Reeder
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Daily Update for September 12, 2013
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Reeder 2 released as a universal app with support for Feedbin, Feedly, Feed Wrangler, Fever and Readability
If you abandoned Reeder after the demise of Google Reader, it's now time to come back and check out the latest version of the iOS app. Released on September 12, the popular news-reading app is now a universal app with support for Feedbin, Feedly, Feed Wrangler, Fever and Readability. Basically, this latest release takes the syncing features that were available in the iPhone version and brings them to the iPad. Reeder was one of the top news-reading apps for your iPhone, iPad and Mac, but the shut down of Google Reader cut the app off at its knees. The app used Google Reader as its core syncing service, and developer Silvio Rizzi couldn't move all three apps onto another news-reading platform in time for the July 1 deadline. Knowing that he would likely lose customers, he made the costly decision to focus on quality and not quantity. He updated his iPhone version first and put the iPad and Mac version on the back burner. He's been working on the iPad version over the past few months and that work is culminated in this Reeder 2.0 release. The Mac version of Reeder is still under development with a public beta expected this fall. I give Rizzi a lot of credit for choosing to take his time with Reeder and not sacrifice quality by pushing the apps out quickly. The new Reeder 2.0 app is available in the iOS App Store for US$4.99.
Reeder 2 hits the App Store, brings back iPad compatibility
When Silvio Rizzi pulled down the Reeder app for iPad after Google Reader's death, he swore to develop and eventually release a new version. Now, Rizzi has made good on that promise by launching Reeder 2 -- a reworking of the older RSS reader that's compatible with both iPhones and iPads. The app sports a brand-spankin' new interface that replaces the old browns and sepias with gray, pulls feeds from several sources -- including Feedly and Feedbin -- and it can now also open links on Google Chrome. Reeder 2's now available on the App Store, but if you feel iffy shelling out $4.99 for it, you can give the RSS client a whirl by getting the older iPhone version for the low, low price of free.
Reeder for iPhone updated with support for Feedly and Feed Wrangler
Reeder for iPhone, the popular mobile RSS reader from Silvio Rizzi, was updated today to support Feed Wrangler and Feedly. With this update to Version 3.2, Reeder now supports Feedbin, Feedly, Feed Wrangler, Fever and Readability. Customers looking for the Mac and iPad version of Reeder will be disappointed to find out that those apps have been pulled from the iOS and Mac App Store. They still rely on Google Reader for feed management, so Rizzi has removed the apps until he can update them with support for third-party services. There is no ETA as to when these updated versions will be available. While you wait for the new Reeder apps, you can check out these alternative readers.
Reeder for iPhone goes free for now, gets Google Reader alternatives soon
Silvio Rizzi made the iPad and Mac versions of Reeder free to use in the wake of Google's plans to shut down Google Reader, but he left the iPhone app at its usual $3 price -- and its fate in the air. Existing users can now rest easy, as Rizzi has pledged ongoing support for the smaller screen. The current edition of Reeder for iPhone is now free to use, and an already-submitted 3.2 update will bring support for alternative news services like Feedbin, Feedly, Feed Wrangler and Fever. Anyone using the iPad and Mac editions will have to be patient, however. Both apps will eventually get the additional news sources, but Rizzi is taking down the existing releases on July 1st to minimize confusion while he works on updates.
Reeder updated to connect with Feedbin, or nothing at all
Personally, I'm still in denial about losing my beloved Google Reader in the near future. The web-based RSS reader has been a standby ever since I started using RSS, and even when I used other services, like the great Reeder app on iOS, they ran through Google Reader to get their content. But the times they are a'changin', and as of July 1, Google Reader will be gone for good. Reeder has gotten out ahead on this one, and just recently pushed out an update for its iPhone version that liberates the app from Google Reader's clutches. You can now use Reeder with an alternate service called Feedbin, or you can use it as a standalone RSS reader, just by punching in your feeds manually. Unfortunately, Feedbin is a pay service (that costs US$2 a month to use), so it's not exactly a one-for-one replacement for GReader. But this is not the only update you'll see from Reeder: The company says the plan is to both update the iPad and Mac versions to 2.0 (which is why they're currently free), with plenty of extra compatibility, and the iPhone version is also set to get even more services in the future. So things are still in flux. As for me, I still have to find a service to replace my GReader, and Feedbin isn't it. We've already put together a nice list of alternatives, and from what I've heard so far, Feedly appears to be the frontrunner. Feel free to share any other insight you might have in the comments below.
Reeder for iPad and Mac is now free
What happens when you make a Google Reader client for iPad and Mac, and then Google announces that the service is closing up shop on July 1, 2013? If you're developer Silvio Rizzi, you continue development on a version of your app that won't rely on Google Reader, and you give away your app for free. As of today, Rizzi is making Reeder for iPad and Reeder for Mac freely available. In an announcement made this morning, Rizzi noted that "it's still too early to have answers to all questions I got over the last few weeks." He noted that development of Reeder will continue on all platforms, and that the iPhone version of the app already has support for services other than Google Reader. Version 3.1 of Reeder for iPhone will be available soon, and Rizzi says that "the plan is to add more services you can choose from in the next weeks and months." For the Mac and iPad versions, version 2.0 is in development and will be available "in the coming months." It's expected that version 2.0 of Reeder for iPad and Reeder for Mac will add the features currently seen in the iPhone version, which includes all sharing and syncing services. In the meantime, the iPad and Mac flavors of Reeder are free.
Reeder to use Feedbin to power its newsreading feature (Updated)
The developers behind popular Google Reader-based newsreading app Reeder said earlier this year the app would not die when Google's Reader service goes offline this summer. Customers concerned about this transition can breathe a sigh of relief as Reeder announced last night that it will switch to Feedbin as its back-end service. Feedbin was created by San Francisco web developer Ben Ubois and is based on open source software. It has a robust API that'll sync subscriptions, articles and their read/starred states. There's also a web-based interface that allows you to manage your RSS feeds. Access to the web version costs US$2/month. The iPhone version of Reeder will get Feedbin support soon, while the iPad and OS X version will be updated in the coming months. Update: The developer behind Reeder confirmed on Twitter that Feedbin is not the only solution being implemented. It is just his favorite choice right now. [Via The Loop]
Reeder makes a successful leap from iOS to Mac
When I heard that Reeder for Mac was being developed, I was thrilled. Ever since I had moved to Google Reader, I had been looking for a Mac app which was more compelling to use than the web interface. Reeder for iPad (US$5) was so good that I used it almost exclusively. Could Reeder make the jump from iOS to Mac? I purposefully waited until the first few public beta versions of Reeder for Mac were released, to let the early bugs get sorted out. When I started to hear good reports about it on Twitter, I downloaded it and tried it for myself. Initially, it felt awkward. I couldn't stop noticing that this was an iOS app ported to Mac OS X. It just didn't feel right. So I deleted it. A few beta releases later, I tried again, but the result was the same: I used it briefly, then gave up. When the final version arrived, I went to the official website hoping to find a demo version that I could try before buying. (I will pause briefly to repeat my firm belief that the biggest shortcoming of the iOS and Mac App Stores is the lack of full-featured demos.) At US$10, Reeder was above my "just buy it to try it" threshold. I found screenshots, but those are hardly enough to give a good feel for the app. For a few days I continued my routine of using a Fluid.app browser for Google Reader on the Mac and Reeder on my iPad, but eventually curiosity got the better of me and I dropped my Alexander Hamilton on it. Despite my first rule for purchasing software, I decided that even if it didn't meet my needs now, it was likely to be popular enough that it would continue to be developed and improved. Five minutes later I knew I had made the right choice. Make no mistake, Reeder still feels like an iOS app which jumped to the Mac, but it has pushed through the awkward teenage years into a promising young-adulthood. That may be due to the fact that Lion has already started to push acceptance of iOS ideas and concepts coming "back to the Mac," or maybe the app itself has changed enough to make the jump seem less dramatic. But enough with the vagaries of opinion, let's take a closer look at what's there. Keyboard Shortcuts and 3rd Party Services The first thing I loved was the keyboard shortcuts. Clearly that's not something you're going to find in an iOS app, so this is one place where it really stands out on the Mac. There are built-in, easily configurable keyboard commands for just about anything you could imagine. Not just the obvious ones like J/K for previous and next, but also shortcuts to send the current article to other services such as Pinboard, Instapaper, ReadItLater, Delicious, or Zootool. You can also send articles to Twitter, Instapaper or Google's mobilizer, email, or your web browser. If you have used Reeder on the iPad, you are used to being able to easily send articles from it to those services, and on the Mac it is even easier. Just like the iPad version, you can disable services you do not use. For example, I use Pinboard but not Delicious, so I left Pinboard enabled and dropped Delicious. But that's not all your fingers can do Drawing from the app's iOS roots, Reeder also supports gestures for swiping up, down, left, and right, as well as pinch open or close, letting you choose what action each gesture triggers. I am still getting used to these sorts of gestures on Mac OS X, but I think it is clear that they are part of its future. You are not required to use them; they are simply another way of controlling the app instead of clicking on menus or toolbar icons (also highly configurable) or keyboard shortcuts. Readability: an RSS lover's best friend Reeder's built-in "Readability" feature pulls full articles from sites which only offer truncated RSS feeds. To try it out by clicking a button that's available at the bottom of the article pane, or with a keyboard shortcut (G), which toggles it on or off. If you want to go beyond the Readability format and integrate Reeder with your Readability account, you will find support for that is also built-in to the app, with the sign-in preference right below your Google account information. Nice Extras You can determine exactly when articles may be marked as read, pre-load articles (either in a web-browser or with Readability) and more. You can also change numerous appearance settings to make it look more or less like an iOS app with room for tweaking. I was also glad to see that Reeder let me set the "Unread Count" to either "badge" (which looks like iOS) or "icon" (which looks nicely Mac-ish), or disable it altogether. It also gives granularity of control over syncing unread, starred, and shared items, as well as notes. What's different and what's "missing" Unlike most Mac apps, Reeder uses many keyboard shortcuts without a modifier key (Command, Option, Shift). As I mentioned before, some of these will be familiar to you if you have used the Google Reader website, and I would not say that they were a bad idea, just a different one. I do know that many years ago Opera dropped one-key shortcuts because they found it led to user confusion when keys were accidentally pressed either by the users themselves, or (and I am not making this up) their cats. Fortunately the most potentially "damaging" keystroke (Mark All As Read) requires confirmation before it is executed (unless your cat manages to press Shift and A simultaneously, or you turn off the confirmation option in preferences). So far my only feature request (other than a demo version) is the ability to easily switch between Google accounts (a la Gmail accounts in Mailplane), but I suspect that is not a feature many users will use. At the very least, its absence in 1.0 release is understandable, and it may be enough of an "edge case" that it might never be added. Others have mentioned the lack of "tabs" as a drawback. While I understand the complaint, I find that I much prefer to read one article at a time. Still, I would not be surprised to see that added in a later version if demand continues. After all, this is only 1.0. Finally, I was surprised to see that there was no "full screen mode" available. Perhaps that feature will be added when Lion is released. Summary Reeder succeeds in crossing over from iOS by bringing the best features that users have come to expect and adding in a sprinkling of Mac-specific features. While it may seem even more at home once Lion arrives, I am glad to have it today on my Mac. If you already know and love Reeder on the iPad, chances are good you will love it on the Mac too. If you are not an iPad user and are looking for a clean, feature-rich Google Reader client for Mac, Reeder should definitely be on your list to check out. Gallery Check out Reeder's menus in the gallery below. Screenshots of the UI are available on the official Reeder website. %Gallery-126474%
Reeder for Mac now available on Mac App Store
Reeder, a popular Google Reader client on iOS, is now out of beta and available on the Mac App Store. While the beta version of Reeder for the Mac was free to test, the 1.0 release will set you back US$9.99, more than twice the price of the iPad version. That $9.99 offers syncing with Google Reader (which you can set up for free), plus integration with Readability, Instapaper, ReadItLater, Pinboard, Delicious, Zootool and more. The app has a customizable, multi-column interface that's superficially similar to the iPad version, and Reeder includes gesture support and customizable shortcuts. If you read a lot of news on your Mac, Reeder definitely looks like a big step up from reading RSS feeds in Safari or Mail. We've got several Reeder fans on the TUAW staff, and one of them will likely be providing a full review of Reeder in the near future.
iOS RSS reader NewsRack out now in Mac App Store
NewsRack, the popular iOS RSS feed reader, is now available for Mac OS X (10.6.6 or later) in the Mac App Store. The new version from omz:software offers syncing with Google Reader, drag and drop feed arrangement, tabbed browsing and thumbnail previews, just as any good feed reader should. It has been available on iOS devices for a while now (US$4.99), but the Mac version is now ready for download from the Mac App Store for $6.99. There are numerous RSS feed readers already popular with OS X users that we have discussed here at TUAW, such as Reeder and NetNewsWire, and I myself am a Reeder fan on both my Mac and on my iPhone. Those of you still looking for that perfect reader might want to check out NewsRack, but I am not sure if I am willing to jump ship right now to a new app. However, it is always nice to have another solid option should I change my mind in the future. [via MacStories]
The best iOS apps I used in 2010
After looking back over Mac and Mac/iOS hybrid apps, it's time to look at the best iOS apps of 2010. As before, this list comes from my particular experience over the past year with these apps. 1) iCab Mobile (US$1.99, universal) is a replacement for mobile Safari. While it is hindered by the fact that iOS doesn't have anywhere to set a "default browser," and therefore most URLs that you open from the Springboard or email/Twitter/etc... will open in Safari, iCab offers plenty of features that make it worth the effort. It is the first app on my dock, and I much prefer it over Safari. Although it uses the same rendering engine as Safari, it comes with a host of features that Safari doesn't have. iCab Mobile will let you download files, which you can either offload to your computer later or upload to Dropbox from right within the app. Tap and hold an image, and you can save it right to your Dropbox. iCab on the iPad also does "real" tabs, with a visible tab present (it will auto-hide when not needed, if you want). You can set it to open links in new tabs, or open only links to different domains in new tabs. It has content filtering built-in, as well as module support for things like Instapaper, viewing HTML source or even downloading videos from YouTube. It also has a forms manager and a kiosk mode, and as Mike pointed out in November it supports VGA mirroring for presentation use. Web browsing is one of the primary uses of my iPad, and iCab Mobile is well worth the minimal asking price. Find out more at iCab Mobile's website. See the rest of my choices below.
Reeder for Mac RSS client reaches beta
If you're a fan of Reeder on the iPad and you're looking for a new RSS client on your Mac, heads up: the first public beta of Reeder for Mac is now available for download. The free testing version is decidedly incomplete -- no downloads, no feed management and no search yet, according to developer Sivio Rizzi -- but it's still worth a look. The feed reader integrates with a slew of third-party services like Instapaper, Twitter and Pinboard, and it maintains the sleek, minimal interface of the iPad and iPhone apps. Everyone's always looking for the ultimate Google Reader local client, and if you crave simplicity, Reeder may be for you.
Reeder client for Google Reader now available for iPad
It's been a busy few weeks for iPad RSS clients. The Early Edition saw an update, Pulse got keynote love followed by a quick yank from/return to the App Store... it's almost as if the whole Newspad idea is starting to catch on. Judging by our inbox volume, a lot of you are very excited about the latest entrant in the iPad reader race: Reeder, a strong favorite on the iPhone, is now shipping in an upsized version for the bigger device. The US$4.99 client syncs with Google Reader, and provides a clean and clutter-free interface to your chosen feeds or foldersful of feeds. You can easily share selected stories on Twitter or via email, save items to Instapaper or ReadItLater, mark items as unread or bookmark them on Delicious. The app is carrying a solid five-star rating on iTunes right now, and we're looking forward to doing a fuller review soon. In the meantime, if you're looking for another strong option for feed reading, check it out.
