Google Reader is now available on desktop, thanks to Adobe Air technology. As I never mention about Adobe AIR in my previous posts let me describe briefly what it is all about. Simply put, AIR allows web developers to transform rich internet applications into desktop applications which can be deployed across different operating systems. The existence of AIR provides companies with websites a new approach to engage with their customers.
Ebay Desktop is one of the renowned Adobe applications which allows its sellers to complete a listing offline and then upload it to eBay when they are connected to the internet. Of course there are endless list of other applications but in this post we are gonna look at ReadAir.
What's so special about ReadAir? It's derived from probably the best aggregator, Google reader, which contains many useful functions and more importantly, it's my favorite RSS aggregator. ReadAir will stream you latest news and articles from your online Google reader right into your desktop.
I've been using ReadAir since a week ago (at that time it was version 0.1) and within several days it progresses to .21 with more features added. The following shows the current progress and future implementation.
Features
- NEW (Version 0.2) Continuation (Allow users to view more than 20 items per feed)
- NEW (Version 0.11) J/K Shortcuts
- NEW (Version 0.11) User preferences (Mac/PC)
- Mac themed scrollbars and form elements
- Full synchronization with Google Reader Account
- Add/Remove/Manage tags
- Subscribe/Unsubscribe from feeds
- Search your feeds
- Resizable viewing pane
- Auto software update
- Auto login
To do
- Offline mode
- Rest of the Keyboard shortcuts
- Windows XP/Vista and custom themes
- Unread count in Mac doc icon
I hope ReadAir will keep evolving and gets better.
Technorati Tags: adobe air, air application, web 2.0, google reader, RSS aggregator, ReadAir, Ebay Desktop
May 22, 2008 at 23:15:44
I found ReadAir through another review and I like it a lot! I was going to actually write about how I’d like something like this, for reading my Google Reader feeds through the desktop, but didn’t think that there was a way to make such a thing. Proven otherwise!
I think ReadAir is doing great, but needs to fix up some of the bugs. :)
May 23, 2008 at 01:01:21
I am using ReadAir for quite a while now. It works fine. Only problem is that unread feeds are mixed with read feeds.
I mean suppose I am viewing your latest feeds but even after reading through it, ReadAir continue to show it as unread until unless I restart it.
May 23, 2008 at 22:07:34
Don’t worry it will get better and better :)
Jul 7, 2008 at 02:58:03
Hey I just happened to write a post on ReadAir. The main reason which prompted me for it was even I got bored using Google Reader for a long time now. Needed a change. ReadAir is nice. Have you tried FeedDemon or RssBandit?
Feb 3, 2009 at 22:53:14
whatever they say..its very nice man…