The initial
Google Reader launched to mixed reviews. Google has learnt from some of the critisism and has launched a
new beta that has many changes:
- Expanded view and list view
- Simplified sharing functionality
- Improved read-state management
- Infinite scrolling
- Unread counts
- Mark all as read
- and a bunch more…
The list view stands out, as it shows how Google Reader could merge with GMail in the future (Yahoo! Mail has integrated RSS already). This makes sense to me, as what is the difference between the two? Subscribing to an RSS feed is pretty similar to subscribing to a mailing list.
Coverage:
Feedpass, the feed syndication service that got slammed by bloggers in May, has set its sights on
MySpace users. The new “Feedpass for MySpace” tool allows anyone to enter a MySpace Friend ID and Google Adsense ID, then instantly create a MySpace-themed RSS subscription page for that blog. This misses the mark on a few levels: most MySpacers don’t use RSS, and it’s easier to subscribe to blogs through MySpace’s own interface. What’s more,
Feedpass gives you the ability to monetize other people’s content without their permission (although I’m willing to bet that the majority of MySpace blogs aren’t worth monetizing anyway!).
Once again, this looks like an attempt to ride the MySpace wave with little understanding of what MySpace users actually want (see also
Browster). Since it took virtually no effort to implement MySpace support, it’s definitely worth a shot - I just don’t see it getting much uptake.
If you’re not reading this post on http://www.web2.0blognetwork.com, we’ve got a problem.
Actually, we noticed the problem yesterday. Seems like someone has been scooping up the RSS feed for Web 2.0 Blog Network and ‘repurposing’ it on another site - without attribution and without permission.
Now, of course it sounds like we’re getting snippy. And we are! Who wants to spend time crafting great blog posts, only to see them copied elsewhere?
The currency of Web 2.0 is attention and Google-juice (or Yahoo! juice, if you’re into that). We went searching for some blog postings about RSS etiquette, but most of them have to do with attribution - where you summarize or quote a few lines, then link to the original.
Steve Rubel wrote a great piece about Blog Content Theft, which will continue to be a problem as long as a) it makes money for the thieves, and b) advertising networks turn a blind eye to it.
So, if the blog you’re reading this on is not the Web 2.0 Blog Network, why not drop them a line and tell them what you think of RSS scraping?
[Syndicated from: Web2.0blognetwork.com]
ScratchProjects.com has posted both
Part one and
Part two in a new tutorial series, this time with a focus on creating a RSS feed reader by combining PHP and Ajax.
In
Part one they lay the foundation, explaining how the tutorial will work, what the parts are, and what the parts do. Then, it’s on to the code, showing first how to fetch and parse the remote feeds and create the DIV the results will be dropped into.
Part two takes the next steps and creates the form to add a feed to be parsed, the functionality to insert it and its information into the database, and to grab the list of feeds from the database and read in the contents.
It’s a pretty basic tutorial, but great for those just starting out with this handy, powerful functionality. It requires a bit of knowledge about PHP, but most of the code needed is spelled out for you. Plus, you can
download the code as well.
The birth of Web 2.0 has brought about several RSS 2.0 services and applications that are currently available to users interested in unique RSS feed services and features related to Web 2.0. The following list describes and links to many of the popular RSS 2.0 services.
(more…)
