IndexSoftware

Adobe’s Integrated Runtime (AIR) was introduced in early 2008 as a new way for users to access data from the web on their desktops. Apprise is a sample application for AIR, created by one of Adobe’s own application developers which works as an RSS feed reader for your desktop.

Those already familiar with AIR applications will know about the sleek, “web 2.0″ design they all feature. Apprise is no exception and its attractive, uncluttered interface is easily navigable and intuitively designed. That said, Apprise includes no preferences dialog which probably ends up limiting the functionality of the program more than anything else.

The first operation anyone will want to do with a new feed reader is to start subscribing to feeds: Clicking the ‘Add Feed’ button displays a layer where you can add a feed’s URL. Apprise automatically notices if you have a valid URL in your clipboard and inserts it here for you automatically. We had a couple of problems with this process, with feeds not being recognized properly.

Once your feed is added, the application aggregates all its entries and displays the titles in the main frame of the window. The title of the feed is added to the left-hand pane, where you have a choice of filtering by feed title, author or even category. Apprise also supports the feed format OPML files which means you can add your favorite feeds from another reader or bookmarking site. However, the process of aggregating more than a dozen feeds can be quite long and Apprise doesn’t offer much information on its progress.

One of Apprise’s main features is the capability to ‘preview’ feed pages as they appear on their own website. This is, effectively, little more than switching the main pane from feed reader to web-browser and doesn’t feel like a very useful feature - especially given that it won’t even let you subscribe to feeds in the pages it displays. Similarly disappointing was the search function which always searches all subscribed feeds, without any option to select a particular title to search.

These sorts of minor problems are the main annoyance with Apprise, an application which is essentially a very nice proof-of-concept for Adobe AIR. As a very simple RSS feed reader, Apprise does a good job. But for most users, its lack of options and occasional unreliability make it a poor choice.

Download Apprise 1.5 in Softonic

If you’re a news junkie then you’re probably constantly looking for new ways to keep up with the news.

FeedLiner deliver news headlines to your desktop in a constant stream. FeedLiner’s info line can be switched on permanently or run in the so called “Hunting mode” which monitors the web until you change the presets to search for something else. It’s an incredibly effective way to keep tabs on everything that’s happening in the world of news, sport and entertainment without having to check RSS bookmarks or websites. If you want to know more about a headline running across FeedLiner, simply place the mouse cursor on it and you will see a brief summary. If you want to see the full text, just click on it and the original Web page will be automatically opened in Bizz Internet Cruiser which is FeedLiner’s own internal tabbed browser. While it’s not a bad browser, it would be much better if the tabs opened in the browser of your choice - such as IE or Firefox - but it’s still readable.

If you always want to on top of the latest headlines and like to see all the news at once then Bizz Feedliner is a powerful product.

Download Bizz FeedLiner 4.11.013 in Softonic

Jitbit RSS Feed Creator is an RSS feed editor, which allows creating, modifying and viewing RSS feeds. It is extremely easy to use and allows professional feed creation with minimal effort. Create new RSS feeds in seconds and keep your visitors informed.

• Creates and maintans RSS feeds
• Requires no knowledge of XML or the RSS data format
• Simple editing and item creation

Download Jitbit RSS Feed Creator 3.47 in Softonic

SofTicker is a free RSS reader which displays feeds in a scrolling bar at the top of your screen. It is not an invasive display mode and you can click on the title which is scrolling in that moment to open a tab or a new web page.

There are fourteen default RSS feeds you can manage and of course you can add your own. The good thing about this reader is that it perfectly integrates into your screen and it doesn’t take much space, just a line at the top. The news scrolls very slowly, so it is easy to read, and if you pass the mouse above, you might have a short description according to the web site that originates them. You can even choose the speed of the scrolling and the size of the words, although you can just select between a size 8 and 9. Making the font bold will render the white words more readable as the bar’s background is black.

From a usability point of view, I find for example that showing three news sources at a time and changing them at specific intervals would be more effective than scrolling just one news source which you have to follow in order to read. Moreover, having something that moves all the time on the top of your screen can be really annoying after a while.

SofTicker allows you to be always updated with the last news from your favorite website although the display mode chosen is not the most usable one.

Download SofTicker 1.1 in Softonic

RSSOwl is a free RSS / RDF / Atom Newsreader in Java using SWT as fast graphic library. Supported OS are Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris. Some features are export of news to PDF, Import / Export with OPML and the full text-search with syntax highlight. For easy execution, an EXE is provided on Windows. RSSOwl comes with a huge list of sample favorites.

Download RSSOwl 2.0M8 in Softonic

Good looking, intuitive, customizable and light-weight, BlogBridge is a hugely impressive newsreader package.

BlogBridge aims to keeps you informed about the state of your subscriptions while sticking to a basic, straightforward system. On the first run, you are given the option to register and pick from a predefined list of blog “guides” or groups. The next step is to enter custom terms that are of particular interest to the user, so that the program can highlight these terms, giving them more prominence. This is a welcome alternative to what seems to be the accepted approach, which consists of bundling of all kinds of feeds of which the majority are of no interest to the user at all.

One of our favourite features was the easy-to-use rating system where users can give feeds a score from one to five stars. The ratings can then be used as a filter to show only the top feeds, making it easy to scan through the most relevant news quickly. What’s more, there are multiple options for customizing the interface, which is by far the best that we’ve seen to date. Other great features come in the form of tags for feeds and a synchronization system for using the reader on multiple computers without the need to sort through the same information more than once.

Extra merit goes with the fact that BlogBridge is an Open Source project, and although it seems secure and stable there are a few minor usability issues that could be improved upon. The program relies on an external browser to display blog sites, letting it concentrate on being a great feed reader. Annoyingly, however it doesn’t detect the default browser. With the browser selected, it then opened everything twice whether it was an article or the programs FAQ page. Even taking these hiccups into consideration, BlogBridge remains a quality package, so if you are searching for an RSS reader, your search has just come to an end.

Download BlogBridge 6.3 in Softonic

ReadAIR is an AIR-based RSS feed reader that you can use instead of Google Reader to review the latest posts in your favorite blogs.

This app works in a very simple way: enter your Gmail address and password, and it’ll automatically fetch all your feeds, as well as your shared and starred items. The interface looks like iTunes a lot, which makes the program seem kind of familiar and easy to use.

ReadAIR works generally fine. I especially liked the way feeds are displayed on the program’s interface, keeping the original post’s layout at all times and using a very visually appealing text font.

However, the program also has some major flaws: to begin with, I couldn’t add any new feeds (the “Add” button simply showed a blank window). Also, the only way to move through feeds is by using the mouse, meaning there’s no support for keyboard shortcuts.

ReadAIR provides you with another way to access your Google Reader feeds, though it still needs to improve to become a real alternative.

Download ReadAir 0.1 in Softonic

Jitbit RSS Feed Creator is an RSS feed editor, which allows creating, modifying and viewing RSS feeds. It is extremely easy to use and allows professional feed creation with minimal effort. Create new RSS feeds in seconds and keep your visitors informed.

• Creates and maintans RSS feeds
• Requires no knowledge of XML or the RSS data format
• Simple editing and item creation

YeahReader is a free program for reading news feeds in RSS, RDF and Atom formats, and podcasts.

The program provides all basic RSS reader functionality such as a convenient feed update system, proxy support and pop-up update notification. Besides this, YeahReader has such features as built-in blog client that will allow you to quickly write messages to your LiveJournal, Blogger, WordPress or Delicious blog, OPML support, ability to export data into HTML, CSV or JS format, multilanguage support and others.

Although quite functional, YeahReader is one of the easiest news readers to use. The program contains a collection of links to popular RSS feeds on various subjects so you will not waste time searching for interesting links.

RSS Xpress is a program read RSS feeds versions 0.90, 0.91, 0.92, 1.0, 2.0.1 and atoms. The application includes the essential functionalities for using RSS feeds and even more:

• A very easy and complete interface
• Possibility to organise your feeds in folders
• New messages are saved locally so that you can browse them offline
• You are informed about new messages by a popup window and a sound
• Possibility to import and export feeds in the OPML format
• A search engine to find easily old messages in your feeds
• An auto-update
• Tab-browsing
• Possibility to customize the application
• Compatible with feeds protected with a username and password
• Supports proxies (protected with a username and password)