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Switching from NetNewsWire to Google Reader
I'm not typically one for the web 2.0 movement. I'm a huge fan of the power and flexibility of Mac OS X, and I usually find most web services no match for their desktop counterparts with maybe a few syncing services thrown in to even the odds (.Mac, Google Browser Sync, etc.). This all changed, however, when Google dropped a quintessential upgrade bomb on Google Reader, their web-based RSS reader a la BlogLines and NewsGator. If you're curious as to what the new gReader is all about, I wrote up a walkthrough for Download Squad, but in a nutshell: it's awesome. So awesome, in fact, that after spending a serious week with it for all my personal and blogging needs, I feel confident in cutting my ties (yes, again) to NetNewsWire. Just like Gina over at Lifehacker, the plethora of new and well-polished features in this updated to Google Reader are an absolute dream in the category of web-based readers, and a number of factors clicked to make this my go-to reader of choice.PowerThe most appealing, of course, is the sheer power of the new Google Reader; it truly feels like an application. It's fast, responsive, and behaves like a desktop app. It features a typical expanded view, where all articles are listed in their full form on the right, but I prefer the List View which I have pictured here, with its unique way of expanding only the article you select in-line with the rest of the headlines. Another wonderful new addition to gReader's tool belt are lots and lots of new keyboard shortcuts; it is now possible to navigate everything in Google Reader - the feed list on the left (even expanding folders), headlines, articles, everything - from the keyboard. I'm not saying NetNewsWire can't do this - I'm simply impressed at how well gReader, a web app, pulls it off.OrganizationI have over 300 feeds covering topics for personal, freelancing and blogging purposes (yes, you guys), and Google Reader offers some great ways of bookmarking, sharing and tagging both feeds and individual headlines. The first and easiest method of saving important headlines is, of course, the typical Google UI of the 'star' - marking a star next to a headline, just like starring messages in Gmail, is just like flagging headlines in any other reader. Google Reader goes farther, however. Much farther. Headlines can also be individually tagged, and those tags can have their own RSS feeds, allowing me to easily tag and organize articles for TUAW and for my personal blog. At the tail end of organization, gReader also features a 'Share' button (and keyboard shortcut) for headlines, which creates an actual public webpage with a list of shared (and styled) headlines, that can also be inserted easily into something like a blog sidebar. You can think of it as a quickie-linked list. While certainly not all RSS users need all these fine-toothed filing and sharing features, they're a blessing for my various lines of work, and it's great to have all this under the umbrella of a powerful web app.PortabilityI get around. I bus it to downtown Denver for classes, and I'm constantly running around town doing a lot of errands my wife can't because she works 20 hours a day as a high school English teacher. Being able to fill those few minutes of waiting at the grocery store or the dentist's office by accessing my Google Reader feeds online with my mobile phone is a very handy thing. This feature didn't seem to receive any major upgrades with the new gReader (c'mon, it's mobile web - how great can it be?), but not having to sync my feeds or OPML files between a few newsreaders is a very nice burden to have off my back.No hard feelingsI'm not writing this post to bash NetNewsWire; while I have a few gripes with it, that app has served me well for years, and I'll still keep it around for emergency purposes, for sure. I also think Ranchero NewsGator still has one of the best darn readers on the market, even the free Lite version. On the flip side, Google Reader still isn't without its shortcomings; while it can handle tons of feeds and massive numbers of headlines with skill and grace, it still doesn't feature a search option (I know: a Google product lacking a search - what the?), and it can't handle authenticated feeds, which means I just have to give Mr. Gruber and The Deck a few more page hits a week (hey, it's a Labs product - not even beta. Give 'em some credit). Fortunately, those missing features weren't mortal for my needs, so I wanted to help get the word out on a great RSS reading product that might work as well for others as it does for me. If you haven't looked at Google Reader in a while, it's had a heckuva facelift and feature upgrade. Check out Google's announcement post of the update, or dive in and get your RSS on.
Top Mac feed readers face off
It's no exaggeration to say that the day I started using a feed reader, my internet life changed forever. Suddenly, instead of having to click through my regular cohort of a few dozen sites, I was able to scan hundreds of sites for the news I wanted. And while the debate over which feed reader is the best isn't as heated an affair as the whole Vi vs Emacs ruckus - Vi wins, of course - people are still pretty passionate about their chosen application.And so it was that I came across this post at Macintalk that compares my favourite reader, NetNewsWire, with that other darling, NewsFire.While NetNewsWire takes a few hits for its dull aesthetics, it makes up for it where it matters, offering more viewing options and a built-in browser. NewsFire has more than just good looks going for it, though, such as an in-line podcast player. In the end, as is so often the case, it comes down to what you want to use it for. I don't think I'll be changing just yet.What about you? What are you using to read TUAW's feed, or are you stuck browsing the site in Lynx? Not that there's anything wrong with that.
NewsFire 1.4
There are two types of Mac RSS geeks: those who use NetNewsWire and those who use NewsFire. NewsFire 1.4 might finally be the version that I, an admitted feed junkie, can actually use. It seems that NewsFire 1.4 has many performance improvements including much better handling of a large number of feeds (I have about 700 at the moment). Amongst the other new features are: Status sort type ahead discovery in feed selection improved media player that supports video NewsFire 1.4 is a free upgrade for all licensed users while a brand new copy costs $18.99.
NetNewsWire 2.1 released
After all the beta releases, the testing and the blood sweat and tears, NetNewsWire 2.1 has gone official. In case you've been living under a rock the past few months, this long-anticipated release of the most.popular.newsreader.evar includes major new features like syncing with NewsGator, posting to del.icio.us, emailing articles, printing and an interesting new sorting paradigm: by attention (has anyone heard anything about how well that one's actually working?).With this release, NNW is also now a Universal Binary and has received some major performance boosts on both Intel and PowerPC-based Macs. This is a free upgrade for owners of NNW 2.0, so what are you waiting for? Go get a copy.Ranchero notes that NetNewsWire Lite 2.1 is still in beta. Also, from what I remember, now that NetNewsWire 2.1 has gone official, I'm pretty sure that sale they had running is over.
NetNewsWire 2.1b37
Another day, another beta of NetNewsWire hits the streets. The latest beta brings with it a French localization, as well as NewsGator syncing subscriptions via https (I wouldn't want anyone to nab my subscription list). It may also fix a crashing problem with favicons (but it might not, this is a beta folks).Get it while it is hot.
NetNewsWire 2.1b36 fixes server/network, news updating issues
As if Ranchero employed hundreds of little coder gnomes who work around the clock, the company has cranked out yet another beta release of NetNewsWire 2.1 to fix news updating issues. Turns out NNW's ability to grab news might experience some quirks if NewsGator syncing became flaky, so this release is targeted at fixing the issue.By now you probably know the drill; you can grab your copy at their beta page.
NetNewsWire 2.1b33
Hot on the heels of NetNewsWire 2.1b32, Newsgator has released NetNewsWire 2.1b33 which crushes some syncing bugs, and some combine view bugs. It also fixes a problem where the demo would think that the trial period had expired (even when it hadn't).If you're a fan of NetNewsWire and beta software, go give it a whirl.
Shrook now free
Shrook, a full featured RSS reader for OS X, is now freeware according to Shrook developer Graham Parks. In an email to TUAW he assures us that development of Shrook will continue, the only thing that has changed is the price. Why the sudden change to freeware? To quote Graham, 'to piss off Brent Simmons if nothing else.'Hey, I'm all for spite creating freeware, though I think I'll stick with NetNewsWire myself.
Latest NetNewsWire beta enables 2-year Newsgator subscription
The latest beta of NetNewsWire, 2.1b32, enables the two-year Newsgator Online Premium account that comes with purchasing a copy of NetNewsWire. Once you install/upgrade your copy of NetNewsWire to this latest beta, you will be prompted with a dialog about this new account, offering to create one or, if you're already syncing with a basic Newsgator account, simply notifying you that your account has now been upgraded to the Premium version, which includes all sorts of extra features such as: NewsGator Mobile HTML Reader NewsGator Email 20 Keyword search feeds 2 URL search feeds 2 Email feeds Along with this highly-anticipated premium syncing goodness is a fix that makes sure you don't receive an error message when Newsgator can't be contacted if you're offline. After all, being offline isn't really an error... or is it?
NetNewsWire 2.1b23
The NetNewsWire 2.1 beta rolls on with the release of 2.1b23. This release sees improvements in NewsGator Syncing (which you don't have to use, but it is awesome), better password support, proxies, and much more.Read the changelog, or get all the details on the NewNewsWire beta page.
NetNewsWire on sale for $19.95
Ranchero is selling NetNewsWire - the most popular newsreader on Mac or Windows (and it isn't even available for Windows!) - for just $19.95 until their long awaited 2.1 update ships, which their blog post says is "within the next few weeks." While this is $5 off regular price, they're also offering $10 off the NetNewsWire/MarsEdit bundle, which will no longer exist once NNW 2.1 ships (MarsEdit will simply sell by itself for $24.95 from now on).Fortunately, there are no special tricks, codes or handshakes you need to remember to pick up these stellar apps at a discount. Simply head on over to Ranchero's store with a credit card ready.
NetNewsWire 2.1 public beta offers Newsgator syncing, more enhancements
It's been a long time coming boys and girls, but Ranchero has unveiled a public beta version of their much-anticipated 2.1 update to the most popular RSS reader out there: NetNewsWire. As Scott's preview earlier this month mentioned, the most buzz-worthy new feature by far is headline syncing with Newsgator (the app's new overlords). However, the change notes for the update list a whole new set of features that I find more interesting like posting to del.icio.us, emailing headlines and an interesting new ability to sort subscriptions by "attention." This means NetNewsWire can sort headlines according to statistics like how often they are opened, posted to del.icio.us and more. The overall performance and responsiveness of NetNewsWire has dramatically increased from a number of enhancements, one of the most notable being that it is now a Universal Binary.The NetNewsWire beta is at 2.1b17 as of this writing, and it is a free upgrade for registered users. As far as I know, the free Newsgator account compatible with syncing is not available yet. One final word of caution if you decide to make the jump: back up your NetNewsWire support folder just in case something goes wrong. After all, it is a beta.I played around with the beta on my PowerBook and must say: NetNewsWire has gotten a lot zippier. Things like marking large amounts of headlines (600-1000 or more) as read are much faster, and the UI has received some welcomed polish. Even with these updates, however, my newsreading still belongs to endo. At the end of the day though, it's great to see newsreading apps as a whole pushing the medium and offering useful features that get everyone's RSS feeds flowing.
NNW Unread Menu
I like NetNewsWire, so it stands to reason that I'll like any software that extends NNW and that's just what NNW Unread Menu does.More specifically it displays a menu item with your unread items count, and if you click on the menu item you get a menu with the blog name and the number of unread posts.That's pretty cool, but the best feature is that the application supports Growl. Each new post will spawn a Growl notification, which isn't a problem if you subscribe to a normal amount of blogs but if you're like me and have something like 700 subscriptions it can take awhile for each item to pop up.NNW Unread Menu is Universal and freeware.
Is the Mail.app look being copied too much?
Fraser Speirs, developer of apps like FlickrExport and Xjournal, posed an interesting issue on his blog the other day: is the general look and UI of Mail.app being duplicated by too many other developers? Fraser doesn't necessarily dislike the Mail.app look and feel, nor is he taking a jab at developers, but since he's running Mail.app, NetNewsWire and Yojimbo, he's making a few errors in Exposé simply because these three app windows (not to mention others like Ecto) look very similar.Fraser poses a valid point, and it's a good question I thought worthy of mentioning for you TUAW readers. What do you think? Are too many apps using the same (handy) UI and cluttering up your desktop and Exposé views? Sound off.[via Hawk Wings]
A NNW script to email a selected headline
A code ninja by the name of Robert Daeley has answered the prayers of NetNewsWire users everywhere and created an AppleScript script with one simple (and essential) purpose in mind: sending the currently selected headline to a Mail.app message. Installation is simple, since there's no setup or editing needed; just grab the script from Daeley's Celsius1414 blog, toss it into your NNW scripts folder and start emailing away.I think I speak for a lot of NetNewsWire users when I say: thanks Robert Daeley!
NetNewsWire to iWeb applescript
I think I've finally found the last reason I need to move my personal blog over to iWeb, thanks to a Ranchero blog post. The NetNewsWire to iWeb Applescript app bundle is pretty simple to set up: download the script and place it wherever you want. In NNW, simply chose this script (NOT iWeb) as your external weblog editor, and *bam* - you can now use Apple's slick new WYSIWYG iLife web app to blog NNW headlines to your heart's content.At the bottom of the post, the script's author mentions the possibility of creating similar scripts for Blogger.com and iBlog, just in case iWeb isn't your blog tool of choice.
Ask TUAW: What would you change about NetNewsWire?
I just realized it's been a while since we've done a "what would you change" post. In the past we've covered a lot of Apple's big hitters like Safari, Mail and iMovie, so I thought we'd delve into one of the more popular 3rd party apps out there: NetNewsWire.Since NNW can boast the largest newsreader app user base whether on Windows or OS X, I figured it would make great fodder for feature requests, changes, improvements and bug complaints. What's even better is the fact that I myself, and most of the other NNW users I know, practically live in the app; in fact I know that I now spend far less time in a browser than I do in NNW.With all that said, however, it certainly isn't without its issues. A new feature I'm dying for is a far more robust flagging and labelling system, like I think NewsMac Pro does. The ability to assign (and organize by) different kinds and colors of labels would be a thing sent from code-ninja-heaven in my book. I would also love more customizable icons of feeds and groups, much like how BlogBridge allows for group icons. This would help a lot with finding *that one* feed or group in lists of 250 feeds and groups, like I have.But enough about me and my NetNewsWire wishes - what about you, valiant TUAW (news) readers? What are your feature requests, fixes and bug complaints for the web's most popular newsreader?
3 Most used apps
Molly asks what 3 applications were the most used on your machine this year, and I thought I would pass along the question to you, dear readers.First, I shall answer it: NetNewsWire Safari TextWrangler Since I am a big time blogger (or something) I read lots of feeds, and I am expected to both read them and then comment on them. This triumvirate of applications keeps my workflow flowin'.[via Binary Bonsai]
Shortcut Roundup: NetNewsWire
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm a nut for getting things done quicker through the beauty of keyboard shortcuts. I'm also a nut for NetNewsWire, and after a week of giving a few online newsreaders like Bloglines and Google Reader an honest try, I have to come back home to my comfortable, productive, plugin-able and del.icio.us-friendly NetNewsWire. Why, you ask? Well, to put it simply: it's those gosh darn productively intoxicating keyboard shortcuts.Since I find these shortcuts so handy and since you have to dig for some of them, I figured I'd share my favorites in case anyone was wondering how to leverage the power of NNW. These shortcuts are based off a couple of assumptions: 1) You're using the regular NetNewsWire, not the Lite version; I've never used Lite, so I don't know what shortcuts and functionality are present, and 2) you have at least a group (folder) or two of feeds instead of just one big flat list: tab - shifts selection/focus from the feeds list to headlines to articles themselves. Handy for invoking other shortcuts. space bar - scrolls the present article, then selects the next unread article, not just the next one in the list k - marks all articles in a feed or group as read. Oddly, the shortcut for this action under the News menu is cmd k u - mark as unread. While k can mark an entire group as read, u will not perform the opposite on an entire group; only an individual headline. Not sure why. d - delete read items from a group. Handy for customized housecleaning if you have a boatload of subscriptions (I have 252) and set the preference to hold on to articles. b (or right arrow) - open in browser. Again, under the News menu this option is cmd b. Again, not sure why. . (the period key) - when a group is selected, this will expand the group , (the comma key) - collapsing a group ' (the apostrophe) - expands all groups ; (semicolon) - you should be able to figure out this one a and z - when the focus is on the subscription list, these select the previous and next subscriptions, respectivelyNow you have a few more shortcuts to help breeze through your mounting pile of news subscriptions. If any NNW ninjas out there want to toss in their thoughts on handy shortcuts, fire away in the comments.
Little known NetNewsWire features
People often stop me in the street and ask me, 'Scott, why are you just a NetNewsWire fanboy?' I often say, 'Well, it just works!' or 'I really like the icon, it is a satellite!'Those answers are lame. Luckily Brent Simmons, the creator of NetNewsWire, has just posted about a bunch of features that people may not know about in his product. Did you know that you can subscribe to scripts written in AppleScript, Perl, Ruby, Python (and plenty of other languages?)?Read the post, and learn a little something about my favorite application.
