I'm not given to writing about apps. There are enough people out there writing about apps, a lot of them quite badly, some of them so well that it seems pointless to attempt to pour more into the floodwaters of Applelove. But I am going to allow myself the one diversion: iOS devices are fantastic for consuming stuff - and, for a long time, the majority of my targeted consumption has been of RSS feeds. As a result, pretty much the app I consider the most essential is an RSS reader.
I won't witter on what RSS is about - if you know, you can skip a couple of paragraphs. If you don't... well, there's a brief guide on the BBC site, since the BBC carries feeds to all of its content. But so does just about everything on the web nowadays - there's an RSS feed on timmytime, hence the little orange logo at the top of the sidebar on the right. Depending on which browser you're using, you'll probably see the same logo in the address bar at the top somewhere: click on it to get some idea of how to get started.
In essence, RSS allows you to read everything you're interested in, in the same place. That same place might well be a web-based newsreader, like Google Reader - probably the most widely used approach and the one I've favoured for general web access for a few years.
I won't witter on what RSS is about - if you know, you can skip a couple of paragraphs. If you don't... well, there's a brief guide on the BBC site, since the BBC carries feeds to all of its content. But so does just about everything on the web nowadays - there's an RSS feed on timmytime, hence the little orange logo at the top of the sidebar on the right. Depending on which browser you're using, you'll probably see the same logo in the address bar at the top somewhere: click on it to get some idea of how to get started.
In essence, RSS allows you to read everything you're interested in, in the same place. That same place might well be a web-based newsreader, like Google Reader - probably the most widely used approach and the one I've favoured for general web access for a few years.
Google Reader - and this blog
Years back, an installed piece of software was much more common, but I doubt many are still loyal to that approach. (Because the cloud's where it's at kids). And, in an iOS world, there are Apps. There are tons of apps - a pretty decent roundup here.
I've been through a few - generally apps that synchronise with Google Reader - but I settled pretty early on Reeder, for both iPad and iPhone. Very minimal, very fast, very nice to use. The only flaw is its inability to add new feeds from the app, you have to do that in Google Reader. I've yet to find an app that I prefer to this for consumption, although you will have to spend a bit of time working out the interface, so minimal is it. (And don't believe what the roundup says about not being able to read feeds in folders - all this means is that he never worked out how to. Reverse-pinch is what he needed...)
I've been through a few - generally apps that synchronise with Google Reader - but I settled pretty early on Reeder, for both iPad and iPhone. Very minimal, very fast, very nice to use. The only flaw is its inability to add new feeds from the app, you have to do that in Google Reader. I've yet to find an app that I prefer to this for consumption, although you will have to spend a bit of time working out the interface, so minimal is it. (And don't believe what the roundup says about not being able to read feeds in folders - all this means is that he never worked out how to. Reverse-pinch is what he needed...)
 Reeder - top level |  Reeder - article view |
But when I say 'I've yet to find an app that I prefer to this'... well, true - until a week ago. If there's a single truth about iOS devices it's that, however much you believe you've found the perfect app for a particular function, it will be superseded by something better in a matter of months... And you will buy whatever the latest and greatest is, because it'll cost you a couple of quid at most. Or you will, if you're me, because you're forever seeking a perfect and optimised experience in your hand/manbag sized computing environment. Perhaps it is just me.
Mr Reader is the latest 'best RSS reader that I've ever seen' £2 investment. In contrast to Reeder, it has quite a complex interface, needing just as much time to assimilate, for different reasons. But I've been alternating between the two for the last week and Mr Reader has won out. It addresses the one glaring deficiency of Reeder, which is a big plus... but I've come to love the slightly more feature-rich and colourful interface. And it's slick - really, shiny, oily slick. It even has skins!
Mr Reader is the latest 'best RSS reader that I've ever seen' £2 investment. In contrast to Reeder, it has quite a complex interface, needing just as much time to assimilate, for different reasons. But I've been alternating between the two for the last week and Mr Reader has won out. It addresses the one glaring deficiency of Reeder, which is a big plus... but I've come to love the slightly more feature-rich and colourful interface. And it's slick - really, shiny, oily slick. It even has skins!
 Mr Reader - top level |  Mr Reader - article view (portrait - note the neat slide-out thumb buttons) |
But there's no iPhone version. Which is just fine, because Reeder on the iPhone is perfect - and there's no way I'm ever going to add new feeds from the iPhone, so I really don't care that it can't.
 Reeder - iPhone top level |  Reeder - iPhone article list |
There is another overlapping genre, in Magazine style apps like Flipboard and Zite. Both can pull in RSS feeds (and Facebook and Twitter etc) - but they also adopt a learning approach which is more generalised, around topics of interest. The more you read, the more they'll understand what you like to read and present you with better tailored stuff. I use both, particularly Zite - but I can't quite see them as substitutes for dedicated RSS tools: I don't quite trust the 'getting to know you' algorithm and don't like the way they mix stuff I've chosen to consume with stuff I might well be interested in. So I use them in quite different ways: Mr Reader feeds me stuff from sources I've selected, Zite and Flipboard are more like glossy mags that just happen to cover areas I can't resist reading about. Your experience may vary - but I can't quite accept technology second-guessing my desires, I like to think I'm just too contrary for that to ever be successful. Without self-image and determination we are but helpless infants...
RSS Feed