MacMost Now 713: RSS Feeds With Google Reader

With RSS reading functionality being removed from Safari and Mail in Mountain Lion, it is a good time to come up with an alternative. Google offers a free, easy-to-use and powerful RSS reader web site. It also works with several different apps so you can read your news on different devices and keep your data in sync.

You can also watch this video at YouTube (but with ads).

Video Transcript: Hi this is Gary with MacMost Now. On today's episode lets take a look at Google reader. So according to all reports rss support and Safari and Mail are gonna be going to be go away in mountain lion so if you've been using them its time to look for a new way to read rss feeds. Now there are lots of different apps out there a lot of different sites out there but I found one of the simplest ways to keep track of rss feeds is just to use Google reader, so if you already have a Google account say a gmail account you can just go to Google.com slash reader to go to Google reader you already have a reader account so it is just a matter then of learning the interface and being able to add rss feeds that you subscribed to. Now if already know the address of the rss feed you simply go to subscribe here on the left and then just enter it in, so here is the MacMost rss feed address, bring that in and then you can see all the MacMost items. It doesn't look to different than it does using the old safari functionality. Now you can also use this subscribe button as a search button so for instance I can type in the name of a new service and hit add and it will go and find that service there I can basically look through the ones that match their and there's the top stories one and hit the subscribe button. Now on the left here I can tick my subscriptions there's MacMost CNN and I can continue to use the subscribe to find other things as well. Now once you have subscribed to several feeds you can click on all items over here and simply see a list of all the new news items and all the different feeds that your looking at, you can also just click on an individual feed here to jump right to it. You've got lots of standard options on the top for an instance sort the different items you want to read you can mark things as read and you've got different ways of viewing them for instance I can view them in a more condensed view like that if I want as well I can refresh any time I'm reading it and of course if I wanna go into an article I can click on it and it will jump right to the information about that 
and I can then continue by clicking on it to actually go to the website.So one of the really cool things is that a lot of apps like for instances the Newsrack app here has integration with Google reader,a lot of apps actually do this you then enter your account, your account name and your password and then actually view your Google reader data on an app and it would sync everything so if you star something or mark something as read it would actually be synced between say an app you were using and a website so you have the ability to do your rss in the cloud as it were looking at it in different places like your mac or the web or using a app. So there's a quick look at Google reader if you want to get a jump start on moving away from using safari and mail for rss feed it might be a good idea to start looking into it now, till next time this is gary with MacMost Now.
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Comments: 8 Responses to “MacMost Now 713: RSS Feeds With Google Reader”

Simon David Allen

13 years ago

Why are Apple removing RSS functionality from Mail and Safari? That seems a retrograde step.

Gary Rosenzweig

We don't know. I can speculate.
I'm sure Apple has data that says that very few people used RSS in those apps. In addition, they know there are tons of alternate ways to handle RSS (apps, web sites, etc).
So they decided to trim the features. Apple does that. Rather than letting apps bloat and get bigger and bigger and more complex, they trim. From a design standpoint it is important. And as long as there are good alternatives (and there are in this case) then why not? Keep Safari focused. Keep Mail focused. Let those that want an RSS reader (like you, and me too) get it in a separate app.

Justin Lee

Hey Gary,

In the video you said google reader is compatible with the "news rack app". Is this the "news stand app" on iOS devices? if not, what is the "news rack app"? this is really cool, and I appreciated your previous video on cellular hotspots

Newsrack: http://macmost.com/a-288815275

Marco

Flipboard app can also read your google rss account, great design!

Mr Anthony Cotton

12 years ago

I was on a English TV station last night,and a pop up said you need a RSS Feeder. I haven`t got a clue what this is. Then i clicked on a link which opened Apple APP Store. I picked one called Reader Notifier,and the install button came up,and that downloaded it. Google had already installed it. It was in the application`s folder,and in the top right hand corner ware the date is was an icon. In the list the first one is Google Reader,and it says open at log in. I leave my computer to Sleep,and i have never used the login system. Can you help Gary.

So, what is it you are trying to do? Sounds like you want to subscribe to that site's RSS feed. If you do, then click on that link again and now that you have an RSS reader it should work.

Yes thats what this message seems to be telling me. Just has you described Gary.
Yes i did want to subscribe to the site`s RSS Feed. Google must have done it for me,because i was back on that site last night,and everything was all right.
Do you think it`s a good idea,to let Google keep your passwords,because i have noticed you gain access to sites very quickly. The site is Channel 4,and reason you can join it,because it`s not connected to the BBC,and you would have to have a TV Licence. Thanks for your help Gary.

Comments Closed.

MacMost Now 713: RSS Feeds With Google Reader

Comments: 8 Responses to “MacMost Now 713: RSS Feeds With Google Reader”

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