Google Reader Redesign

[leemajors]

Thanks Google, you made this awesome news reader nearly unbearably ugly and almost useless.

[MannyIsGod]

No shit. What the hell were they thinking. Can I change it back? PLEASE?!?!?!?

[lefty]

meh

Have never used it anyway

[MannyIsGod]

Well you're too stupid to read, Lefty, so obviously a site named "reader" would not be for you. :p

[lefty]

Well you're too stupid to read, Lefty, so obviously a site named "reader" would not be for you. :p
:depressed

[leemajors]

No shit. What the hell were they thinking. Can I change it back? PLEASE?!?!?!?

all i ever wanted from it was to change the theme to something like i do with gmail, and they did this. ugh.

[leemajors]

I'm using Feed Demon now, it might work for me. Too bad there isn't a PC client for Reeder.

[lefty]

So after reading this thread, I've tried Google Reader and added some feeds

It's not that bad

Stop whining

[IronMaxipad]

I like it. I only use it to listen to podcasts so the changes don't really bother me. imo

[leemajors]

So after reading this thread, I've tried Google Reader and added some feeds

It's not that bad

Stop whining

you sound like a dedicated Vista user.

[lefty]

you sound like a dedicated Vista user.
But....but.... I have Windows 7 :cry

[NASpurs]

Firefox + Greasemonkey (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/) + Google Reader Demarginifer (http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/116850) =

http://i.imgur.com/8GS5k.jpg

[leemajors]

i just wish that like with gmail you had the choice to use the new design or not, or even the ability to remove the giant default font it has decided to use on my comp. it also loads the feeds painfully slow now

[leemajors]

update improved things a good bit, but I still have issues with scrolling through articles not always marking them as read. annoying

[lefty]

Looks like it has been re-redesigned

[leemajors]

Aaaand it's slow as shit again to load articles. Manny, you seeing the same?

[Drachen]

Google reader is gone on July 1
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-second-spring-of-cleaning.html

[lefty]

It makes sense tbh

[leemajors]

This is incredibly lame. I guess they need to focus more energy on worthless things like google plus that no one uses.

[lefty]

This is incredibly lame. I guess they need to focus more energy on worthless things like google plus that no one uses.
I guess the way they see it : no Reader = more people using Google +, as it can be used as a newsfeed

[leemajors]

I guess the way they see it : no Reader = more people using Google +, as it can be used as a newsfeed

Tell that to the millions of pissed off people on twitter. Reader was easily Google's best product.

[lefty]

Tell that to the millions of pissed off people on twitter. Reader was easily Google's best product.
Well fuck them :lol

I havent used Reader in years :lol

On Twitter
Why does the new pope hate Google Reader?

[leemajors]

I just don't understand, lots of ppl use it. They better open source it like Wave.

[NASpurs]

Fucking shit man, I use this everyday. What's the alternatives now?

[Drachen]

The verge doesn't like it.
http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/3/13/4101224/google-dont-turn-off-reader-signed-the-internet

Google reader the undead?
http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/3/13/4101534/feedly-clones-google-reader-api

[lefty]

Fucking shit man, I use this everyday. What's the alternatives now?
Feedly

Also, if you use mobile devices a lot, there are other options

[leemajors]

Fucking shit man, I use this everyday. What's the alternatives now?

Me too. Nothing else keeps everything synced across multiple devices. I can mark an article read on my iphone in reeder, and it's marked read on my desktop in google reader as well as Mr. Reader on my iPad. It's awfully nice of feedly to offer what they are going to, but their servers are already crushed and I have no interest in the graphic heavy feeds that it and other similar clients like flipboard use. I just to scan and see if its worth reading the whole article.

[leemajors]

Feedly

Also, if you use mobile devices a lot, there are other options

And almost all depend on the Reader API.

[lefty]

And almost all depend on the Reader API.
I just checked Drachen's 2nd link

They talk about it

[NASpurs]

Me too. Nothing else keeps everything synced across multiple devices. I can mark an article read on my iphone in reeder, and it's marked read on my desktop in google reader as well as Mr. Reader on my iPad. It's awfully nice of feedly to offer what they are going to, but their servers are already crushed and I have no interest in the graphic heavy feeds that it and other similar clients like flipboard use. I just to scan and see if its worth reading the whole article.

That's an excellent point about how GReader connected devices. Personally I did the same thing. I marked an article "read" on my tablet and it all synched to my PC and phone. No other service that I know of is connected like that with whatever device you throw at it. That sucks.

Some alternatives from Lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/5990456/google-reader-is-getting-shut-down-here-are-the-best-alternatives

And Feedly is going to launch a backend named "Normandy" that is "intended to be a clone of the Google API running on Google's own App Engine, set to swap in on July 1st when the service ends." http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/13/feedly-rss-service-promises-seamless-transition-after-google-r/

(Beaten by Drachen :lol)

I guess we'll have to wait and see after July 1st to see what services pop up and what others lead the charge to take over the RSS niche.

[NASpurs]

I went to the feedly website and it gave me a 503 Service Unavailable error. People are hammering the shit out of that website. :lol

[lefty]

I went to the feedly website and it gave me a 503 Service Unavailable error. People are hammering the shit out of that website. :lol
Its working now

[lefty]

But loading is a bit slow

[IronMaxipad]

What the fuck man. now how am i suppose to stream all my podcasts? :td

edit: Feedly seems to do a decent job.

[IronMaxipad]

http://blog.feedly.com/2013/03/14/tips-for-google-reader-users-migrating-to-feedly/

[Drachen]

Man everyone is pissed about this. I only follow like 10 people on twitter and my feed still blew up. I can't imagine that they don't just end up reversing course, or spinning this off. Maybe they open source it like wave.

[Drachen]

You know a really good way to show that you are shutting down an extremely popular service that has no business being shut down?

The day after you announce the shut down, there are literally 10s (or more) of companies (of varying sizes) announcing that they are going to be building a clone, or are going to enter into the market which you are vacating.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/14/4104618/digg-will-build-its-own-version-of-google-reader

[leemajors]

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/24/4143238/google-decision-to-scrap-reader-influenced-by-cost-of-privacy-compliance


Google is taking a lot of heat for its decision to scrap the popular Reader RSS feed aggregator, leading many to question why it would pull the plug on such a popular service. It turns out that the answer might have a lot to do with the hidden costs of safeguarding privacy. According to a report from All Things D, an unnamed source says that the closure is at least partly because of Google’s reluctance to build out the staff and infrastructure needed to deal with legal and privacy issues related to the product.

"UNLESS IT'S GOING TO GET TO 100 MILLION USERS IT'S NOT WORTH DOING."

The source says that Google is trying to position the company so that it stops getting stuck in expensive privacy lawsuits, like the $7 million Wi-Fi data-slurping case in the US, by adding dedicated staff to deal with those issues to each of its teams. When the company announced it would be shuttering Reader, the service reportedly didn’t even have a project manager or full-time engineer assigned to it, and it’s said that Google didn’t want to spend the money to build the service out into a tentpole app. And while many longtime users of the service have questioned why Google doesn’t simply sell Reader off to a third party, its deep integration with other Google Apps means it’s apparently easier for the company to just shutter it. So how many users would have made it worthwhile for Google to keep Reader around? Former Reader product manager Nick Baum tells ATD, "my sense is, if it’s a consumer product at Google that’s not making money, unless it’s going to get to 100 million users it’s not worth doing."