Google Reader closing on July 1-Its Alternatives

Goodbye, Google Reader
With Google Reader closing on July 1, you'll need to find a new way to get your news fix. Here are some alternatives…

NEW YORK: On July 1, we say goodbye to Google Reader, a handy tool for bringing headlines and articles from your favourite websites into a single place.

Reader's demise comes as little surprise. Google says usage has declined since Reader made its debut in 2005. RSS feeds - for really simple syndication - used to be a popular way to keep track of multiple websites without having to visit each and every one. Content comes to you, through readers such as Google Reader. More recently, though, Twitter and Facebook have performed a similar role in discovering content

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Some of the the alternatives of Google reader are

Feedly

The service that stands out is Feedly. An update available Wednesday allows Feedly to run on just about any major Web browser. The service also is available through apps on the iPhone, the iPod and Android devices.

Transferring your feeds from Reader is easy.

With Feedly, you can skip that step. Simply log in with your Google account, and all that gets done automatically. There's also no need to create and remember a separate Feedly account. You use your Google credentials each time you're back. 

On Reader, I have my feeds organized by category into folders. Those categories remain intact on Feedly, though they appear alphabetical rather than topical, as I had arranged them on Reader. It isn't too difficult to reorder them. 

Feedly excels in highlighting the most popular items from all your feeds, based on sharing and other interactions on Feedly and elsewhere.

Reeder

Overview: For a few years, Reeder has been a popular RSS reader for iOS and Mac; it synced with Google Reader to provide a nice mobile reading interface. The company has said Reeder will continue after July 1, but it’s not updating all its platforms at the same time: Right now, the iPhone app supports feedbin.me and standalone RSS, with the company saying “the plan is to add more services you can choose from in the next weeks and months.” (Feedly and Feed Wrangler are two of the services that will be supported.)

NewsBlur

Price: $24/year

Overview: A premium RSS product with a number of handy features, NewsBlur’s interface is fairly similar to Google Reader’s, but it looks wonkier — and it includes some clever additions. One of NewsBlur’s best features is the option to view just the text of a story (no images and formatting), or to read a post as it appears on the original site. (Users of the old Google Reader plugin “Super Full Feeds” will love this.) A feature called “Blurblogs” lets your friends read the posts you share on Newsblur, along with your comments about the stories, even if they’re not NewsBlur users themselves.