Saturday, April 24, 2010

The Web According to Google #87: Google Reader

1) Take the tour or sign-up and try the service out. Do you currently use a feed reader? If so which one do you use? Would you switch to Google Reader if you don't already use it? Why or why not?Read a little about one or two of the Google Mobile apps available for mobile phones. Which ones do you think you would use the most and how?


I took the tour which was not much more than a listing of the features of Google Reader. I currently have an account with Bloglines that I created when I did the original iHCPL 23 Things. I hardly ever check it. Last time was 200 days ago. Rather than transfer the feeds there to Google Reader, I decided to search for and add some feeds to a new Google Reader account and see if I would use it more. The items I selected have to do with Spring, Texas; the Barbara Bush Community partners; and Harris County politics. The Bloglines account has feeds more related to the field of librarianship.

I checked the App Store on my iPhone to see what mobile readers are available. I found:

App Google Reader (2-1/2 stars; 97 ratings; $.99)
iNews Premium 9 (3-1/2 stars; 13 ratings; $3.99)
GReader App (2-1/2 stars; 686 ratings; free)
Feeds - RSS Reader (3 stars; 56 ratings; $3.99)
GooReader (1 star; 6 ratings; $2.99)
Newsie Google Reader (4 stars; 5 ratings; $3.99)
MobileRSS - Google RSS News Reader (3 stars; 735 ratings; $1.99)

I decided to give the last one a try after reading the reviews. I installed it and it linked to the new Google Reader account I just created on my laptop. Probably I will check it more often since it is on my phone.

2) Take a look at some of your favorite sites. Do they have feeds? If they do, subscribe to one of the feeds. Hint: Our website has feeds.
As noted above, I add a bunch of feeds to my new Google Reader account.

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