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What to do if your keyboard on the screen. And if there are dozens of screens: At CES, the Russian design Art Lebedev, the company shows upcoming Optimus Aux Optimus popularis keyboard with a mini and a series of six unique keyboard for data input devices on the key to the home screen.
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Reader Is Dead Pulls Out All the Google Reader Data that Takeout Won't
We've shown you how to get your Google Reader data now that the service is dead, but you don't get everything available. If you really want to sweep up all that data from Google Reader, Reader is Dead is a tool that helps you do just that. With Reader is Dead you get not only an archive of your feeds, but also: all your read, starred, tagged, and shared items, as well as any comments, read messages, and even preferences. Essentially, you get everything. The archive process takes a while, and it can get up to a few GB of data, so grab a cup of coffee before you let it run. You have until July 15 to grab your data from Google.Reader Is DeadMonday, December 9, 2013
How to Build Your Own, More Powerful Version of Google Voice
Google hasn’t updated Voice in ages. Once heralded as the amazing service that would unify our phones, it now lags behind thanks to a lack of MMS support, decent voicemail transcripts, and a variety of usage quirks. With a few third-party apps and services, you can leave Voice behind, just like Google did, and have a better experience in the process.Not only will this home-built option be more powerful than Google Voice, but all of these alternatives work outside the US, so international users can finally get the Voice features they've been wanting. It takes a bit of work to set up and there are a few differences, but overall it's an awesome way to manage all your calls and texts. Here's what you need to do.Google Voice syncs your text messages to all your devices, so you can get them anywhere. Well, unless you get a message with a picture or video or one sent to a group. You really only have one alternative depending on your mobile platform.Android has a variety of options, but one stands out as the definite best alternative to Google Voice’s synchronized text messages: MightyText. While advertised as iMessage for Android, you won’t find that terribly accurate if you’ve used both services. MightyText actually works a little differently than iMessage, plus it does more.Install the Android app, which listens for new messages and syncs them to the MightyText service, then visit the MightyText webapp on any computer. MightyText offers a variety of other apps, like a native tablet app, a Chrome extension, and a Gmail extension that integrates SMS right into the interface. Unlike Google Voice, MightyText supports MMS in all its forms so you can receive multimedia and group messages. You must keep your phone on and connected to the internet in some way for MightyText to function, but so long as you meet those two requirements the service provides a great multi-platform texting experience at no cost whatsoever.If you have an iPhone and a Mac, you can really only use iMessage. While a great service in theory—much like Google Voice—Apple failed to fix a lot of bugs and it doesn’t always work perfectly. On top of that, you can only get messages from other Apple users so you’re not really receiving texts that sync everywhere.Alternatively, you can turn to a number of “free” texting apps that solve part of the problem. Textfree provides apps for iOS, Android, and the web so you can essentially access your text and picture messages from any device, and your friends don't need Textfree to receive them—it works just like SMS. MySMS can do the same. Neither service has a native desktop app like iMessage, but they provide a reasonable alternative to iMessage and Google Voice.Google Voice truly handles one-to-many phone calling better than any other service. If you want people to call one number and have every phone you own ring all at the same time, you might want to simply stick with Google Voice for this feature then use MightyText (and any of the other services) alongside it. That said, you do have some alternatives.If you want to pay business prices for enterprise level call forwarding, you can with RingCentral. While the service offers plenty of features, you probably don’t want to pay $25 per month for this when you can get it for free with Google Voice. You do get SMS messages with your number, along with plenty of other features, so this may appeal to people with deep pockets and a need for RingCentral’s other options.Some services can forward from one number to another, which may prove sufficient for people who just want to receive out-of-state or international calls like local ones. Skype and Vonage both provide this option at a small cost. With Skype, you can even forward in the other direction by calling a number local to you that then dials any number around the world at Skype rates instead of your carrier’s much higher rates.SGoogle Voice has a hard time transcribing your voicemails. It may seem like it just can’t manage with poor call quality, but more often it creates ridiculous transcripts regardless of speech clarity. Let’s look at an example from a listener who called into the Ask Lifehacker Podcast:SAll the apps and services mentioned in this post don’t fully replace Google Voice on their own. They replace most features in bits and pieces and improve upon them, but you might still wish for an all-in-one option. If you do, you have to make one sacrifice: your money. If you don’t mind paying a little bit for better service, you can sign up for a solution designed for businesses.While you have a variety of options that handle most of the functions of Google Voice, only SendHub replaces just about every feature and adds a few. You can make calls via VOIP, send and receive text messages, get your voicemails transcribed pretty accurately (I confused the system by saying “onomatopoeia” but it understood everything else), choose your own number, and download apps for both Android and iOS (including tablets). SendHub currently does not support MMS messaging, but unlike Google Voice they have plans to add it and you can get notified when they do.If you want to use SendHub instead of Google Voice, you can for free with some limitations. The basic account only allows 60 VOIP minutes and 500 text messages to non-SendHub numbers. You can upgrade and get much more, but it’ll cost you $25 per month at minimum. We think this option may work for some, but so long as SendHub doesn’t offer MMS you might as well stick with Google Voice and just outsource your voicemail transcriptions. Nevertheless, it provides a solid alternative for some. Although a piecemeal option can feel a little like a poorly made chimera of third-party services, it provides you with options. If a better app or service comes along, you can replace what you currently use. If you still want to use Google Voice and just want one specific feature, you can implement just that feature. Hopefully someday Google will update Voice, rather than abandon it officially, but until then you can patch together a bunch of third-party options and make your own upgrade a reality.Bananaphone by LEGEN -wait for it- DARY (Shutterstock).
Google Voice syncs your text messages to all your devices, so you can get them anywhere. Well, unless you get a message with a picture or video or one sent to a group. You really only have one alternative depending on your mobile platform.Android has a variety of options, but one stands out as the definite best alternative to Google Voice’s synchronized text messages: MightyText. While advertised as iMessage for Android, you won’t find that terribly accurate if you’ve used both services. MightyText actually works a little differently than iMessage, plus it does more.Install the Android app, which listens for new messages and syncs them to the MightyText service, then visit the MightyText webapp on any computer. MightyText offers a variety of other apps, like a native tablet app, a Chrome extension, and a Gmail extension that integrates SMS right into the interface. Unlike Google Voice, MightyText supports MMS in all its forms so you can receive multimedia and group messages. You must keep your phone on and connected to the internet in some way for MightyText to function, but so long as you meet those two requirements the service provides a great multi-platform texting experience at no cost whatsoever.If you have an iPhone and a Mac, you can really only use iMessage. While a great service in theory—much like Google Voice—Apple failed to fix a lot of bugs and it doesn’t always work perfectly. On top of that, you can only get messages from other Apple users so you’re not really receiving texts that sync everywhere.Alternatively, you can turn to a number of “free” texting apps that solve part of the problem. Textfree provides apps for iOS, Android, and the web so you can essentially access your text and picture messages from any device, and your friends don't need Textfree to receive them—it works just like SMS. MySMS can do the same. Neither service has a native desktop app like iMessage, but they provide a reasonable alternative to iMessage and Google Voice.Google Voice truly handles one-to-many phone calling better than any other service. If you want people to call one number and have every phone you own ring all at the same time, you might want to simply stick with Google Voice for this feature then use MightyText (and any of the other services) alongside it. That said, you do have some alternatives.If you want to pay business prices for enterprise level call forwarding, you can with RingCentral. While the service offers plenty of features, you probably don’t want to pay $25 per month for this when you can get it for free with Google Voice. You do get SMS messages with your number, along with plenty of other features, so this may appeal to people with deep pockets and a need for RingCentral’s other options.Some services can forward from one number to another, which may prove sufficient for people who just want to receive out-of-state or international calls like local ones. Skype and Vonage both provide this option at a small cost. With Skype, you can even forward in the other direction by calling a number local to you that then dials any number around the world at Skype rates instead of your carrier’s much higher rates.SGoogle Voice has a hard time transcribing your voicemails. It may seem like it just can’t manage with poor call quality, but more often it creates ridiculous transcripts regardless of speech clarity. Let’s look at an example from a listener who called into the Ask Lifehacker Podcast:The message should’ve been:Hey Lifehacker, I'm calling for a question My question is. You guys are going to poor your tutorial orange sources where I can look up at ability, Yes to wi-fi Network for like large public area, for example, let's see how hospital.
To some extent, this isn’t Google’s fault. Computers can’t understand human voice very well. In fact, humans can’t understand human voice very well. We can, however, piece together the meaning of a sentence more easily when we don’t hear many of the words in it because we formulate similar sentences ourselves. As a result, you don’t want your voicemails transcribed by a computer but rather a service that uses actual humans.Human-based voicemail transcription services cost money, but if you don’t receive a ton of voicemails you won’t pay very much each month. Personally, I only get about 10 messages per month since most people will just hang up and/or text nowadays. If you fall into the same category, you can use a service called CellScribe to get more accurate human transcriptions for $2 per month (up to 15 messages, and your first month is free). If you need more messages, you’ll pay $0.30 for each additional one or you can upgrade to a higher volume account for a greater monthly fee.For the most part, you just need to sign up for an account to start using CellScribe. The page will ask you a few questions about your phone, provider, and how you want to receive messages. After you sign up, CellScribe will provide a page of specific instructions to set up your phone to receive voicemail transcripts. It will include a code you need to enter to configure your phone so CellScribe can intercept the messages. After that, you just need to record your voicemail greeting and you’re all set.CellScribe provides more accurate transcriptions than Google Voice, but most any service will even without humans to help. If you don’t like CellScribe for whatever reason, try PhoneTag instead. Humans won’t transcribe your messages, but you’ll get better transcriptions than Google Voice currently provides.Hey Lifehacker, I’m calling in with a question. My question is, do you guys have any tutorials or sources on how to build a guest Wi-Fi network in a large, public area? For example, a hospital.
SAll the apps and services mentioned in this post don’t fully replace Google Voice on their own. They replace most features in bits and pieces and improve upon them, but you might still wish for an all-in-one option. If you do, you have to make one sacrifice: your money. If you don’t mind paying a little bit for better service, you can sign up for a solution designed for businesses.While you have a variety of options that handle most of the functions of Google Voice, only SendHub replaces just about every feature and adds a few. You can make calls via VOIP, send and receive text messages, get your voicemails transcribed pretty accurately (I confused the system by saying “onomatopoeia” but it understood everything else), choose your own number, and download apps for both Android and iOS (including tablets). SendHub currently does not support MMS messaging, but unlike Google Voice they have plans to add it and you can get notified when they do.If you want to use SendHub instead of Google Voice, you can for free with some limitations. The basic account only allows 60 VOIP minutes and 500 text messages to non-SendHub numbers. You can upgrade and get much more, but it’ll cost you $25 per month at minimum. We think this option may work for some, but so long as SendHub doesn’t offer MMS you might as well stick with Google Voice and just outsource your voicemail transcriptions. Nevertheless, it provides a solid alternative for some. Although a piecemeal option can feel a little like a poorly made chimera of third-party services, it provides you with options. If a better app or service comes along, you can replace what you currently use. If you still want to use Google Voice and just want one specific feature, you can implement just that feature. Hopefully someday Google will update Voice, rather than abandon it officially, but until then you can patch together a bunch of third-party options and make your own upgrade a reality.Bananaphone by LEGEN -wait for it- DARY (Shutterstock).Sunday, December 1, 2013
Final Warning: How To Prepare for Monday's Google Reader Shutdown
Google Reader goes away forever on Monday, so this is your last weekend to prepare for the transition. We mentioned this earlier in the week, but it bears repeating one last time in case you've been procrastinating.The first thing you'll want to do is back up your data as an OPML file through Google Takeout. You won't be able to access it ever again once the service shuts down, so this officially qualifies as crunch time. Luckily, it's really simple, and we've shown you how to do it in three easy steps. Once you're done, I'd also make sure you have several secure backups saved at home and on the cloud, just to be sure.As soon as your data is safe and sound, it's time to go shopping for a new RSS home. Feedly is the most popular alternative at the moment, but there are tons of other options if it doesn't check all of your boxes. In case you missed it, we've rounded up some of the best to help make the transition a little easier. All of these services will import that all-important OPML file, but some can pull your Reader data directly off of Google's servers while it's still available, including starred and read items in many cases, so it's probably worth it to set up a new account over the weekend. In fact, if you haven't settled on one alternative yet, you might want to sign up for several to hedge your bets and preserve this valuable metadata.It is a little bit of a pain to make this transition, but Google's departure from the market opens the door for other companies with great new ideas for what RSS reading should be. Most of them aren't totally ripe yet—Feedly, for example, doesn't yet support data export or search—but in time, we should all come out ahead. Just in time for Monday's Google Reader shutdown, Digg Reader is now open to the public.
Just in time for Monday's Google Reader shutdown, Digg Reader is now open to the public. It's still far from feature-complete, but it's worth checking out this weekend if you haven't settled on another alternative. Learn more here.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Google Play Music Internet Radio (Raspberry Pi and Arduino)
I was looking for a project to do with my Raspberry Pi and found this Instructable and thought I would have a go at something similar which worked with Google Play Music. I had a rough idea of what I wanted the final item to end up like and was able to get my dad interested in helping me with the design and construction of the enclosure. All code and CAD drawings can be found in the GitHub repo.
Before we begin I should probably point out that a reasonably good understanding of electronics and Linux makes this project a lot easier, especially since my Instructables are probably not the easiest to follow (I do try my best), however feel free to ask if something isn't clear enough.
A full parts list is a little difficult for a project this size so I'll highlight the important parts only: Arduino IC (i.e. ATmega 328 with Arduino bootloader, you can but them blank and flash then yourself or pre flashed with a bootloader) Raspberry Pi (512MB version if possible, because you know, more memory is better... but seriously I haven't tested with a 256MB version, but it should still work) Digital potentiometers (logarithmic taper (we'll be using it to attenuate audio) & i2c (from the Pi), a DS1807 will do) Amplifiers (I used pre-built modules but feel free to build your own if you feel up to it) DC-DC converters (12v to 5v, 600mA output, isolated) Rotary encoders (from font panel, cursor movement and volume) An LCD (4 rows, 20 columns works for me, if you have songs with really long names maybe get a 40 column one) As for tools, you just need all the standard electronics and woodworking tools, a few others which may be useful: Bus Pirate (I don't actually have one, but they are very useful, alternatively you can do what I do and write Arduino scripts to make an Arduino act like a Pus Pirate to some degree) Laser cutter/engraver (not essential, but makes production of mounting hardware and front panels SO much easier) Router (for construction of enclosure) Accurate callipers (essential for measuring sizes for panels and mounting hardware) I think that is about it for specialist parts and tools, but of course I would highly recommend you read through the entire Instructable before starting work on this project.
[I will have a video here when I get a chance to shoot and edit one, most likely 27/06]
The order in which I went about this project seemed fairly logical and seemed to work for me, so I'll go with that. In that case first up is the electronics which control communication between the radio and the user, in my radio the included 6 buttons, two rotary encoders which also have a switch for when they are pressed and a 4 row, 20 column backlit LCD, the majority of this is controlled using a ATmega 328p which interfaces with the Raspberry Pi using RS232 (over a level converter, since the Pi has a logic level of 3.3v and the Arduino is 5v), the one exception is the LCD backlight which is switched on and off using a GPIO pin from the Pi.
So here is an overview of what IO devices were actually connected to the Arduino, how they were connected and why: Pins 0 and 1 connected to the Raspberry Pi GPO header through a MOSFET level converter, this was for the serial communication between the Pi and the Arduino. The front panel button were connected to ADC pins 0 to 5 with either an external pull up or pull down resistor (whichever is easiest, in hindsight pull up would have been easier then I would only need ground on my front panel board). The LCD is connected on digital pins 8 to 13, the actual pin assignment is not important at this stage as it can be configured in the Arduino script. The encoder buttons are on pins 6 and 7, using the internal pull up resistor. The encoders are on pins 3 and 5 and 2 and 4, it is important to have at least one interrupt pin per encoder, this will greatly improve the performance. Most of this can be seen easily on the schematic which has all of these relevant sections annotated, note that this is the schematic for the main board only, so the actual devices are shown as pin headers, I will go over wiring the actual devices in the next step.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Google Reader Alternatives, Windows 8.1, and Lots of Gaming
This week on the podcast we’re talking about all the new stuff in Windows 8.1, the imminent death of Google Reader, and gaming consoles from the past and future. We’re also answer your questions about home servers, wirelessly mirroring your computer screen, and syncing your music with Android.Here's how you can listen to our episode:
What the Next Generation of Consoles Means for Your Home Theater: Video game consoles aren’t just for gaming. They also make great set-top boxes that stream video and music into our living rooms, and the upcoming Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are no different. Each console brings a little something different to the table, so let's take a look at how those new consoles will bring entertainment other than video games to your living room.
Should I use Ubuntu or NAS4Free for my NAS? They're both good, so pick what you like.
How can I mirror my iMac's screen on my TV wirelessly? Use an expensive wireless HDMI box or use AirPlay to mirror on an Apple TV. Neither solution comes cheap or works perfectly, so you're better off sticking with an HDMI cable.What's the best way to sync music to my Android from my computer? Read this.I’m off to a conference in another time zone soon. How, in iOS, can I easily/correctly enter a lot of sessions into my cal? Turn on Time Zone Support in Settings.There are two ways to send in your question:Please keep your questions as brief as possible. This means about 3-5 sentences for emails and 30-60 seconds for calls and videos. Your questions can be specific, but broader questions are generally better because they'll apply to more people. For example, "how can I breathe new life into my old PDA?" is much better than "what can I do with an old HP iPAQ 210?" Either way, we look forward to hearing from you!Saturday, November 23, 2013
Read Your Exported Google Reader Items With This Webapp
With Google Reader closing in just a few days, it may be time to export your data. Services like Feedly are already building migration tools, but if you just want to look at the data, this tiny webapp has you covered.Githubu user BriceMcIver built a simple tool that allows you to view the contents of your Google Reader data. If you want to use this, first you'll have to download your data from Google here. Once you have the files, extract the zip and point the file chooser in this webapp to any of the files ending in .json. It's designed to work with your list of Starred items (which many of us use as a makeshift to-do list or read-it-later bucket), but I tried it on shared articles, and articles from followers and it worked there too. It didn't work 100% of the time, but it's worth a shot if you just want to see your data without going through a whole big import process.Google Reader Starred Items Import | GitHubThe Best New Features Feedly Has Added for Google Reader Switchers
In the last few months, Feedly has been working tirelessly to please the Google Reader crowd. If you haven't looked at Feedly in a while, there are some changes you might have missed.To be clear, Feedly probably won't entirely replace Google Reader for everyone. In fact, nothing will. Google Reader was a special app and it occupied a unique place for each person. However, the internet has exploded recently with attempts to fill the RSS void. We've already covered the best alternatives, but as Feedly starts to occupy the center of the playing field, it's worth a closer look. Here's what you might have missed in just the last few months.This is the big one. The one concern that trumped all the others when it came to Google Reader's closing was that while other RSS apps existed, nothing provided the backbone that an entire ecosystem of apps could plug in to. Very recently, Feedly announced the Feedly Cloud. So far, apps like gReader, Press, and Reeder have already built on top of it and, if it works well, we can likely expect to see more developers adopt this before too long if they want syncing features to continue after Google Reader shuts down.Previously, if you wanted to try out Feedly, you had to do so in an app or by downloading a browser extension. That works for some, but if you want to pull up your feeds on someone else's machine or if you don't like installing things, it's problematic. Now, you can head straight to cloud.feedly.com and go over your feeds on any computer with internet access.One of the biggest advantages of Google Reader is its ability to manage hundreds of articles easily. In what was referred to as a gift to Google Reader users, Feedly introduced a title-only view to make scanning feeds easier. One of the biggest problems with all the replacement apps has been that they aren't always great at professional-level reading. This doesn't fix it entirely, but it helps. There are also a bunch of viewing preferences that you can adjust here that can allow the power user to tweak the interface as they see fit.Not everything is a huge headlining feature, but the little things matter to. Over the course of the last few months, Feedly has added a bunch of new hardware to make sure its syncing service is fast, keyboard shortcuts that should be familiar to Google users, and even IFTTT support. The loss of Google Reader has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. However, as of right now, the Feedly team has already expressed plans to improve in-app search, group sharing, and Windows Phone/Windows 8 apps. Given that this list of planned features written at the beginning of the month includes at least one that has already come to fruition ("pure web access") it seems reasonable to think that the company can deliver on the others. When Google closes the doors on Reader next week, RSS aficionados will probably still be able to look forward to green pastures. In fact, it might be better than ever.Feedly has positioned itself as the new centerpiece of the RSS world. While there are plenty of other great apps out there that are worth looking into (again, you can check those out here), Feedly has taken an early lead in the ecosystem competition, which has much bigger stakes. Chances are that as we look at any new apps coming down the pipe, some form of cloud sync will be expected. Whether you end up using Feedly as your daily driver app, you'll probably still be affected by these changes in some way. All eyes are on Feedly to see if it can handle its predecessor's mantle.
This is the big one. The one concern that trumped all the others when it came to Google Reader's closing was that while other RSS apps existed, nothing provided the backbone that an entire ecosystem of apps could plug in to. Very recently, Feedly announced the Feedly Cloud. So far, apps like gReader, Press, and Reeder have already built on top of it and, if it works well, we can likely expect to see more developers adopt this before too long if they want syncing features to continue after Google Reader shuts down.Previously, if you wanted to try out Feedly, you had to do so in an app or by downloading a browser extension. That works for some, but if you want to pull up your feeds on someone else's machine or if you don't like installing things, it's problematic. Now, you can head straight to cloud.feedly.com and go over your feeds on any computer with internet access.One of the biggest advantages of Google Reader is its ability to manage hundreds of articles easily. In what was referred to as a gift to Google Reader users, Feedly introduced a title-only view to make scanning feeds easier. One of the biggest problems with all the replacement apps has been that they aren't always great at professional-level reading. This doesn't fix it entirely, but it helps. There are also a bunch of viewing preferences that you can adjust here that can allow the power user to tweak the interface as they see fit.Not everything is a huge headlining feature, but the little things matter to. Over the course of the last few months, Feedly has added a bunch of new hardware to make sure its syncing service is fast, keyboard shortcuts that should be familiar to Google users, and even IFTTT support. The loss of Google Reader has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move. However, as of right now, the Feedly team has already expressed plans to improve in-app search, group sharing, and Windows Phone/Windows 8 apps. Given that this list of planned features written at the beginning of the month includes at least one that has already come to fruition ("pure web access") it seems reasonable to think that the company can deliver on the others. When Google closes the doors on Reader next week, RSS aficionados will probably still be able to look forward to green pastures. In fact, it might be better than ever.Feedly has positioned itself as the new centerpiece of the RSS world. While there are plenty of other great apps out there that are worth looking into (again, you can check those out here), Feedly has taken an early lead in the ecosystem competition, which has much bigger stakes. Chances are that as we look at any new apps coming down the pipe, some form of cloud sync will be expected. Whether you end up using Feedly as your daily driver app, you'll probably still be affected by these changes in some way. All eyes are on Feedly to see if it can handle its predecessor's mantle.Friday, November 22, 2013
GV Mobile + Gets Google Voice VOIP Calling and a Brand New Interface
iOS: GV Mobile+ has always been one of the best ways to improve your Google Voice experience on the iPhone, and today they released a completely new version of the app, with an overhauled interface and the inclusion of VOIP calling so you don't have to use your minutes.The app has been completely rebuilt from the ground up, and its new interface is clearly designed to fit in with the new aesthetic of iOS 7. Like the old version you can view your inbox, add favorite contacts, get push notifications (through a simpler setup than before), search your inbox, and more. But the inbox is now much easier to navigate with swipe gestures, and the dialer includes options for VOIP calling in addition to using your minutes. Overall it's a fantastic update to the best Google Voice client on iOS, so if you're a Google Voice user, it's a must have. Hit the link below to try it out, and check out the official blog post for more details.GV Mobile + ($2.99) | iTunes App Store via Sean KovacsThursday, November 21, 2013
Feedspot Is a Google Reader Replacement with Tons of Sharing Features
If you're still looking for a Google Reader replacement, time is running out! We have some alternatives, but Feedspot is a new contender that offers a simple webapp for reading the news, sub-feeds for tags, starred items, and favorites, and tons of social features for sharing stories with friends.Feedspot is in public beta, and getting your data imported from Google Reader is easy. Once you've created an account, you can either import your subscriptions.xml file from Google Takeout, or you can just tell Feedspot to log in to Reader and grab your feeds. It's a one-click process (and Feedspot doesn't ask for any more permissions than it needs to grab your subscriptions), and it only takes a few minutes.Once your feeds are all imported, you're dropped at the home page—your feeds and folders are on the left, and unread articles are on the right. Keyboard shortcuts make browsing and reading feeds easy (click the drop-down next to your profile icon to see them all). The service supports sharing via Twitter and Facebook, and if you're a Gold user (more on that in a moment) you get Instapaper, Pocket, Evernote, Buffer, Readability, and Evernote. You can publish starred articles, favorites, or just share stories individually. Beyond reading your feeds, sharing stories and connecting with friends, Feedspot also allows Gold users to generate custom sub-feeds for any category of articles you choose, like your starred articles, shared articles, or articles in a specific folder or category.Feedspot isn't perfect—there are no mobile apps (although visiting Feedspot on your phone gives you a functional mobile version of the site), and while the service is free, some of the best features are only available to "Gold" users (including the sharing and sub-feed features we mentioned, along with faster feed updates and priority support) which you only become by referring 10 of your friends to sign up. Either way, it's worth a look if you're still searching for a replacement. Hit the link below to give it a try.Feedspot
Monday, November 18, 2013
Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Edition Hands-On: The Best Got Better
For years, one of Android's biggest problems has been Android skins that weigh down the best hardware the platform has to offer. But now the two best Android phones in the world—the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4—come in pure, stock Google Editions. And after spending some time with both, we can confirm that ditching the skins has made them better than ever.Since you can buy them as of today, we've broken down how the two compare with each other, and with the skinned versions of themselves. The One with Sense enabled was already pretty much the snappiest phone we've ever used. With stock Android, it's even faster. Apps open just a little bit quicker and swiping around the UI is just a little bit smoother. The biggest difference you'll notice, though, is that it's just cleaner. Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) is a very minimal OS. Apps like the calendar, the clock, and even the apps drawer are more pared-back and easier to use. Desktop customization, for example, is much simpler.You still get the same great phone on the hardware side. From a design standpoint it's still our favorite phone ever, and it's by far the most satisfying to hold. The screen is incredibly sharp and looks just as good as it did on the skinned version. The dual, front-facing speakers still sound incredible (best sounding phone ever), and when you have headphones in you have that same Beats by Dre EQ, which focuses on the bass a little more and sounds very good (the HTC One has a dedicated pre-amp to help with this). Unfortunately, it's not all good news.The only significant drawback in the Google Edition unit we tested is that the camera doesn't work nearly as well anymore. You might recall how the HTC One's "ultrapixel" sensor took the win in our smartphone camera battle. Clearly, HTC's camera software had something to do with balancing that rather unique sensor, because the stock Android camera app doesn't do nearly as good of a job. Photos tend to be washed out, over-exposed, and under-saturated. Even in low light, it isn't as good.The new camera app itself is very cleanly laid-out and easy to use, but you lose a lot of the advanced shooting features found in the Sense camera app (though many of these reappear in the editing menu in stock Android's Gallery app), in addition to the specialty modes, though you do gain Google's mega-panoramic PhotoSphere, which is fun but is ultimately a small consolation.There's a chance, though, that the fault may lie in our unit. A Google spokesperson responded to our inquiries about it as follows:
In the whites HTC One skew a bit on the rosy side, whereas the whites on the Galaxy S4 skew blueish-green. Which is "better" is more a matter of personal preference, though we slightly prefer the One.In the blacks, there's no contest. The Galaxy S4 is like looking into the cold, black vacuum of space, even at full brightness. At full brightness, the HTC One's blacks are very slightly gray. It's still very good, but it's definitely not as good as the S4. Winner: TieAs you can see in the video above, the stock HTC One locks focus and snaps shots faster than stock Galaxy S4. But, as we mentioned above, the camera on the stock HTC One was under-performing compared to the original. As a result, the camera on the Galaxy S4 is much sharper, has better color, and better contrast. The One does, however, still stomp the S4 in low light. Hopefully we just got a bum HTC unit, but for now the Galaxy S4's camera is better. Click here for a gallery of comparison shots. Winner: Galaxy S4 (pending)The HTC One is the hands down winner here. It's not even close. The stereo front-facing speakers are loud and clear. The S4's external speaker (on the back) is quiet and terrible by comparison. Also, the pre-amp in the HTC One makes listening to music through headphones noticeably better. Winner: HTC OneUnlike full on Nexus phones, the One and the S4 both have hardware navigation buttons. The One has two capacitive buttons: One for Home, and one for Back. You double-tap home to bring up the task-switcher, and you long-press it to bring up Google Now. The Galaxy S4 on the other hand has three navigation buttons: Back and Menu are both capitative and there's a home button in the center which is press-able. You press it once to go home, twice quickly for multitasking, and long press for Google Now.The capacitive buttons on the HTC (for home and task switching) are simply faster and easier to use. Also, because there is no physical menu button, that puts the menu options on screen in apps, which we find to be more intuitive. Winner: HTC OneNavigating around the OS, the HTC One is just a hair quicker. Considering it has the same software and the same processor but it's clocked 0.2 GHz slower than the S4, that shouldn't be the case. But it is. Go figure. We're talking about a very small difference, though. Even in benchmarks, the two were dead even, with one or the other coming out a hundred or two hundred points ahead of the other in both Quadrant and Geekbench 2 tests, but the One came out ahead two out of three times. Go figure. Winner: HTC OneToo soon to tell. More testing required.Winner: TBDOptionsYou want expandable storage? The S4's got it, the HTC One doesn't. Want a removable battery? Ditto. If you like to tinker, you're going to get frustrated fast with the HTC One's lack of fungibility. Similarly, while there are some accessories available for the One, Samsung has built itself a much more robust third-party ecosystem. If you want your phone with a side of stuff, the S4 is the way to go.Winner: Galaxy S4Last but not least, the price. The HTC One is $600, and the Galaxy S4 is $650.Winner: HTC OneHonestly, these are both terrific phones, and you'd be happy with either. If an SD card slot and removable battery are a big deal for you, go ahead and get the Galaxy S4. Otherwise, the HTC One is our favorite by a nose. Most of all, though, just be glad that you can finally get the best possible versions of the best possible phones on Android. It's about time.You can get the stock Android HTC One here and you can get the stock Android Samsung Galaxy S4 here. They should ship out by July 9th.
That said, the Google engineers saw what we were talking about in our photos, and they are doing more testing, but they believe we have a faulty device. So who knows! Hopefully it's just a glitch with our One. We'll be getting a new one shortly and will update.There are a few other quibbles, too, some small things you may have taken for granted with Sense that you don't get with stock. In HTC Sense's dialer app, you can start punching a friend's name into the number pad (using the superscript letters) and it will quickly pull up contacts. The stock dialer doesn't do this, so you have to scroll through your long list of contacts.HTC Sense also offers built-in profiles—an easy way to switch between Normal, Vibrate, and Silent modes. Not so in stock. Also, the HTC One has a built-in IR blaster for using your phone as a remote control. Not only does the stock version not come with a preinstalled app that lets you use it, but as of right now there are no apps in the Play Store that can take advantage of it, either. We were told that capability would be coming in the next software build, though APIs will still have to be released, and someone will still have to make an app that uses them.There's also the rather steep sticker price of $600, but that sounds like a bigger number than it actually is. For an unlocked, unsubsidized phone it's pretty standard. If you're used to paying $200 for a high-end phone and have your wireless carrier subsidize the rest (as a part of a two-year contract, typically) may experience some sticker-shock. That might sound like it all adds up to a lot of negative, but it's really negligible, especially assuming we were dealing with an abnormal camera. And we haven't even mentioned the biggest advantage of a Google Edition phone yet: Updates. The stock version of the HTC One will all but certainly be upgraded to the newest version of Android right along with (or at least close to) the Nexus program. The One with Sense, by contrast, is still running Android version 4.1.2, which is now more than a year old. For people who want the latest and greatest coming out of Google HQ, this is huge. And trust us, you want the latest and greatest.The stock HTC One runs on AT&T, T-Mobile, and other GSM carriers (i.e. not Verizon or Sprint), and yes, LTE works. We tested it on AT&T's network in NYC, and when we had four bars of LTE we averaged download speeds of over 20Mbps and upload speeds of over 12Mbps. We did have some problems with our radio, initially, but after talking with Google it appears that was unique to our particular test unit. And once we worked out the bug (it chose the wrong APN, for you geeks out there), it performed flawlessly. So, really, our only major gripe here is the camera. We've reached out to Google about it, and will update if we hear anything back.In our initial review of the Galaxy S4, almost all of our complaints about it were software-related. So you would think that replacing TouchWiz with stock Android would fix almost all of its problems, right?Yep. That's pretty much true. Samsung's TouchWiz is such a heavy skin that it slows things down despite the super-fast 1.9GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor in its belly. But while stock Android makes the HTC One a little faster, it's a serious change in the Galaxy S4. Scrolling through menus and across screens is faster and smoother. Apps generally open more quickly, and most importantly, there is now almost zero shutter lag on the camera, whereas the TouchWiz version can lag behind by as much as a second. TouchWiz is also just a clusterfrak of settings and bells and whistles, most of which sit there unused, clogging up menus. Stock Android is starkly minimalist by comparison. The stock apps look better and are more intuitive to use almost without exception. Desktop customization is way simpler. We were also able to install and use Google Wallet on it (not so on the HTC One Google Edition), which is typically blocked by AT&T. Why it worked on the S4 and not the One despite using the same SIM card for both, we do not know. On the hardware side, thankfully, photos the 13MP camera took look almost identical to those on the TouchWiz version. Again, the camera app is much simplified, and though you gain PhotoSphere and easier access to HDR, you do lose a lot of the fun camera modes that Samsung came up with, like Drama Shot (which superimposes several images of a subject in motion into a single shot) and animated GIFs. As you know, the Galaxy S4 features a micro SD card slot, and while you can read files off of it (photos, etc.) you can't take full advantage of it. For example, there is no native way to move apps over to your SD card, as there is in the skinned versions of Android. There are, of course, things you lose that you will miss. Again, TouchWiz's dialer lets you punch in numbers to get to your contacts quickly, stock Android's dialer doesn't (please fix this, guys!), and you lose TouchWiz's profiles feature as well. TouchWiz has some handy shortcuts to settings within the notification screen and some people may miss those, but for our money, the way stock Android handles it is better, and keeps your notification panel looking cleaner and easier to read. Also, while the IR blaster is technically ready to be used, the API hasn't been released yet, and so there are no downloadable apps that can take advantage of it yet. And, the S4 too, will only work on GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile (not Verizon or Sprint). And as with the HTC One, the sticker price might be tough to swallow. At $650, it ain't exactly cheap, but again, that's not bad for a high-end, unlocked, unsubsidized phone. As we suspected, putting stock Android on the Galaxy S4 made one of the very best smartphones even better. So, you've decided you're going to go with one of these stock phones. Now that the software is essentially identical, here's how the two phones compare.The HTC One is still arguably the best-designed phone we've ever used, and its build quality is unmatched. It was cut from a solid block of aluminum and it feels amazing. The Galaxy S4 is by no means bad, but with its slippery plastic back, there's no comparison. The One is slightly narrower and is a bit easier to handle, too. Winner: HTC OneThe screens are definitely two different looks, as you can see in the video above. They're both 1080p. The S4 is a full 5 inches which gives you a little more real estate, whereas the One's 4.7-inch screen means the pixel density is every so slightly higher, making it look very slightly sharper."The camera hardware and underlying software (image processing, etc.) are the exact same between the Stock and Sense UX versions of HTC One, so there should not be any differences. Our camera tests show that the quality is consistent between the two."
In the whites HTC One skew a bit on the rosy side, whereas the whites on the Galaxy S4 skew blueish-green. Which is "better" is more a matter of personal preference, though we slightly prefer the One.In the blacks, there's no contest. The Galaxy S4 is like looking into the cold, black vacuum of space, even at full brightness. At full brightness, the HTC One's blacks are very slightly gray. It's still very good, but it's definitely not as good as the S4. Winner: TieAs you can see in the video above, the stock HTC One locks focus and snaps shots faster than stock Galaxy S4. But, as we mentioned above, the camera on the stock HTC One was under-performing compared to the original. As a result, the camera on the Galaxy S4 is much sharper, has better color, and better contrast. The One does, however, still stomp the S4 in low light. Hopefully we just got a bum HTC unit, but for now the Galaxy S4's camera is better. Click here for a gallery of comparison shots. Winner: Galaxy S4 (pending)The HTC One is the hands down winner here. It's not even close. The stereo front-facing speakers are loud and clear. The S4's external speaker (on the back) is quiet and terrible by comparison. Also, the pre-amp in the HTC One makes listening to music through headphones noticeably better. Winner: HTC OneUnlike full on Nexus phones, the One and the S4 both have hardware navigation buttons. The One has two capacitive buttons: One for Home, and one for Back. You double-tap home to bring up the task-switcher, and you long-press it to bring up Google Now. The Galaxy S4 on the other hand has three navigation buttons: Back and Menu are both capitative and there's a home button in the center which is press-able. You press it once to go home, twice quickly for multitasking, and long press for Google Now.The capacitive buttons on the HTC (for home and task switching) are simply faster and easier to use. Also, because there is no physical menu button, that puts the menu options on screen in apps, which we find to be more intuitive. Winner: HTC OneNavigating around the OS, the HTC One is just a hair quicker. Considering it has the same software and the same processor but it's clocked 0.2 GHz slower than the S4, that shouldn't be the case. But it is. Go figure. We're talking about a very small difference, though. Even in benchmarks, the two were dead even, with one or the other coming out a hundred or two hundred points ahead of the other in both Quadrant and Geekbench 2 tests, but the One came out ahead two out of three times. Go figure. Winner: HTC OneToo soon to tell. More testing required.Winner: TBDOptionsYou want expandable storage? The S4's got it, the HTC One doesn't. Want a removable battery? Ditto. If you like to tinker, you're going to get frustrated fast with the HTC One's lack of fungibility. Similarly, while there are some accessories available for the One, Samsung has built itself a much more robust third-party ecosystem. If you want your phone with a side of stuff, the S4 is the way to go.Winner: Galaxy S4Last but not least, the price. The HTC One is $600, and the Galaxy S4 is $650.Winner: HTC OneHonestly, these are both terrific phones, and you'd be happy with either. If an SD card slot and removable battery are a big deal for you, go ahead and get the Galaxy S4. Otherwise, the HTC One is our favorite by a nose. Most of all, though, just be glad that you can finally get the best possible versions of the best possible phones on Android. It's about time.You can get the stock Android HTC One here and you can get the stock Android Samsung Galaxy S4 here. They should ship out by July 9th.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Google Reader Is Shutting Down; Here Are the Best Alternatives
Google is closing Google Reader's doors on July 1st, meaning you'll need to find a new way to get your news fix. Here's how to export all your feeds and put them into a new reader (and which ones you should check out).Before you do anything else, you should save all your Google Reader subscriptions now. According to Google, you won't be able to to this after Reader shuts down, so do it now while you still can!Head to Google Takeout's Reader page and click the Create Archive button. It'll start building a file with all your feeds, the people you follow, starred items, and more (though most of these won't be importable to other sites).Once it's finished building, click the Download button that appears to get your subscriptions.Open up the ZIP file you just downloaded and go through the folders inside. Inside the "Reader" folder, you should see a file called subscriptions.xml. Extract that to your desktop. This is the file that contains all your subscribed feeds.Save this file in a safe place while you hunt for a new RSS reader, since you may need it more than once!Google Reader uses a tool called RSS to subscribe to web sites, and there are actually a ton of other RSS readers on the internet. After the shutdown announcement, a ton of awesome readers have come out of the woodwork and improved their offerings, so there's something for just about everyone. Here are some of our favorites.Feedly (iOS/Android/Web) is by far the most popular Google Reader alternative, and with good reason. It has a clean, beautiful interface that you can tweak to work almost exactly like Google Reader—just prettier. It offers a ton of other views, though, so if you prefer a newspaper-like interface or an image-centric view. They've been adding new features like crazy since Google Reader's death announcement, including a new syncing service (that syncs with popular apps like Reeder and gReader), an extension-free webapp, recommendations and keyboard shortcuts, and more. If you want to use the service that everyone else will be using—and that will sync with the most apps—Feedly is the service you want.NewsBlur (iOS/Android/Web) is a web-based feed reader that looks and feels a bit more like a desktop reader. You can see stories on the original site, create categories and tags that help highlight the stories you want most, and even create a "Blurblog" of all your favorite stories for others to read. NewsBlur is Free for up to 64 sites, but you can pay $24 a year for a premium account that gets you unlimited sites, more frequent updates, and more. If you're worried about another free service shutting down like Reader did, ponying up a bit of cash could get you a bit of extra security in NewsBlur.The Old Reader (Web) was built when Google Reader originally shut down its social features. It aims to be what Google Reader used to be: A simple, web-based RSS reader with lots of great sharing features. Its interface should look very familiar, so if you're a Google Reader purist—especially when it comes to the pre-Google+ Reader—The Old Reader might be for you.Digg Reader (Web/Android) isn't available just yet, but social news site Digg has been working on a much-anticipated RSS reader for awhile. Like Feedly, Digg's reader takes the familiar Google Reader interface and cleans it up a bit, with a few added features like Instapaper sharing, Digg integration (duh), and a "Popular" filter that shows you which articles in your feeds are trending right now. It's still in the very early stages, but it looks pretty solid.Newsvibe (Web) is for those tired of RSS readers that try to do it all. If all you want is a simple, clean way to read your favorite sites—without all the social features, app integration, and other clutter—Newsvibe is a fast, free, and sparse alternative.SPulse (iOS/Android/Web) takes a different approach to RSS reading. Instead of trying to imitate Google Reader or follow the traditional RSS paradigm, Pulse turns your feeds and articles into a visual, image-driven feed, and pushes the stories it thinks you'll like to the top. If you're a bit more visual, Pulse may be just your speed.Tiny Tiny RSS (Android, Web) is slightly different from the above options. Instead of signing up for a service and depending on them to sync your feeds, you install Tiny Tiny RSS on your own web server or hosting service. You then have your own syncing RSS reader that runs on your terms, and won't get shut down because some company has deemed it unprofitable. It takes a bit of work to set up, but once you get it going, it works great—and has its own Android app too. If you don't want the Google Reader heartbreak to happen to you again, Tiny Tiny RSS will make you happy.These are far from the only readers out there, but they're the most popular ones, and the ones we'd recommend checking out first. Of course, if you want something different, there's surely something that'll satisfy you. iGoogle fans will love NetVibes. Skimmers should check out Skimr, and picky readers can filter content with Curata. Aol even has a stylish new RSS reader. Desktop users can try something like FeedDemon, Reeder, or even Outlook. When we asked you about your favorite readers, a lot of you even mentioned that you've given up RSS and instead follow their favorite sites on Twitter and Google+, so that's an option as well. Whatever your needs, you're sure to find something out there that works for you.Still haven't found something you like? Check out this huge list of Google Reader alternatives.When you've found a reader you want to try out, sign up for an account and import your feeds. This will vary from service to service—a few, like Feedly, might just let you sign in with your Google account to transfer your subscriptions. For most, though, you'll need to do something like this:Open up your new feed reader of choice and head into its settings.Find the Import option. This will be in a different spot for every reader, but most should have an option to import feeds using an "OPML" file—this is the file you downloaded from Google Reader earlier.Select the import option, and choose the subscriptions.xml you extracted from Google Takeout. All of your feeds should appear in your new reader.This won't import your starred items or know which articles you've already read on Google Reader, but at least you'll still have all your subscriptions. Try out that reader for a few days and if you don't like it, sign up for a different one and re-import your feeds. As long as you keep that subscriptions.xml file saved in a safe place, you should be able to try as many readers as you want, even after Google Reader shuts down.You've still got one week to figure out which RSS reader you want to move to, so by the time Google Reader shuts down, you should be ready to keep reading news without skipping a beat. In the meantime, join us in the discussions below and share your favorite non-Google RSS reader.Title image remixed from MARSIL (Shutterstock) and sspopov (Shutterstock).
Before you do anything else, you should save all your Google Reader subscriptions now. According to Google, you won't be able to to this after Reader shuts down, so do it now while you still can!Head to Google Takeout's Reader page and click the Create Archive button. It'll start building a file with all your feeds, the people you follow, starred items, and more (though most of these won't be importable to other sites).Once it's finished building, click the Download button that appears to get your subscriptions.Open up the ZIP file you just downloaded and go through the folders inside. Inside the "Reader" folder, you should see a file called subscriptions.xml. Extract that to your desktop. This is the file that contains all your subscribed feeds.Save this file in a safe place while you hunt for a new RSS reader, since you may need it more than once!Google Reader uses a tool called RSS to subscribe to web sites, and there are actually a ton of other RSS readers on the internet. After the shutdown announcement, a ton of awesome readers have come out of the woodwork and improved their offerings, so there's something for just about everyone. Here are some of our favorites.Feedly (iOS/Android/Web) is by far the most popular Google Reader alternative, and with good reason. It has a clean, beautiful interface that you can tweak to work almost exactly like Google Reader—just prettier. It offers a ton of other views, though, so if you prefer a newspaper-like interface or an image-centric view. They've been adding new features like crazy since Google Reader's death announcement, including a new syncing service (that syncs with popular apps like Reeder and gReader), an extension-free webapp, recommendations and keyboard shortcuts, and more. If you want to use the service that everyone else will be using—and that will sync with the most apps—Feedly is the service you want.NewsBlur (iOS/Android/Web) is a web-based feed reader that looks and feels a bit more like a desktop reader. You can see stories on the original site, create categories and tags that help highlight the stories you want most, and even create a "Blurblog" of all your favorite stories for others to read. NewsBlur is Free for up to 64 sites, but you can pay $24 a year for a premium account that gets you unlimited sites, more frequent updates, and more. If you're worried about another free service shutting down like Reader did, ponying up a bit of cash could get you a bit of extra security in NewsBlur.The Old Reader (Web) was built when Google Reader originally shut down its social features. It aims to be what Google Reader used to be: A simple, web-based RSS reader with lots of great sharing features. Its interface should look very familiar, so if you're a Google Reader purist—especially when it comes to the pre-Google+ Reader—The Old Reader might be for you.Digg Reader (Web/Android) isn't available just yet, but social news site Digg has been working on a much-anticipated RSS reader for awhile. Like Feedly, Digg's reader takes the familiar Google Reader interface and cleans it up a bit, with a few added features like Instapaper sharing, Digg integration (duh), and a "Popular" filter that shows you which articles in your feeds are trending right now. It's still in the very early stages, but it looks pretty solid.Newsvibe (Web) is for those tired of RSS readers that try to do it all. If all you want is a simple, clean way to read your favorite sites—without all the social features, app integration, and other clutter—Newsvibe is a fast, free, and sparse alternative.SPulse (iOS/Android/Web) takes a different approach to RSS reading. Instead of trying to imitate Google Reader or follow the traditional RSS paradigm, Pulse turns your feeds and articles into a visual, image-driven feed, and pushes the stories it thinks you'll like to the top. If you're a bit more visual, Pulse may be just your speed.Tiny Tiny RSS (Android, Web) is slightly different from the above options. Instead of signing up for a service and depending on them to sync your feeds, you install Tiny Tiny RSS on your own web server or hosting service. You then have your own syncing RSS reader that runs on your terms, and won't get shut down because some company has deemed it unprofitable. It takes a bit of work to set up, but once you get it going, it works great—and has its own Android app too. If you don't want the Google Reader heartbreak to happen to you again, Tiny Tiny RSS will make you happy.These are far from the only readers out there, but they're the most popular ones, and the ones we'd recommend checking out first. Of course, if you want something different, there's surely something that'll satisfy you. iGoogle fans will love NetVibes. Skimmers should check out Skimr, and picky readers can filter content with Curata. Aol even has a stylish new RSS reader. Desktop users can try something like FeedDemon, Reeder, or even Outlook. When we asked you about your favorite readers, a lot of you even mentioned that you've given up RSS and instead follow their favorite sites on Twitter and Google+, so that's an option as well. Whatever your needs, you're sure to find something out there that works for you.Still haven't found something you like? Check out this huge list of Google Reader alternatives.When you've found a reader you want to try out, sign up for an account and import your feeds. This will vary from service to service—a few, like Feedly, might just let you sign in with your Google account to transfer your subscriptions. For most, though, you'll need to do something like this:Open up your new feed reader of choice and head into its settings.Find the Import option. This will be in a different spot for every reader, but most should have an option to import feeds using an "OPML" file—this is the file you downloaded from Google Reader earlier.Select the import option, and choose the subscriptions.xml you extracted from Google Takeout. All of your feeds should appear in your new reader.This won't import your starred items or know which articles you've already read on Google Reader, but at least you'll still have all your subscriptions. Try out that reader for a few days and if you don't like it, sign up for a different one and re-import your feeds. As long as you keep that subscriptions.xml file saved in a safe place, you should be able to try as many readers as you want, even after Google Reader shuts down.You've still got one week to figure out which RSS reader you want to move to, so by the time Google Reader shuts down, you should be ready to keep reading news without skipping a beat. In the meantime, join us in the discussions below and share your favorite non-Google RSS reader.Title image remixed from MARSIL (Shutterstock) and sspopov (Shutterstock).
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