I was trying to figure out why, for the last few days, Bloglines has frequently failed to notice when I've read something from one or another feed. Four times out of five, the next time it checked for updated feeds it was re-adding all of the stuff I just read.
Well, I found out why this was, and I also found that this wasn't the half of it. It turns out that Bloglines is also now just completely ignoring many feed updates. So you get to read some stuff over and over, while missing out on other stuff entirely. Awesome.
So, finally, it was off to Google Reader for me.
(Migrating to Google Reader is quite easy, if your current feed aggregator doodad can export your subscription list in OPML format. This, fortunately, is something that Bloglines has not yet forgotten how to do.)
I've been using Bloglines since 2003. Apparently Mark Fletcher, the guy who started the site, sold it to Ask.com (where he later took a job) in 2005, and they've now pretty much just left it to rot on the vine. (To the point that even Fletcher's sick of it.)
I was happy enough with the Bloglines interface, and it's still got a couple of features that suit me better than Google Reader does. But only if it, you know, works. Which it doesn't any more. Oh well.
2 February 2009 at 4:13 am
I've been using Google Reader for ages, through several major versions. I quite like it, especially since you can install Google Gears and then download 1000 items (minus pictures) for offline viewing.
2 February 2009 at 6:07 am
I like the description of IAC.com's property RushmoreDrive.com...it's not condescending at ALL:
"RushmoreDrive.com is the place for the Black community to discover more."
2 February 2009 at 6:44 am
I too have been vexed by the stupidity of bloglines lately. The problem I have with google reader is that it is so very much slower than bloglines, With google reader and the exact same set of feeds it takes much longer to plow through them as it doesn't allow quick endless page downing. This could of course just be me, but a few other people have noticed the same thing. All the fancy place remembering item-textualness of google reader adds slivers of time and it really does add up.
2 February 2009 at 10:08 am
Have you thought of installing Opera instead? It's got integrated RSS built right into the UI, with full search and archive facilities. Besides, it's a better broser anyway. ;-)
2 February 2009 at 11:24 am
I've been using google reader mobile for quite a while now. After tiring from stupid CSS tricks that kept breaking, I just switched to that. For my browsing habits -- open a ton of tabs and work through them, sifting as I go -- and my slow computer, it's a lot faster than the scripted interface.
There's also an "iphone" reader interface, which is like a compromise between regular and "mobile," but which I personally don't find any more useful than either.
2 February 2009 at 1:04 pm
Heh, plumbers.
I like how they made him look like Mario. For an extra touch of teh lame they should have also added one of those animated gifs of a stick figure digging a hole, with the caption "under construction". I know for certain that I always associate writing html as hard physical labour!
Actually digging makes sense - you have to dig through mountains of shite on teh intarwebs to find the useful nuggets.
2 February 2009 at 2:07 pm
i use google reader as well.
stupid gawker sites put out way too many posts though.
5 February 2009 at 5:00 am
My favorite thing about Reader is that you get desktop app niceties (like keyboard shortcuts) in a web app, which means that opening links acts like opening a link on a web page (good) vice opening a link from a desktop app (less good).