recent aggregator roundup
I’ve been looking at a couple of aggregators this week–one web-based, one java-based.
BlogBridge is a java app, so the install is likely to be a little foreign to most non-techie people. Once you start using it, however, it’s apparent that the target user is really the rss newbie. There are plenty of predefined categories that will populate the aggregator with some pretty decent feeds.
Unfortunately, BlogBridge strays from the 3-pane interface I’m used to. Instead, it uses one pane for “guides” (categories that contain feeds), one pane listing the feeds themselves, and one pane for the articles. All panes are arranged vertically. In the article pane, you have the option of showing the entire post, an abbreviated post, or headlines only.
The real power of BlogBridge is that it offers a service to synchronize your subscriptions and preferences over the net. And since it’s java-based and therefore cross-platform (windows, linux, mac), this is a nearly perfect solution for me. I can use it on my mac, add subscriptions, edit preferences etc. then synchronize. When I move to a pc, I just synch again and everything is updated.
I was also very impressed with its import-export feature. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a big fan of RSS Bandit, but I’ve never found another aggregator that liked its OPML format. BlogBridge imported it without a hitch. BlogBridge’s export allows you to export your entire list, or a single guide (category).
One last interesting thing: you can define keywords you’re interested in when you start BlogBridge. As you scan your feeds, these keywords you defined are high-lighted. It’s kind of neat.
I’ve also been looking for an alternative to Bloglines. I signed up for Rojo. This is a pretty nice system. You can tag individual posts with keywords a la technorati, and you can share, email, and flag individual posts. The sharing aspect seems to center around other Rojo users–add them as contacts, and they’ll have access to your shared posts.
I’ll probably avoid Rojo for the same reason I avoid all web-based aggregators: I can’t stand waiting 0.5 seconds for content to load–it must me instantaneous for me!
FeedLounge, another web-based aggregator, should be going in to beta testing any time now. I signed up for a beta account and look forward to taking it for a spin.
