader (I use new Opera Mail). Unfortunately AFAIK Gwene doesn't support import from Google Reader, but that shouldn't become an obstacle for people with modest amount of subscriptions.

Try noowit http://www.noowit.com/pbeta. It supports importing your Google Reader account, and offers a truly personalized view of your feeds.

I am using http://multiplx.com for the last 2 months and pretty happy with it. It has its own engine and most of the google reader features.

Right now, I'm in a "wait and see" approach for my Google Reader alternative. It's a bigger decision than at first glance, especially if you rely on phone apps for consuming.

> Our focus will be on *Android app...

And no mention of iOS.

Does that mean they're not going for iOS first? If so, that's a very interesting decision.

Post launch so they probably have the iOS app down already.

They are talking about the next 60 days after initial launch. They should have an iOS app ready. The picture of phone interaction shows iOS as well.

From the comments: "iphone/ipad app is done and will launch on the same day as the web. android will follow by a few weeks."

> And no mention of iOS.

And no mention of WP8 either.

It's no wonder I continue to feel the tug of going back to Android in another few months for my next upgrade.

Neither Android nor WP8 get priority for obvious reasons. Cutting edge apps? iOS.

was mentioned on hn some time ago. i'm fine with it. can't be easier to set up..there's no setup... https://github.com/tontof/kriss_feed

http://managingnews.com/ is quite nice too.

Releasing this less than a week before Google Reader shuts down seems daring. I hope Digg is ready to scale in a big way.

They should have some resources to pull in if they need to, they're smart guys :)

Anybody got a replacement that'd allow me to continue using the desktop Reeder application as my front-end?

Feedbin, according to reederapp.com

Feedly, Feedbin.me, Feedwrangler [1]

[1]: http://www.macstories.net/news/reeder-to-add-support-for-fee...

Probably feedhq also. https://feedhq.org/blog/3-supporting-google-reader-api

Noowit. http://www.noowit.com/pbeta

And while Digg was busy copying Google Reader, somebody was busy copying Digg - http://squiz.at

You haven't looked at Digg for a couple of years, perhaps?

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