Is Shrook the great, hoped-for answer to reading RSS feeds? 



(Updated 9/23)

I've been pretty happy keeping up with Blog RSS feeds using the online Bloglines service. It works from within any browser, updates feeds pretty frequently, lets me publish my subscription list on the web and allows easy export of my list for backup or to pull into another reader. The interface is excellent, allowing feeds to be filed into folders, clearily indicating when unread posts have arrived and so forth. But, you have to be connected to the Internet to read your feeds and that's a drag when you'd like to be able to catch up off-line. So RSS reader Nirvana would be an application that combined an online service with a typical computer application and that automatically synchronized between the two.

Thanks to an article at the excellent tech news site Ars Technica, however, I'm one step closer to the perfect reader. In a review of eight different reader apps, the article mentioned that Shrook combines both a stand-alone reader and a web site with auto-synchronization between the two. I immediately downloaded it. After a few hours of usage, I love the concept but the interface, especially on the web, needs a lot of work. I'm still getting the hang of it, though. More to come...

Update: Developer Graham Parks emailed me to say that the web interface will include folders to match the stand-alone app in a future update. That would be a big improvement. Right now, the web version just lists all of your feeds, noting which have new and unread posts. That's one long list.

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Posted: Thu - September 22, 2005 at 07:30 AM          

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