FeedHenry

In this Attensa post a problem outlined by a Zimbra blog post is answered with; we will handle everything, don’t worry.

Zimbra says:

What you really want to avoid is a potpourri of clients all handing RSS/Atom feeds differently (each well in its own right but chaotic when viewed as a collection of feed services).

Attensa replies:

Our reader line-up includes a full featured Windows desktop reader and Outlook reader, a reader for Sametime Instant Messaging for alerts and time sensitive collaborative feeds and a Web reader integrated with the Attensa Feed Server. They all use the same architecture to facilitate “knowledge flow.”

I think this is the wrong answer, though understandable as it is driven by business development and the entrenched server market.

What happens if I am on a platform or device that Attensa does not have a client for? I’ll have to use a client that is supported on the platform and probably doesn’t tie into the Attensa system.

Even if more clients start using the Attensa or NewsGator APIs these are closed and proprietary. Attensa and NewsGator will be in control and can change plans at anytime.

We need, at the least, a standard synchronisation system. What have I read from what feeds. Any RSS aggregation system needs to then expose that in a standard way. We also need live OPML so my subscriptions are kept in synch.

In a bit of fun, though potentially useful for Google Reader addicts, the Google Reader team has released a version that works well on big screens (TVs) and with the Nintendo Wii. You control scrolling with the Wiimote.

SplashCast has been making waves in the podcasting community as they aggregate and redistribute publishers feeds with little or no linkback. It is more complex though as even with linkbacks publishers are not happy as they want consumers to consume feeds directly from them and not through a third-party.

It is a thorny issue as SplashCast think they are offering a valuable service to consumers (and publishers) while publishers are generally just angry with them.

Aggregators and redistributors of syndicated media need to pay heed to the thoughts of publishers. What seems like a cool idea can turn into a copyright case.

In a way it is sad state of affairs as it devalues the potential of syndicated items living on the internet.

An extensive comparison of various feed aggregators (thanks to Martin for the link.)

Blogbridge can be a bit clunky to use but one thing they do really well is in guiding users to content. They hire and encourage people to become “expert guides” in an area. These guides create libraries of feeds around a certain topic and make it very easy to find the best content on the web.

Microformats embedded in RSS feeds are now being handled by a beta of NetNewsWire. With big sites such as LinkedIn producing RSS and using microformats the possibilities are good.

A totally OTT and impractical RSS reader but some of the ideas are interesting.

Google Reader now has a Mobile view. It is a WAP system but works well enough.

I imagine that like GMail they will release a J2ME app. in the near future too.

10 nice improvements for Google Reader.

Feedable is a decent looking aggregator. Not many features but one of the better interfaces. It does recommend feeds based on the category you are currently viewing which is handy.