digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/baseball/MLB_Taps_Twitter_for_Live_Commentary’;

Major League Baseball is now using Twitter in two of its online properties: MLB.tv, and MLB.com. Fans can chime in themselves, or view the 140-character insights of “insiders,” which are tweets from each team’s official Twitter account or fan blog.

Along with being able to post new messages directly from the box, users can get their tweets filtered into the stream using hash tags. These show up alongside the happenings of the game and serve as an alternate commentary to the streaming radio feeds. This is a really neat approach, since it does not require users to remain on MLB’s live game sites. Instead, it can tap the commentary of people who are watching or listening to it elsewhere.

For those who decide to stay in MLB’s Twitter box though, there are plenty of options to make it worth your while. The stream continuously updates, tapping into Twitter’s API to let you befriend any user whose comments you like, or retweet whatever they’ve said with quick button shortcuts.

One thing MLB really should do though is filter out any retweets sent from its site. If a message has already been posted by another user, you see it over and over again as others pick it up. This would cut down on some of the noise. It would also be really nice to get certain tweets color-coded by what team they were talking about, which would make the stream that much easier to parse.

(via Silicon Alley Insider)

The Twitter chat box lets you view commentary from other Twitter users, including official tweeters from each team.

(Credit: CNET)

Originally posted at Web Crawler

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Update: Article updated at 1:10pm PT with confirmation from Facebook.

Thanks to close collaborations with Apple, Microsoft, RIM (BlackBerry) engineers, and so on, Facebook-sponsored applications are available for a wide spectrum of mobile phones. An official Android app is in the works, Facebook has confirmed, with Facebook and Google working together on the software.

Some have scoffed that they’d never see the day when the two Silicon Valley titans pause the rivalry long enough to cooperate on a project. The truth is that they need each other, at least this time. Google needs to fill its Android application storefront with popular titles to stay relevant, and Facebook needs to ensure that mobile users can continue accessing core functionality from any device. It would be overstating the issue to suggest that, in one sense, they both need each other to beat each other, but in the case of this small victory, the brand win is important to both.

Facebook for Android is expected to launch with fewer features than its iPhone counterpart, TechCrunch reports. If their tip is correct, users may have to make do without the message in-box. However, Facebook for Android will center on the familiar activity feed and status updates, and is said to be powered by Facebook’s Stream API.

We’ll see what transpires when the application materializes, so stay tuned for an update and hands-on review in the near future. Neither Facebook nor Google would share a release date, but a Facebook representative told CNET that the app is coming “soon.”

Android has the strong Fbook app from developer NextMobile Web (covered here), but with all due respect, it’s akin to serving margarine instead of butter; margarine salts and fattens just fine, but we all know it’s not the same thing.

Originally posted at The Download Blog

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Now, it’s no surprise that plenty of people don’t quite “get” the public domain or why it’s important (though, if you are interested, you should read James Boyle’s excellent book on the subject, which you can also order — signed — as a part of the Techdirt Book Club). And we’ve seen more than a few instances where people falsely claim copyright on public domain material. However, none of that really explains Barnes & Noble’s bizarre and contradictory response to someone’s question about why public domain ebooks were locked up with DRM (thanks Mark for sending this in). B&N is apparently offering a promotion for “free” ebooks, but it turns out that all of them are in the public domain (meaning most are already available for free online). But, oddly, these books were locked up by DRM, and someone decided to ask why. The original question goes a bit too far in claiming that the DRM “infringes” on the “right to print the works” (there’s no such right, and B&N has no requirement to allow you to print), but that’s no excuse for the way B&N “explains” why the public domain books its giving away “free” are protected by DRM:

We selected public domain titles as our free eBooks because these books are traditionally among our customers’ favorite works of literature…. Also, for copyright protection purposes, these files are encrypted and cannot be converted or printed.

So, they recognize that the works are in the public domain… but they encrypt them with DRM to protect the copyright that doesn’t exist on those works. That’s convincing.

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The latest developer version of Chrome can easily be reskinned. This shows the Camo theme. To compare to Snowflake and the default, see below.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Google’s Chrome tries to make a virtue out of its minimally intrusive browser interface, but that doesn’t stop people from wanting to change its colors. So customization fans probably will be happy to learn that themes are now activated in the newest developer release of Google’s browser.

Themes have been gradually getting simpler to activate in the browser, but they became enabled by default in the newest developer releases this week, version 3.0.195.3 and a hasty bug-fix release
Wednesday night, version 3.0.195.4. No longer must you mess with pesky “–enable-extensions” command-line switches or other nitty-gritty options.

When you point Chrome to a theme's URL, the browser will offer to save it, a process that installs it, too.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

If you’re using the new Chrome developer release, there are two sample themes available, Camo and Snowflake. To activate them, click the link then agree to save the CRX file. Chrome will then switch themes and give you a yellow alert it did so.

Google is working on making this easier. In the tools menu, clicking “Options” and then “Personal Stuff,” there’s a “Themes” section with a “Get Themes” button. So far the Web site it links to is empty, but presumably it will be populated with some themes soon enough.

(Update 8:51 p.m. PDT: If you want to make your own themes beyond Google’s two samples, Google has published a draft themes design document that explains how.)

The themes also work on Mac OS X, though the options dialog box has a tantalizing color picker that I couldn’t get to do anything.

Themes work on Chrome for Mac OS X, too.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

The options dialog box also includes an option to reset the theme to Chrome’s default. However, it appears there’s not much in the way of theme management at present; to switch themes, you’ll have to reinstall them from the Web or your hard drive.

Not every Chrome user can try themes so easily yet. Google typically introduces these changes with the developer release before spreading them to the slower-moving, better tested beta and stable versions.

Chrome's options dialog box now lets you change themes, though for now it links to an empty Web site.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Google evidently has high hopes for Chrome themes. Trying to reproduce what it’s done letting people reskin the iGoogle personalized home page service, Google is trying to coax artists to volunteer themes for Chrome. According to The New York Times, a number of those artists declined to offer their work for free.

Themes in the browser are an element of Chrome’s nascent extensions system, a high priority in development at present. Extensions can customize what the browser can do, and they’re a big advantage Firefox has over rival browsers.

The themes change the color of the frame behind the row of tabs, with inactive tabs becoming somewhat translucent to show a blurred version of what’s behind them. Other elements such as the status bar and find tool also shift colors accordingly. The background image on the new new-tab page also gets a related graphic–and by the way, that more interactive new-tab page is now activated by default.

The new version also adds support for the HTML 5 video tag, Google said. That feature is a centerpiece of browser makers’ efforts to propagate “open Web” standards that permit richer Web sites and Web applications that don’t rely on plug-ins such as Adobe Flash.

Below you can see the Snowflake and default themes.

If you're not aggro enough for Camo, try the Snowflake theme.

(Credit: Screenshot by Josh Lowensohn/CNET)

Chrome's default theme. If you don't like blue, you should have other options soon.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Originally posted at News – Business Tech

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Many people who use Firefox know that there are some really great add-ons for the browser that help extend its functionality. But it’s not the only browser that does that. Apple’s Safari browser also works with plug-ins that, like Firefox’s add-ons, make the browser a little more useful.

Before we get into those plug-ins, I should note that since combined Safari market share is only about 8 percent in the browser market, there aren’t nearly as many plug-ins for Safari as there are for Firefox, which commands more than 20 percent of the browser market. That said, I’ve found some that are worth trying out.

Safari plug-ins

Cooliris Cooliris is a nice plug-in that displays videos and photos in Safari in a Cover Flow-like arrangement.

Aside from a beautiful design, Cooliris features a search box in the top right of the display that allows you to search for Google images, Hulu videos, Flickr pictures, and a variety of other multimedia content. You can bring one image to the front of the display or hold the left-click down and drag your way across the page. Cooliris helps you enjoy your browser in a different way. Check it out.

Cooliris displays all kinds of great content in your browser.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

CosmoPod CosmoPod allows you to download videos from the Web, so you can view them in iTunes or on your iPhone and iPod.

CosmoPod’s icon is placed in the Safari address bar. Whenever you get to a page containing Web video, you can click the CosmoPod button and the plug-in will automatically start downloading the video onto your desktop. You can even play the video while you download it. It couldn’t be a simpler (or more useful) app, but be aware that it will set you back about $10 if you want to keep it after the free trial.

CosmoPod lets you download videos to your desktop through Safari.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Glims Glims is, quite simply, my favorite Safari plug-in. Instead of providing you with just one function, the plug-in does it all. And it does it all very well.

After it’s installed, you’ll find that Glims automatically populates your Safari search field with several sites you can search, including Google, CNET, Facebook, ESPN, and more. There are 16 total sites you can search. Glims also suggests searches for you. When you go to the search engine of your choice, it displays thumbnail images of all the pages in the results. It even automatically restores your tabs at launch, so you don’t need to worry about losing time opening them back up. I could go on about Glims, but suffice it to say that it’s the best plug-in in this roundup.

Glims shows thumbnail images of Google search results.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Inquisitor Inquisitor helps make Safari search just a little better. When it’s installed, you’ll see that the Safari search field to the right of the address bar now says “Inquisitor.” When you start searching in that field, a black box is displayed showing suggested results as you continue to type. If you like what you see, you can click on that box and you’ll be redirected to the desired page. After you’ve visited a page, Inquisitor will also tell you how often you’ve been there and the last time you visited it, so you don’t need to guess which site you were on.

After using Inquisitor on Safari, I was extremely impressed. The recommendations displayed quickly, the search was quick, and the reminders placed on those sites I’ve visited were extremely helpful. Inquisitor is a plug-in that you’ll definitely want to try.

Inquisitor displays some of the best results for your query.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Safari140 Safari140 is a simple Safari plug-in that lets you add a quick update to Twitter.

Safari140 is listed in your File menu. Once you click the “Post to Twitter” option, Safari140 automatically populates your tweet box with the title of the page you’re on and the link. You can post that to your Twitter account or delete and tweet something else. It’s a quick way to post to Twitter. And it works quite well.

Safari140 lets you quickly post content to your Twitter stream.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Saft Similar to Glims, Saft is the go-to plug-in if you want all kinds of neat features added to Safari.

Saft blocks ads. It also allows you to drag tabs around the tab bar, so you can arrange them the way you like. It even gives you the option of searching your bookmarks and history. But perhaps Saft’s best feature is its shortcuts option, which allows you to type in customized phrases to get you to a page quicker. So, instead of trying to find a review of the iPhone on CNET Reviews by using Google, you can simply go to the page once, create a shortcut for that page (say, “iPhone rvw”), and whenever you input that term into the address bar, Saft will automatically deliver the page.

Unlike Glims, Saft’s main competitor, which you can have for free, Saft will cost you $12 to download. It might seem a little expensive, but it’s worth the price.

Saft lets you block ads with ease.

(Credit: Saft)

TabExposé If you’re a Mac user, you might be using Exposé to help you sift through the many windows you have open. If you’re a Safari user, you might be happy to know that you can use the same basic function in your browser with TabExposé.

After you download TabExposé, you can start opening tabs and click the TabExposé option. It will then display your open tabs in an Exposé-like format. Like the Mac’s Exposé, you can click on one of the windows and it will be brought to the front of the page.

TabExposé is offered as a free trial, but it will cost you about $9 if you want to keep it.

TabExpose displays your open tabs like Mac OS X displays open applications.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

My top 3

1. Glims: It has everything you could want. Plus, it’s free.

2. Saft: It might be a little expensive, but Saft has an amazing list of features.

3. TabExposé: It takes a little getting used to, but once you start using TabExposé every day, you’ll be happy with what you find.

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Many people who use Firefox know that there are some really great add-ons for the browser that help extend its functionality. But it’s not the only browser that does that. Apple’s Safari browser (Windows|Mac) also works with plug-ins that, like Firefox’s add-ons, make the browser a little more useful.

Before we get into those plug-ins, I should note that since combined Safari market share is only about 8 percent in the browser market, there aren’t nearly as many plug-ins for Safari as there are for Firefox, which commands more than 20 percent of the browser market. That said, I’ve found some that are worth trying out.

Safari plug-ins

Cooliris Cooliris is a nice plug-in that displays videos and photos in Safari in a Cover Flow-like arrangement.

Aside from a beautiful design, Cooliris features a search box in the top right of the display that allows you to search for Google images, Hulu videos, Flickr pictures, and a variety of other multimedia content. You can bring one image to the front of the display or hold the left-click down and drag your way across the page. Cooliris helps you enjoy your browser in a different way. Check it out.

Cooliris displays all kinds of great content in your browser.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

CosmoPod CosmoPod allows you to download videos from the Web, so you can view them in iTunes or on your iPhone and iPod.

CosmoPod’s icon is placed in the Safari address bar. Whenever you get to a page containing Web video, you can click the CosmoPod button and the plug-in will automatically start downloading the video onto your desktop. You can even play the video while you download it. It couldn’t be a simpler (or more useful) app, but be aware that it will set you back about $10 if you want to keep it after the free trial.

CosmoPod lets you download videos to your desktop through Safari.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Glims Glims is, quite simply, my favorite Safari plug-in. Instead of providing you with just one function, the plug-in does it all. And it does it all very well.

After it’s installed, you’ll find that Glims automatically populates your Safari search field with several sites you can search, including Google, CNET, Facebook, ESPN, and more. There are 16 total sites you can search. Glims also suggests searches for you. When you go to the search engine of your choice, it displays thumbnail images of all the pages in the results. It even automatically restores your tabs at launch, so you don’t need to worry about losing time opening them back up. I could go on about Glims, but suffice it to say that it’s the best plug-in in this roundup.

Glims shows thumbnail images of Google search results.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Inquisitor Inquisitor helps make Safari search just a little better. When it’s installed, you’ll see that the Safari search field to the right of the address bar now says “Inquisitor.” When you start searching in that field, a black box is displayed showing suggested results as you continue to type. If you like what you see, you can click on that box and you’ll be redirected to the desired page. After you’ve visited a page, Inquisitor will also tell you how often you’ve been there and the last time you visited it, so you don’t need to guess which site you were on.

After using Inquisitor on Safari, I was extremely impressed. The recommendations displayed quickly, the search was quick, and the reminders placed on those sites I’ve visited were extremely helpful. Inquisitor is a plug-in that you’ll definitely want to try.

Inquisitor displays some of the best results for your query.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Safari140 Safari140 is a simple Safari plug-in that lets you add a quick update to Twitter.

Safari140 is listed in your File menu. Once you click the “Post to Twitter” option, Safari140 automatically populates your tweet box with the title of the page you’re on and the link. You can post that to your Twitter account or delete and tweet something else. It’s a quick way to post to Twitter. And it works quite well.

Safari140 lets you quickly post content to your Twitter stream.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

Saft Similar to Glims, Saft is the go-to plug-in if you want all kinds of neat features added to Safari.

Saft blocks ads. It also allows you to drag tabs around the tab bar, so you can arrange them the way you like. It even gives you the option of searching your bookmarks and history. But perhaps Saft’s best feature is its shortcuts option, which allows you to type in customized phrases to get you to a page quicker. So, instead of trying to find a review of the iPhone on CNET Reviews by using Google, you can simply go to the page once, create a shortcut for that page (say, “iPhone rvw”), and whenever you input that term into the address bar, Saft will automatically deliver the page.

Unlike Glims, Saft’s main competitor, which you can have for free, Saft will cost you $12 to download. It might seem a little expensive, but it’s worth the price.

Saft lets you block ads with ease.

(Credit: Saft)

TabExposé If you’re a Mac user, you might be using Exposé to help you sift through the many windows you have open. If you’re a Safari user, you might be happy to know that you can use the same basic function in your browser with TabExposé.

After you download TabExposé, you can start opening tabs and click the TabExposé option. It will then display your open tabs in an Exposé-like format. Like the Mac’s Exposé, you can click on one of the windows and it will be brought to the front of the page.

TabExposé is offered as a free trial, but it will cost you about $9 if you want to keep it.

TabExpose displays your open tabs like Mac OS X displays open applications.

(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)

My top 3

1. Glims: It has everything you could want. Plus, it’s free.

2. Saft: It might be a little expensive, but Saft has an amazing list of features.

3. TabExposé: It takes a little getting used to, but once you start using TabExposé every day, you’ll be happy with what you find.

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This started a few years ago, when suddenly grandstanding Congress-folk started blaming Limewire for “leaking” a confidential terrorist threat assessment. Of course, that was misguided. The problem wasn’t Limewire (or any file sharing software), but idiotic gov’t employees who (a) put file sharing software on gov’t computers (b) didn’t properly wall off the software and (c) put confidential info where it could be shared. Earlier this year, suddenly, the issue came up again (again targeting Limewire). It was instigated by some aggressive entertainment industry lobbyists, who have concocted this huge story about how Limewire is to blame. And politicians always seem willing to buy it.

The latest is that some in Congress are planning legislation after claiming that “Secret Service safehouse locations, military rosters, and IRS tax returns” were available via Limewire (funny… those are the same things mentioned in the PR email I got from the entertainment industry lobbyist’s PR person…).

Our Congressional critters tried to one up each other in stupid proposals, with one, Rep. Bill Foster, even tossing out the idea of passing a law to block the Gnutella protocol (though, he admitted it wasn’t likely to work). Others just planned to pass laws that would ban the use of file sharing software on gov’t computers (you need a law for that?!?) and to have the FTC investigate Limewire. And, of course, the real goal in all of this, politicians want to pass a law demanding that the gov’t “undertake a national campaign to educate consumers about the dangers of file sharing software.”

That last one, of course, is actually the end-goal here. The entertainment industry and their shills such as the group Arts+Labs (who was behind much of this campaign) have been demonizing file sharing software completely, and now want the gov’t to help. So the best way to do that was to find some folks who misused the software, get some headlines about how P2P software “exposed” Obama’s safehouse locations and then get the gov’t to put in place some entertainment industry propaganda. Arts+Labs wins completely. It’s backers include the various entertainment firms (bonus! gov’t pitching their propaganda story) and a few tech companies who sell filtering/blocking technology (bonus! gov’t increasing demand for their technology).

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The EFF is trying to get a DMCA exemption from the Library of Congress for people who jailbreak their iPhones (if history is any indication, this won’t happen — the Library of Congress never seems to care about consumer rights). However, Apple’s response to the Library of Congress, suggesting that open or jailbroken iPhones could be used by terrorists to bring down cell towers is both preposterous and totally unrelated to the issue at hand. First it’s preposterous, as there are plenty of “open” devices out there already, and there has yet to be a single report of anyone taking down a cell tower with their mobile phone.

But, much more to the point: the point of copyright is not to protect us from terrorists taking down cell towers. If we, as a country, are relying on the DMCA to protect us from terrorists who don’t want us making phone calls, we’ve got bigger problems. Even if it were true that terrorists could take down cell towers with an open mobile phone, does anyone actually think they’d shy away from doing so because it violated the DMCA? It’s not like that’s going to make much of a difference at all. It’s entirely meaningless to the question of whether or not legal buyers of a mobile device should have the right to place whatever legal software they want on the device.

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Two interesting, new video-sharing services just launched.

UShow lets you have conversations over video.

(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)

UShow: A new video sharing service, UShow, launched Wednesday. It lets you very easily share videos to your Twitter or Facebook network. That in itself is no great feat; anyone can paste a YouTube URL into a Twitter post. What UShow does that is kind of cool is let you tag a person or object in a video by drawing a frame around a portion of the video at a specific time. Then, when someone clicks on the UShow URL you send out, the video starts playing from that point, with your framed comment visible.

Users can then comment on the video by adding additional framed comments.

For the video watcher, it’s slightly cool, but not really a compelling destination site. It’s a good place to watch videos via Twitter, though; the way other users’ comments are attached to time-synced overlays on videos makes for a better online conversation.

“The goal is to make the life of the video blogger easier,” UShow CEO Joe Shapiro told me.

I can see that. If you want to engage with people on content, it’s a good platform.

One big bonus of UShow is that you don’t have to create an account to use it. It just uses your Twitter or Facebook credentials.

The big question mark for me is the stickiness of the site and the business proposition. While I like UShow, it’s not hugely compelling. It strikes me as a decent-enough feature, somewhat useful for some people. It’s hard to get excited about. As far as the revenue model, Shapiro told me that in-video advertising is a possibility, as is some kind of product placement scheme in videos themselves. I had the impression that the revenue model isn’t quite baked.

Redux: On Thursday, Redux is launching a new feature on its video-sharing site, which, if you haven’t seen it, can best be described as Friendfeed for video. On Redux, you share videos by pasting in their URLs, and you can see which videos your friends are sharing on various feeds: the Everyone feed, just people in your network, and popular videos.

Just like Friendfeed, new items pop onto the page as soon as they’re posted, and a previously posted item goes back to the top when another user you’re following comments on it or votes it up.

There are also “channels” on Redux where users can collect videos on given topics. I just discovered the Top Gear channel. Score!

The new feature is Redux TV, a tab on the interface that simply plays all the videos in a feed or channel one after the other. It’s designed for “video snacking.” It’s the kind of thing you’d just leave on while you ate lunch at your desk.

Redux is not deep, but it is fun. The company plans to make money by selling ads, especially interstitial video ads in the new TV feature. That might work if the site gets enough traction. Another plan, to sell content via micropayments, seems like a stretch.

The TV feature on Redux is in private beta, but there are 500 invites to it reserved for Webware readers. Go here to grab yours.

Sit back and let Redux drive your video snack.

(Credit: Rafe Needleman/CNET)

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Editor’s note: This post was amended to reflect a later release date for this app. My6Sense for the iPhone was originally expected to be on the app store Thursday morning, although it remains in Apple’s approval process. For the purpose of this review I was using the same version which was installed using a testing provision.

My6Sense, a company that previewed its RSS recommendation technology at the Under the Radar Mobility conference back in late November, is finally ready to get its tools into the hands of users. The company soon plans to release its first native application for mobile phones (currently for the iPhone only), which pulls in RSS feeds and adjusts what it presents based on your reading habits.

To make those adjustments, the product revolves around a machine learning algorithm called “digital intuition.” As you read, it slowly builds a profile for recommendations on other items you should check out, and ranks them accordingly.

There are six levels of digital intuition in all. Any time you check for recommendations it updates a small bar that tells you how far along its cold, robot brain is to knowing your deepest reading desires. In the hour or two I spent with the app, I nearly got to level three. Apparently it takes much more browsing than I was willing to give it before it could offer expert recommendations. Nonetheless, after just that short amount of time it was doing a pretty good job pointing me toward articles I did, in fact, want to read.

Feeding frenzy

Finding feeds to begin with is quite easy. You can enter URLs manually, download packs of RSS links that have been curated by My6Sense, or import the news feed from places like Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, and Flickr. It’s also got a tool for grabbing your feed collection from other RSS services like Google Reader, My Yahoo, NewsGator, and Netvibes. I just used my feed collection from Google Reader, which was as simple as plugging in the credentials for my Google account. My6Sense was even nice enough to keep all my folders and meticulous feed organization intact.

Now the real heart of the app is feed reading. My6Sense wants you to give up using any other readers, and do everything inside of its app, since that’s what makes its recommendation engine tick. This would be fine, except for the fact that the app can get intolerably slow when it comes to loading headlines.

Over a healthy 3G connection it took around 12 seconds to load up a list of just 10 stories. It took even longer to pull in an additional 10 results. And this was just the text–images don’t load until you open up a story to read. In comparison, Google Reader in Safari is not that much faster, but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re planning to use this somewhere with a lackluster mobile connection.

Despite its slowness, one nice feature is that once a feed has loaded, it’s cached for the next time you visit that category. This includes all of the stories within that particular feed, so you can browse even with limited connectivity.

Verdict

As a pure feed reader, My6Sense is great for beginners. It’s really easy to add new feeds and get going, even if you’ve never used another feed reader before. But it can be (and usually is) slow–almost to a fault. If this is your first mobile feed-reading experience after using a peppy desktop RSS reader, you’re bound to be disappointed.

The inclusion of the recommendation engine is a nice touch for individual articles, although I would like to see it be expanded to cover feeds as well. Maybe offering something that pops up and says “hey, I notice you really like reading about cameras–you might like this.”

The good:
• App learns your tastes, and shows how well it knows you
• Easy to share articles you’re reading without leaving the app
• Sucks in feeds from feed readers you’re already using
• Fast set-up with packs of feeds by genre
• Capability to unread things you don’t want to impact the recommendation engine
• Built-in browser for reading outbound links

The bad:
• Feeds can be slow to load
• No downloading option to read feeds offline
• Portrait mode only
• Photos and inline videos can sometimes be lost in translation
• No toggles to change text size or page contrast

Originally posted at Web Crawler

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