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Month: April 2013

Top Alternatives To Google Reader

Published by admin on April 14, 2013

Google recently announced the discontinuation of Google Reader, a product with a vocal following now scrambling to find alternatives. Of course a lot of people have already voiced their opinions about Google keeping products like Google Sites and Correlate open while discontinuing Reader. Others are asking if RSS is already dead benefiting Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We have compiled a few alternative RSS readers for you when Google Reader close down July 1, 2013.

 

Feedly

Feedly were quick in trying to catch Google Reader users, with a feature where users can connect their Google Reader account with Feedly and get the same setup and feeds as in Google Reader. This works like a charm with just a click, and takes a few seconds.

Another interesting feature with Feedly is the updated user interface, Google Reader wasn’t the prettiest product on the market but Feedly really looks great and displays the subscribed feeds in a beautiful way, almost making RSS fun again.

It’s possible to customize the main page of Feedly, for example adding widgets displaying stock market movements, your Facebook or Twitter feed.

Feedly is available in the browser or on mobile devices (Android, iOS and Kindle).

Feedly RSS reader screenshot

 

Netvibes

Netvibes is not entirely a RSS-reader, but a dashboard application for following almost anything online. Getting started is quite easy, you don’t even need to create an account. Start by entering a topic that you want to follow, Netvibes will then compile a set of standard widgets. The widgets include sources such as Twitter, Facebook (open posts), Google blog search, Yahoo News etc. It’s then possible to add sources of your choice using RSS.

Netvibes has two different modes, widget and reader mode. The reader mode has the classic RSS-reader feel to it. Beside using Netvibes in the browser there are also apps available for Android and iOS. It’s possible to import your Google Reader data to Netvibes, but the process is a little bit more difficult than Feedly’s. (http://blog.netvibes.com/easily-migrate-from-google-reader-to-netvibes/

Overall we like Netvibes, but mainly from a monitoring perspective where it really is shining.

Netvibes RSS reader screenshot

 

 

NewsBlur

NewsBlur is another browser based RSS-reader alternative to Google Reader, also available for Android and iOS. The app is updated in real-time when new stories from an RSS-feed is added. An interesting feature is the blurblog, each user gets an individual public feed where it’s possible to share stories.

We think the interface has too many options and buttons for it to be compelling for a wider audience, but this is of course individual preferences, and we know some users like these kind of interfaces.

NewsBlur RSS reader screenshot

 

The Old Reader

The Old Reader is perhaps not as well known as the alternatives above. It’s a light-weight browser based RSS-reader, with no other real options but we really like the minimalistic interface. It used to have Google Reader import but according to their blog they had to turn it off temporarily to be able to handle the traffic. There are also no mobile apps for the Old Reader.

Banjo – Social discovery

Published by admin on April 5, 2013

Banjo is a location based social networking app released in the summer of 2011, and has since then managed to attract 4 million users. It’s available on Google Play and in the App Store, while the app initially was intended for pure mobile devices Banjo recently updated their apps to be usable on Ipad and Android-tablets.

Banjo

So what is Banjo really in practice? Banjo imports posts from most major social networks and then makes it possible to sort them by location. For example if someone not in your network posts a public Facebook post nearby it will show up in Banjo An additional feature is that it’s also possible to select other locations than just nearby, so if you want to see what’s going on in Hong Kong Banjo will do it for you.

As most social networks are built around the notion that you communicate with a network of followers or friends, Banjo extends to discovering completely new connections, which is refreshing. But it’s main selling point in our opinion is the possibility to monitor events such as the Academy Awards or different news events, and see what is being said in various social networks and locations.

However most of the connections discovered in Banjo is not really aware of that they are being discovered using Banjo, which is a stark reminder of the impossibility of flying under the radar in social networks (which of course is contradictory to the whole point with social anyway).

Banjo connects with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare and Google+.

Banjo friends update Banjo Places Banjo friend in common

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