Following Wednesday's news that Google would be shutting down its RSS aggregation platform Google Reader in July, personalized magazine company Zite today announced that it had built a functional replacement that does not utilize Google's infrastructure.
Zite has long included support for Google Reader, using the platform to allow readers to import customized feeds into the app. Zite’s replacement for Google Reader was built in just six hours and is simple to set up.
Users are able to link a Google Reader account to the app and then access those feeds through the app's Quicklist section.
Zite notes that the current hastily pulled together implementation of Google Reader offers just basic functionality, which will be improved in the future.
Note that this is a basic feed reading only. There are definitely some limitations:
-The "Google Reader" section will only appear after you’ve restarted the app or added another category (something we’ll fix in the near future)-Not every RSS feed is currently indexed by us, which is something we’ll be working on.
-There’s no way to edit your feeds (something we hope to add an interface for, probably on the Web)
-No folder support (we’re thinking about the best way to implement or eliminate the need for folders)
-No ongoing syncing with Google Reader (you can force a sync by re-linking, though)
-No prominent count of unread articles (just kidding, this is a feature!)
Other companies are also planning to release Google Reader alternatives. Digg has announced that it will be creating a reader of its own and Feedly has developed a clone of the Google Reader API called Normandy, which will allow users to seamlessly transition to the service.
Universal app Zite, which received an update earlier this week, is available for download from the App Store. [Direct Link]
Top Rated Comments
And you know what? That sucks.
I'm holding out hope that The Old Reader (if I can ever make it through the queue) or Newsblur can fill the void for those of us who live inside Google Reader and depend on RSS to do our jobs efficiently. Someone please give us something that simply gathers info from the sources we want and lets us read what WE want, when WE want it, without you trying to decide what it is you think we should want to read. Some of us need to go through "hundreds of articles" because often times the bit of info we need is in some obscure place.
One thing for sure is that, in this age of free everything on the 'Net, I won't mind in the least paying for a good GR alternative.
I use it rather than Flipboard and the like. It's really a neat app.
Am still really ticked off that Apple shut down Rss support in safari, that's the only reason I started using Google Reader.
If that is how you read your news, then I have an alternative that you might like. Check out Feed Fiend (http://feedfiend.com). The focus is on simplicity, which sounds like something you are looking for. In fact, I built it because I wanted something simple, so you can rest assured that it will stay simple. It is also totally free.
*Disclaimer: I own Feed Fiend.