feedly

I’m disappointed with how hard it is to get people to use feeds to track updates on websites. The idea is pretty simple. You start your online browsing experience from a special feed reader tool that collects updates from your favorite websites. It’s a real time-saver because you don’t have to visit the websites to keep up, the latest stories are delivered to you. I think one of the barriers to these tools is that the user interface to track the latest stories often looks more like an email program – it just doesn’t draw in users.

Those "boring" days should be ending with new feed tools that create special custom pages and integrate social networks. The new FireFox tool called Feedly is a great example.

So what’s cool about this? Feedly works with Twitter and Google Reader (feed tracking tool) to create a magazine-style page with graphics, summaries, and more. I can use the navigation tools at the top to pick categories like "nook" or "news". When I view a story I see the latest tweets on the topic. The only thing missing with Twitter integration is for me to share stories with people in my Twitter network. Very nice work, I like it!

So what’s cool about this? Feedly works with Twitter and Google Reader (feed tracking tool) to create a magazine-style page with graphics, summaries, and more. I can use the navigation tools at the top to pick categories like “nook” or “news”. The only thing missing with Twitter integration is for me to share stories with people in my Twitter network.  Very nice work, I like it!  If you are a Firefox user check it out at http://feedly.com.

Google Reader has just rolled out a new feature aptly called “Play” that does a slideshow of your latests website updates. It makes it fun and easy to recommend and favorite items. Check it out at http://www.google.com/reader/play/