Apple News, Analysis and Podcasts

Ever struggle with having to visit many websites to keep up on the news you like to read? Well, there is a great solution to this problem that helps you review all the news you want quickly and efficiently. It is RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication and it is a way to get feeds of news items from lots of websites. An RSS reader pulls RSS feeds from multiple sources that you would like to follow into one place so that you can see what is new on a number of sites in one location. You can view this new content either individually like emails or as a list. Each item contains a title, full or partial text, and meta data about the new content or item. RSS documents or feeds usually come from sites with posts or articles like blogs or news websites. RSS feeds are the main way I view new content from the internet.

For the Desktop, I use the Google Reader web service as my news reader on the Mac. Google Reader is free with a google account. The best part about Google Reader is the expanded list version. Most RSS readers show each item in a feed separately, like an inbox. This makes it difficult, because you have to click on each new item to see or read the new content. You also have to click on each item to tell the application that you have read the new item, which takes a lot of time if there are a lot of updates you have no interest in reading. With Reader, each item is displayed with both title and content in a scrollable list or feed. The newest items are on top and the oldest items are at the bottom. As I scroll through the content, Reader marks those items as "read". When I come back later, Reader will show me any new content that has been added to the feeds plus whatever I didn't read from my last visit. Reader will not show me the content I have previously read. So I always get new content without the fuss of clicking on anything. It takes very little time to scroll through new content and skim to find anything that I am interested in reading.

I also use RSS for my mobile devices. When I received an iPod Touch last Christmas I was looking for a RSS Reader for the iOS. Google Reader on a iOS device is poor at best. Their webservice does not allow me to scroll through content, which greatly slows down the processes. It takes lots of time to wait for the page to reload when I want to see a new item, so I went searching for a RSS reader and found Reeder for the iPhone. Reeder syncs with Google Reader so I can stay up to date with my feeds on any device at any time. Like most iPhone applications, it loads fast, but unlike other RSS readers, Reeder loads the new RSS feed items like lightning, has a beautiful, well designed, and easy to use interface that stays out of your way when viewing the content. Moving back and forth between different views is also fast with Reeder, definitely faster than Google Reader in the browser. After Reeder syncs the RSS feeds, it will give you a choice to view each individual feed or all of them together. But as always there is a downside, and it is one of my few complaints with Reeder. Reeder displays the full list of new content, but it only shows you the titles and not the full RSS content. I would prefer to be given the option, like Google Reader does, to view either just titles or "expanded" as Google Reader calls it. When you click on an item, you can see the expanded version, but only one at a time. You can scroll between items, but Reeder has to load each new item, which slows down the scrolling process. Reeder may not want to load the system down with extra content, but I hope as these devices get faster, they add expanded list view to Reeder's impressive set of options.

There are times when I just want to see the news content and then want it to go away, But other times, I want to save some of the new content for later. Reeder has a nice menu to send items to other web services, like Instapaper. You can also email a link or even the full item to someone else. Reeder is regularly updated and is adding new services as they emerge. This gives you lots of choices on what you want to do with the items you want to keep. Reader for the iPhone is a great way to keep up to date with the latest on the internet when you are on the go.

Reeder for iPad has the standard two column approach that most iPad applications have in landscape mode. In Portrait, it shows either the list view or content view similar to the iPhone. One thing I would like to change is to have the option to move the tool bar from the left side to the right side. I usually hold the iPad with my right hand and would like to move between items with my right hand instead of my left. Beyond that, Reeder for the iPad works just like Reeder for the iPhone. Reeder is a great app for staying up to date while relaxing on the couch. The developer continues to update both applications, which is always a great sign.

Reeder is the best RSS reader for the iOS that I have found. It is fast, stable and easy to look at. Reeder for the iPhone is $2.99 and $4.99 for the iPad. Both are well worth the price and I highly recommend them.
 

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