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Google Chrome

Google Rekindles Interest in RSS (techcrunch.com) 34

Chrome, at least in its experimental Canary version on Android (and only for users in the U.S.), is getting an interesting update in the coming weeks that brings back RSS, the once-popular format for getting updates from all the sites you love in Google Reader and similar services. From a report: In Chrome, users will soon see a 'Follow' feature for sites that support RSS and the browser's New Tab page will get what is essentially a (very) basic RSS reader -- I guess you could almost call it a "Google Reader." Now we're not talking about a full-blown RSS reader here. The New Tab page will show you updates from the sites you follow in chronological order, but it doesn't look like you can easily switch between feeds, for example. It's a start, though.

"Today, people have many ways to keep up with their favorite websites, including subscribing to mailing lists, notifications and RSS. It's a lot for any one person to manage, so we're exploring how to simplify the experience of getting the latest and greatest from your favorite sites directly in Chrome, building on the open RSS web standard," Janice Wong, Product Manager, Google Chrome, writes in today's update. "Our vision is to help people build a direct connection with their favorite publishers and creators on the web." A Google spokesperson told me that the way the company has implemented this is to have Google crawl RSS feeds "more frequently to ensure Chrome will be able to deliver the latest and greatest content to users in the Following section on the New Tab page."

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Google Rekindles Interest in RSS

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    • Better an RSS Reader on one's NAS. More comprehensive and under one's control as well as preserving privacy.

    • by Tx ( 96709 )

      Android Chrome also recently gained Tab Groups, a feature that Firefox also had for a few years until it was removed in 2017. Is there a pattern forming here?

  • No thanks Google. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by srichard25 ( 221590 ) on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @01:00PM (#61400482)

    No thanks Google. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I won't be investing time in new Google RSS readers. They had a perfectly good RSS reader product already and decided to kill it (probably because they couldn't figure out how to make money off it). I don't expect this time to be any different.

    • by siuengr ( 625257 ) on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @01:18PM (#61400570)
      As long as it makes sites support RSS feeds again, I say thanks Google. I doubt I will use their reader, but sites have been abandoning RSS. Many sites still work, but several feeds I watch have gone dark or don't come across correctly.
    • Re:No thanks Google. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by TheNameOfNick ( 7286618 ) on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @01:33PM (#61400618)

      Due to their ongoing temper tantrum where they sabotage every single one of their sites with blocking dialogs that essentially say "let us track you or else", I can't say I'm interested in anything new from Google at all. I'm actively looking for alternatives for the few Google things I still use.

    • I won't be investing time in new Google RSS readers.

      How long does it really take to set up an RSS reader? Last time I did it, it was just a couple of minutes. Are you doing something fancy with your RSS reader that I don't know about?

      • Some of us have more than 3 RSS feeds.

      • Changing RSS readers only takes a few minutes to export/import the 100+ RSS feeds that I care about. What takes more time is that I lose all the information about posts that I've already read and posts that I wanted to save. It can take a while to get all that transferred over.

      • Not long, I agree.

        Nowadays I use a stand-alone client, called: QuiteRSS
        Managed to export my Google RSS subscriptions at the time into an .opml file and imported that into the stand-alone client: RSSOwl.

        Served me well in the beginning, but as I started to add feeds rather quickly, it became very unstable. The alternative that I liked most was QuiteRSS, which is also becoming a bit unstable with almost 190 RSS feeds (118 sites, 70 YT channels) configured.

        And yes, I use QuiteRSS also for my Youtube subscriptio

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It will suck anyway because it won't show you a chronological list. It will try to be smart and show you things it thinks you are interested in, and it will fail just like every recommendation system does.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • "Today, people have many ways to keep up with their favorite websites, including subscribing to mailing lists, notifications and RSS. It's a lot for any one person to manage, so we're exploring how to simplify the experience of getting the latest and greatest from your favorite sites directly in Chrome, building on the open RSS web standard," Janice Wong, Product Manager, Google Chrome, writes in today's update.

    Combine Duplex with RSS. Complexity contained.

  • by xack ( 5304745 ) on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @01:02PM (#61400488)
    Features come and go in cycles so they can capitalize on both nostalgia and new shiny at the same time. Just like how Google brought back color schemes yesterday after only having a cycle of light and dark for years.
  • by michaelmalak ( 91262 ) <michael@michaelmalak.com> on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @01:03PM (#61400490) Homepage
    Now that Facebook and Twitter keep canceling people and groups, I no longer consider them to be reliable communication channels. I have had to fall back to subscribing to e-mail newsletters as well as RSS.
  • Too bad. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 ) on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @01:04PM (#61400498)

    Google Reader's death is why will not be trying any new Google services.

  • by bobstreo ( 1320787 ) on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @01:13PM (#61400542)

    Many of them (400 or so) I've just dumped into Netvibes (netvibes.com) so I can just use a regular browser. and have everything in one place.

    I do have a couple feeds I like to check out every now and then.

    When Firefox dumped RSS support, I just found an add-on that supports RSS.

    • by nucrash ( 549705 )

      What did you end up using? I couldn't find one that was satisfying, but I do miss my RSS Feeds. I feel out of the loop without them.

      • I've been using Thunderbird
      • What did you end up using? I couldn't find one that was satisfying, but I do miss my RSS Feeds. I feel out of the loop without them.

        Want My RSS. it's a little clunkier than built in RSS, but it works.

        I mainly use it check on Archive.org Feature Films RSS feed:

        http://archive.org/services/co... [archive.org]

      • I've been a longtime paying Inoreader customer. The ability to add twitter and facebook feeds is a game-changer. Now I can fairly anonymously keep up-to-date with the handful of people who insist on using those as their only communication vehicle without having to go to the sites and log in.

        Since I'm logged out with purged cookies they don't track me across the internet, and since I don't interact with the social features there's no real information they can build on me about what I like and don't like, wha

    • I've been really happy with Feedly. I have several accounts which I open in different browsers to keep them separate by purpose. I used Thunderbird as an RSS reader briefly, but the look and feel didn't fit me, and I realized it meant my PC would be constantly sweeping the net for updates. It's better to just let Feedly do that and present me with the results. Feedly has started doing a few small annoying things in the pursuit of premium subscriptions, but it's hardly crippled. I think they toyed with limit

  • RSS never died (Score:5, Insightful)

    by noggin-scratcher ( 8115410 ) on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @01:15PM (#61400550)

    "Once popular", more like still popular... with literally dozens of us. I guess this is nice if it encourages more sites to make RSS feeds available, but I've been following most things that way all along. Heck, I arrived at this very story via Slashdot's RSS feed.

    Even when a site doesn't publish its own feed, there are services that will monitor a page for changes and make a feed for you. Long live RSS

    • Apart from Websites there's also Podcasts. That's a kind of radio program over the Internet. From a technological standpoint it's an RSS-feed linking to audio- or video files you can then download and watch at your own leisure.

    • Most websites still have RSS support, albeit "hidden". (Even youtube)

      Either use a plugin, or show source and look for rss/atom. I get most my feeds this way.

  • When google killed it's RSS Reader, I could no longer explain how to easily follow a blog to a non technical friend. I had to go and find a new RSS Tool myself. Now I'm less likely to trust that google won't pull the plug again.

    How long will this last?

  • New tab pages MUST be a blank white with no bullshit
  • People stopped using RSS? I've been using it for many years, just not though a web browser. I'm currently using Akregaor, but have used several different RSS readers over the years. My web browser is for browsing the web and occasionally email or Google Docs. I use real applications for work that doesn't involve the web.
  • The whole idea that websites and companies share data in a standard format is awesome, and should get way more love.
    It could also help to break Amazon's monopoly. A company could (and should) connect to the public feeds of suppliers, and automatically be able to offer an Amazon of sorts, re-selling the stuff from other companies. This new company could then offer additional services like logistics and warrantees or trustworthy reviews or whatever.
    "Product Feeds" exist nowadays, but are sadly not standariz
  • ''It gives them a new way to deliver content to users in the millions. It's designed for ubiquity, and it's several months ahead of I.E.,'' he said, referring to Microsoft's browser, Internet Explorer. The Microsoft Corporation said three weeks ago that it would incorporate push technology in the next version of its browser, Internet Explorer 4.0, which will not be released until later this summer.

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