InfoTart

I had tried Google’s online RSS news feed reader a couple of years ago, and wasn’t too impressed with it. So in the meantime, I’ve been using the free Sharp Reader client on my work computer. It’s a nice client, though it may be a bit of a memory hog and I think it could use some serious usability enhancements. But hey, it’s free and it does a decent job, so I shouldn’t complain (too much).
Well, I find myself wanting to check up on my news feeds while at home, also — but I usually leave my work laptop at work. So what to do? Put Sharp Reader on my home laptop as well and try to keep the feed lists synchronized between the two computers? Ugh — that would be a nightmare.

So a few days ago I decided to give Google Reader another look. And I’m glad I did! Here is a brief list of what I like about the new Google Reader:

• The user interface has been greatly improved.
• You can type in a web URL and it will automatically and very intelligently figure out the feed address.
• It has dynamic folders so that one feed can be listed in multiple folders.
• It’s really smart about suggesting other news feeds that you might like.
• It’s easy to manage news feeds.
• It has cool buttons for navigating up and down a list to the next and previous posts, which helps for speed reading a feed.
• And probably the coolest feature is that you can share favorite news posts with your friends who also use Google Reader.

No big complaints yet either, which is cool.

If I could wish for one feature, what would it be?

I wish that I could install a native Google Reader client for my Nokia E65 and Sony-Ericsson W960i (that is, programmed specifically for S60 and UIQ rather than in crappy mobile Java). After logging into the client, it could automatically update its list and let me read posts offline — like when I’m commuting to work in the Boston subway (or in the bathroom!). No phone reception there!