In other news, water is wet.
From phys.org:
“The studies, published earlier this year, show that the most likely person to be unfriended is a high school acquaintance.
The most common reason for unfriending someone from high school is that the person posted polarizing comments often about religion or politics… The other big reason for unfriending was frequent, uninteresting posts.”
So, the net exploded yesterday with the news that Google Reader is shutting down. They say that usage has declined, but if other rss reader sites are being brought down by Google Reader refugees, how is “declining use” a justification for shutting down Google Reader? And then there’s this neat little bit of unintended consequences.
Here are my findings so far on my search for replacing Google Reader. My needs are simple: I want to be able to add rss feeds to my list as I find interesting ‘blogs and news sites; I want to organize my feeds as I see fit, and read them sequentially without having to fight the interface; I need to be able to read on my tablet and sync to the web.
Flipboard:
– image heavy “magazineish” layout
– cutesy glossy “flip” page conceit
+ reader feeds imported nicely
– have to drill down too far to get to rss feed folders
– scrolling long articles makes the text go wonky
– sometimes cuts off the end of articles
– don’t see any way to put a particular feed set (folder from reader) onto the main pages
Verdict: Yuck.
Currents:
– same image heavy magazine layout
– battery HOG
+ reader subscriptions are accessible
– – – – – but not in folders so I can’t find ANYTHING MY GOD WHY DO I HAVE SO MANY SUBSCRIPTIONS
Verdict: Yuck.
Taptu:
– ugh. Same weird image square layout; you can turn off the images but then you’ve got text cards that look just as stupid.
+/- Adding reader feeds isn’t hard, but there’s some extra steps that are a bit annoying.
– sometimes it’s difficult to tell what feed you’re looking at on the main page
Verdict: Yuck.
Feedly:
– all these apps are bleeding together, they look so alike
+ imported reader easily
– on the website you can change the views to titles only, NOT on the app.
Verdict: Meh.
NewsBlur:
+/- I have no idea; it’s getting pounded so hard I can’t do anything.
-/+ Pay service; I got in *right* before he yanked free trial accounts. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to test with a few feeds, but not until he quits getting hammered. I’m willing to pay for an app if it actually works for me.
Verdict: Undetermined.
NetVibes:
+ intuitive web interface
+ imported reader effortlessly
+ able to rearrange and view reader folders easily
+ you can use it as a launch page with widgets (switch between reader & widget views)
– (*1000) No android app (ETA: Netvibes does have a mobile site, which is ok, I guess, though I’d much rather have an actual app.
Verdict: I like it, and may use it – but I read my feeds 98.3% of the time on my tablet.
Conclusion: Life is full of woe and sadness. Unless NewsBlur really wows me, or one of the ones I’ve missed turns out better, then NetVibes it is. Yay?
ETA 3/16 11:47pm: Well, NewsBlur did it. I’m satisfied. Android app does what I need, and the web interface is perfect with options I didn’t even know I was missing.
GU Comics has a problem in WoW…
Early yesterday Taks received and email from Blizzard (not one of the bogus phishing ones) that her account had been suspended because of gold selling style activity on one of her characters. I rushed to change her character’s rank in Bloody Plunder so that she didn’t have open access to the guild bank. I then started working on her behalf to reclaim the account. Several hours later she was informed that her account, after investigation, had been banned. There went our carefully planned gaming night.
Long story short, I went to my community contact at Blizzard explained the situation and asked for help. They got everything taken care of this morning and we’ve added an authenticator to Taks’ account.
Y’know, hackers suck and all, and I’m glad the GU guy got it taken care of, but this really kinda pisses me off. If MY WoW account (that I don’t have because it would take over my life and I have homework to do) got hacked like this I’m betting the Blizzard response would be “So sad, too bad”.
Here’s some interesting info on that “I Write Like” meme that’s been going around. Now, I don’t see the text he’s referring to; I guess it’s been changed. When I go to results, there’s a pop up for a “newsletter” on how to “become a better writer”.
Combined with the utter bullshit results below, I say it smells.
Text entered:
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Results:
Text entered:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec lacinia tempor ante et sollicitudin. Cras vel massa sapien, sit amet auctor lacus. Curabitur et ipsum sit amet justo pretium commodo. Integer mollis ligula quis urna congue id euismod eros scelerisque. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Aliquam varius adipiscing orci, non sagittis urna commodo eget. Aliquam erat volutpat. Fusce vitae gravida leo. Aliquam molestie neque mollis urna cursus pharetra. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse sem neque, ullamcorper vitae facilisis et, luctus ac erat. Pellentesque imperdiet, leo ut pulvinar dapibus, quam arcu pretium ipsum, euismod luctus est urna et enim. Ut porttitor turpis massa, eu scelerisque ligula. Proin sit amet lorem felis, at tincidunt lorem. Mauris quis imperdiet mauris. Nulla et imperdiet nunc. Donec quis purus turpis. Praesent sed felis nulla.
Integer dolor felis, sagittis quis placerat id, vehicula sit amet est. Quisque eget viverra dolor. Vivamus bibendum arcu eu felis tempus sit amet faucibus urna blandit. Pellentesque at porta nunc. Aliquam erat volutpat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut suscipit mauris nisl. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Nulla facilisi. Praesent fermentum vestibulum lorem sed tempor. Mauris eget risus vel tellus lobortis mattis ac mollis augue. Cras consectetur rutrum ligula, ut consequat velit rhoncus ac. Etiam ante erat, tincidunt nec pellentesque vitae, rutrum a neque. Etiam tempus magna orci. Etiam a augue justo, vel auctor turpis. Ut vel pulvinar augue. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec nisl enim, euismod eu luctus pulvinar, bibendum id odio. Nulla facilisi. Nunc pretium malesuada massa a pulvinar.
Results:
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