Are you a Google Reader user? If so, I’m sorry for your loss. If you don’t use Google’s news feed app to get all your news and blog content in one place, then don’t start now. As of July 1 it will be shut down.
The Internet is all abuzz about Google ending this service (see here and here). Loyal fans are wondering how they’ll get their news. Digg has announced that they are going to build a RSS news feed app, but it’s not ready yet. So what should you do? I suggest giving Flipboard a try. 
This is totally my personal opinion, but I use Flipboard on my iPad and think it’s awesome. My husband had been pushing me to try it for a long time but I resisted until recently. Now I wish I had given it shot much sooner!
If you’re a news surfer or blog reader and haven’t used a news aggregator, you should. It’s like creating your own print news broadcast. You create an account (which only takes about two seconds) and then start selecting news categories and news feeds you’d like to see.
Are you into new technology? Select feeds from Engadget, Wired, and All Things Digital. Do you love home decorating? Keep tabs on Martha Stewart, Apartment Therapy, and Houzz. Seriously, I swear there’s a feed (or two, or three, or twelve) for every possible interest you might have (and you can even have your Twitter and Facebook feeds here too).
When you open Flipboard your front page shows all your feeds. Select one and then just flip through the content like you’re turning a page in a magazine (hence the name). It’s really awesome NOT to visit 10 different sites to follow your favorite news. It’s all there for you in one place.
Be warned though—it’s addictive. It’s easy (and free!) to select as many feeds as you’d like. There’s the impulse to think, “Cool! I want to see that!” But, if you select too many feeds it can feel like you’re drowning in information. I do have a tip to help with that though. Get one more app: Instapaper.
If Flipboard is like a news broadcast, Instapaper is like a custom newspaper. With Instapaper, you can save specific articles and put them all in one place. This makes it fast to flip through Flipboard feeds and “pull” articles to read later. Now I don’t have to remember where I saw an interesting article because it’s waiting for me on Instapaper. To integrate Instapaper with Flipboard, select the gear icon near the logo on your Flipboard front page. Then you can set Instapaper as your “Read Later” option.
Are you a loyal Google Reader fan? Have you given Flipboard a try? Do you have another news aggregator recommendation for me? Chime in with your thoughts and opinions.
Oooh, thanks for the tip. I’ve used Google Reader happily for years, so I’m glad to see there’s a good replacement out there.
Kris: I was reading this weekend that Feedly (www.feedly.com) claims to have picked up over 500,000 former Google Reader users on their service. I’ll have to check that one out too. It seems like many companies are going to try and step in where Google Reader is leaving off.
I have the app PULSE on the Kindle Fire but it is way light on conservative news sources
Pingback:The Internet’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week | TDS Home