MakeUseOf Directory » google reader

ReaderShare: Get Back The Old Sharing Options In Google Reader [Chrome]

abhijeet — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:01:17 +0000

Google Reader was recently revamped with a new interface and new features, and a major development was the phasing out of direct sharing and the introduction of Google+ integration. A lot of people have voiced their grievances against this, and ReaderShare wants to help them. It is a Chrome extension that brings back those sharing options which long time Google Reader users miss in the new version. The good thing is that the new features and Google+ remain intact, so it’s a bonus.

As you see in the screenshot above, the old Share button sits alongside the Google+ +1 button. Obviously, since this is a Chrome extension, its functionality is limited to Chrome. Some old features like like/unlike item, share with notes, etc are still unavailable.

Features

Get old Google Reader Sharing options back.
Add-on for Chrome.
Some old features not available.

Check out ReaderShare @ chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmgmcmhmodidojodfoekpbjnejlhcbpb?hl=en-US (By Abhijeet from GT Mobiles)

Mishra Reader: Google Reader Client Based On Metro UI

Israel Nicolas — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 17:01:35 +0000

We all had good impressions about the Metro UI which Microsoft introduced for their Windows 7 Phone and the upcoming Windows 8, and there are already some desktop applications that are following the design philosophy. Mishra Reader is a desktop Google Reader client that combines the sleek animations and smooth transitions of Metro, with the depth and functionality of a standalone RSS client.

Once you have installed Mishra Reader, the app will ask you to log in with your Google account details to start fetching your feed. Here you can check out your unread items where you can browse through your feed categories. Clicking an article will open a new window where you can read its full version. You can also go straight to the feed’s website by clicking the browser icon within the feed navigation. Mishra Reader also lives on your system tray to fetch the latest unread items, perfect if you want to monitor your feed.

Mishra Reader is a nice example of a useful Metro UI desktop app. This program is also great if you like a dark interface for your desktop apps.

Features

Made from Windows presentation foundation.
Google Reader client for Windows.
Lives on the system tray.
Smooth animations and sleek transitions.
Metro-UI Google reader.
Similar Tools: Webreader, Desktop Google Reader, and Gruml.

Check out Mishra Reader @ www.mishrareader.codeplex.com

Reader Plus: Enhance Google Reader With Cool Features

abhijeet — Sat, 07 May 2011 03:01:32 +0000

If you use Google Reader on a frequent basis, and want some more features like the ability to change the theme or direct sharing to sites like Facebook then you might want to try out this Chrome extension called Reader Plus. It adds a lot of features to Google Reader, some of which are a colored list view, an unread counter that shows the exact number of unread items even if it’s more than 1000, an advert remover, various skins to apply as the theme and much more.

Since it is a Chrome extension, you’ll need to use Reader in Chrome to ensure that this extension works. A simplicity fan like me might not want to use this extension, but if you are a power RSS user who browses hundreds of feeds every day, you should check it out.

Features

Chrome extension to enhance Google Reader.
Add colored list view, better unread counter, favicons.
Also add themes and more sharing options.
Similar tool: FeedSquares.

Check out Reader Plus @ chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/hhcknjkmaaeinhdjgimjnophgpbdgfmg (via Lifehacker By Abhijeet from GT Mobiles)

Super Google Reader: Read Your Google Reader RSS Feeds In Full Form [Chrome]

MOin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 23:01:45 +0000

Google Reader, while a very useful service, could use some improvements to its interface. If you are looking for a better way to read your feeds within Google Reader while keeping the basic interface unchanged, check out Super Google Reader. It is a browser extension for Google Chrome. It provides readable content or iFraming of feed entries. The extension lets you read RSS feeds full form and offers it in 3 readable views: directly from the source feed, an entry link in an iFrame, and original feed entry. The extension’s options are built transparently into Google Reader and can be accessed through Reader’s options.

Features:

A user-friendly browse extension.
Works with Google Chrome.
Provides readable content or iFraming of feed entries in Google reader.
Provides 3 modes for viewing an entry.
Supports keyboard shortcuts.
Similar tools: FullFeeds, FiveFilter, Wizardrss, Webreader, Reader2Twitter, FeedSquares and MobileRSS.
Also read related articles:
19 Tools and Tips to improve Google Reader
3 Ways To Use Google Reader As An Online Archive
How To Surf Feeds with Google Reader Productively

Check out Super Google Reader @ chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/khbjahpecnkenngkidhioicnfpakihgo# (by MOin from ThumbPress)

Webreader: Wonderful AIR-based desktop client for Google reader

MOin — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 19:01:57 +0000

You can easily add your RSS feeds to Google Reader and stay updated with your favorite websites. But for many people, the interface of Google Reader is too basic. For them, a better alternative to Google Reader’s native web interface would be the visually appealing desktop Reader client, WebReader.

WebReader is a desktop client for Google Reader. It is cross-platform since it is based on Adobe AIR. The setup file is sized at 1.4MB and the program installs very quickly. You provide the application with your Google account username and password for it to fetch your subscriptions from Google Reader. Later you can add feeds from within the client. Your feeds are clearly categorized in the left pane with the article being displayed in the right pane. You can further categorize the feeds and articles through different folders. You can quickly search the articles using the search bar located in the top left. New items in the feed are quickly followed by a desktop notification. Three different views are available for articles: details, summaries, and titles.

The font size of articles can be easily adjusted. Any article you like can be directly emailed, tweeted, or shared on Facebook from within the application.

From the images above you can see that WebReader’s interface is a lot more appealing than the native web interface of Google Reader. Once you make the switch, you will never again log onto Google Reader in your web browser.

Features:

Google reader desktop client.
Based on Adobe AIR hence cross-platform.
Lets you view articles in detail, as summaries, or only as titles.
Organizes feeds and folders.
Pops a desktop notifications when new items in the feed appear.
Lets you control font size.
Similar tools: FeedSquares, MobileRSS and Google Reader Play.
Also read related articles:

Check out WebReader @ www.getwebreader.com (by MOin from ThumbPress)

Summify: A Social Filter That Brings The News That Matters To You

Israel Nicolas — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 21:01:49 +0000

Social networks have become one of our most used news source . The logic goes ““ if your friends care about a certain news, then you should care about it too. But too many news and updates will only give you lots of noise, which limits your ability to find the news that is the most important. Fortunately, Summify is a cool app that filters your social news and RSS feeds and provides you with the most important updates only, similar to what Gmail does with Priority Inbox.

Summify works by looking at the most shared and discussed items that you are interested in, and then ranks them by importance. To start, just add your Facebook, Twitter, and Google Reader accounts to aggregate your posts. Summify then scans your feeds, removes duplicate news items to reduce clutter, and show streaming updates from your friends with the best stories.

You can either read the Top News or Recent news when in reading mode. When you click an update you will find some social stats that justifies why you can see this story. You can also “Like” or “Share” the new updates from the reading dashboard.

Summify is a cool tool for anyone who love to read interesting news shared by friends without going through all the clutter. For more info watch demo video below:

Features:

Free and easy sign-up.
Aggregates Facebook, Twitter, and Google Reader updates.
View filtered news.
Removes duplicate social updates.
Similar tool: Fanfeedr.

Check out Summify @ www.summify.com

Joliprint Bookmarklet: Turn google reader articles or websites into printer friendly PDF

MOin — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 19:01:21 +0000

Google Reader is a great tool to help you read the feeds you have subscribed to. This could be made even more convenient if you could read those articles offline. Through JoliPrint, this is possible.

JoliPrint is a free browser bookmarklet that you can add to your web browser’s bookmarks toolbar. When you open up an article in Google Reader and click on JoliPrint’s bookmarklet, the article’s printer-friendly, attractively formatted form is downloaded as a PDF file.

Not only will this help in reading the article offline but you will have a printer-friendly version that will save your printer’s toner ink, in case you choose to print the article.

Features:

A simple bookmarklet ““ no installation required.
Turn Google Reader articles and websites into printer friendly PDF.
The downloaded file is printer-friendly.
Similar tools: HTML to PDF Converter, CreatePDF and Web2PDF.

Check out JoliPrint @ www.joliprint.com/bookmark-instructions (via Lifehacker) (by MOin from ThumbPress)

FeedSquares: Enhances Google Reader With Visual Interface (Chrome)

TehseenBaweja — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:01:27 +0000

GoogleReader is one of the best tools to skim through your feeds but it can get too texty. FeedSquares is a simple Google Chrome extension that gives your Google Reader a visual boost. All your subscriptions appear as colored blocks and displays the number of unread items.

Clicking on any subscription would open the list of unread items as thumbnails, displaying the title as well as the included image. Clicking on any items will allow you to read it and share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or Google Buzz. You can also read items shared by your friends and use FeedSquares on your Android phone. The tool completely synchronizes with your original Google Reader so you can always switch back and forth.

Features:

Makes Google Reader better with cool visual interface.
Quickly browse, read and share your feeds with others.
Feeds auto-update in the background.
Image previews for feeds.
Also available on Android.

Install FeedSquares from GoogleChromeExtensions

Reader2Twitter: Automatically Share Google Reader Updates On Twitter

MOin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:01:23 +0000

Many people use Google Reader to read their feeds. The service is user friendly and provides great access to your Atom and RSS feeds, whether online or offline. Imagine how convenient it would be if you could get your Reader updates on your Twitter account. That is possible through Reader2Twitter.

Reader2Twitter is a free to use Twitter service that shares your Reader updates on your Twitter account. Setting up the service is fairly easy. You start by allowing the app to post on your Twitter account. Then you give the app your Google Reader Number ID. In case you have not set up a Number ID yet, follow these instructions to easily set it up.

After entering your Reader Number ID, you can even choose to add a Bit.ly username and add a custom Tweet format. You can choose to sync all Reader entries onto Twitter or sync only with Note or use Reader to Tweet.

Features:

Share Google Reader on Twitter.
Makes it easier to get our Reader updates into Twitter.
Shares our Reader updates with all our followers.
Can be helpful for users who want to read feeds on both Google Reader and Twitter.
Similar tools: Dlvr.It, TwitterFeed and TwitterLists2RSS.
Also read related articles: Get Your Favorite RSS Feeds in your Twitter Account and Readtwit ““ Turn Links in Twitter Tweets into an RSS Feed.

Check out Reader2Twitter @ reader2twitter.appspot.com (by MOin from Thumb Press)

Google Reader Play: Browse Your RSS Feeds Visually

TehseenBaweja — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:01:04 +0000

Google Reader is one of the best apps around to read your RSS feeds and now Google is making it even more fun by introducing the Google Reader Play feature. The play feature lets you browse your RSS feeds visually so you can easily skim through them.

You can choose to browse any subscription or category of feeds in Play by simply clicking the little arrow in front of each subscription and selecting View in Reader Play. While browsing items in GoogleReaderPlay, you can still Star, Like or Share an item. A thumbnail strip shows you previous and next feeds to the one you are currently viewing. Feeds are viewed as a slideshow and clicking on the next or previous arrows provides super easy navigation.

Browse your RSS feeds visually.
View them as a slideshow with easy navigation.
Right click any subscription to view in Play.
Star, Like or share item from within the slideshow.
Start/stop slideshow with a single click.

Visit GoogleReaderPlay @ www.google.com/reader/play