The Top 5 Mac RSS Apps Reviewed

The Top 5 Mac RSS Apps Reviewed: “

RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, is the widely used, XML based system for distributing syndication of many news sites and blogs. In order to use this popular technology, the use of an aggregator is required. There are many popular RSS aggregators available on the mac platform. In this post I will review and compare a few of the newest and most popular: NetNewsWire, Newsfire, Newslife, Vienna, and, OS X’s own built in web browser/RSS reader, Safari.

NetNewsWire Ranchero Software, $25.95

Pros: Free Lite version available, auto-collection, smart folders, search, synchronization with newsgator service, scriptable, built-in efficient web browser.

Cons: No item threading, No ability to put items in context, No spotlight integration, No customizable color labels, lowest automatic refresh time is 30 minutes.

Newsfire Dave Watanabe, $20

Pros: Sleek design, efficiently functional interface, integrated search, smart folders, integrates with several desktop del.icio.us applications such as Pukka, fairly quick automatic refresh time of merely 5 minutes.

Cons: No Labels, no AI for efficient Smart Folders, no way to archive feeds, no integrated synchronization.

Newslife ThinkMac Software, $20, Public Beta

Pros: Easy to use, familiar and efficient interface, works seamlessly with OS X apps like Safari and iTunes, includes tools for quick posting to social bookmarking sites like digg and del.icio.us, ‘Speck’ article text to speech capabilities.

Cons: In beta and still rather buggy, fastest automatic refresh time is 20 minutes, $20 is a rather steep price for it’s present state- even though it’s in public beta the nag screens can become quite an annoyance.

Vienna Open Community UK, Freeware, Open Source

Pros: Simple and easy-to-use interface, smart folders, ability to flag individual articles.

Cons: Vienna cannot learn which item to place in a smart folder by experience, no colored labels for organizing items, very little support for podcasts or any other media delivered via RSS, no integration with online RSS services.

Safari RSS Apple Inc., Bundled with Mac OS X

Pros: Built into OS X, allows for integrated RSS reading and web browsing seamlessly, Solid search and archiving, modifiable article length.

Cons: Safari may not be your browser of preference so the advantage of having RSS integrated in your web browser (though there are a few more browsers with this same capability, notably firefox), most of the ‘standard’ features (smart folders, social bookmarking etc.) are not present.

Conclusion: Go with Newsfire if you have the money, otherwise go with NetNewsWire Lite. Both have solid, intuitive interfaces, and the great features you’ve come to expect from modern RSS applications.

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RSS

Als Nächstes hätten wir dann RSS Reader für den Mac. Dafür habe ich einen Artikel von Macapper angefügt, der einen generellen Überblick gibt. Da ich persönlich RSS mehr benutze als meinen Browser, liegt mir dieses Thema sehr am Herzen. Ich habe so ziemlich alle ausprobiert. Fundiert kann ich dabei sagen das Vienna wahrscheinlich einer der Besten, wenn nicht der beste ist. Noch dazu ist er Freeware. Im Augenblick probiere ich Netnewswire aus. Shareware, und möglicherweise ein Ersatz, der er ein paar Funktionen anbietet die Vienna nicht hat, wie zum Beispiel eine indirekte Blogverbindung über Marsedit. Außerdem hat NNW eine schönere Oberfläche. Klingt vernachlässigbar, ist aber durchaus von Bedeutung, wenn man den ganzen Tag mit einem Programm arbeitet.

Fangen wir mal an…

Ich dachte mir es wäre angebracht, wenn wir damit anfangen würden die besten Freeware and Shareware Angebote für den Mac vorzustellen. An erster Stelle steht dabei eines der nützlichsten Freeware Angebote überhaupt – Quicksilver. Alle Funktionen von Quicksilver hier zu beschreiben ginge zu weit, aber da es aber mehr als nur ein app launcher ist, und es durchaus eine Weile dauert bis man alle Möglichkeiten ausgeschöpft hat, habe ich im Folgenden einen Artikel von Lifehacker angefügt, der eine Einleitung zu diesem Allround Programm anbietet. Sehr Empfehlenswert!

Hack Attack: A beginner’s guide to Quicksilver – Lifehacker

Hack Attack: A beginner’s guide to Quicksilver

by Adam Pash

Quicksilver is bar-none the best productivity application on the market today. Whether we’re talking Mac, Windows, or Linux, freeware or shareware, this Mac-only, freeware application launcher-and-then-some is the best productivity booster I have on my computer.

Quicksilver can be used to launch files and applications, manipulate data, and seamlessly plug into almost any application on your Mac so that you can perform actions as soon as you think of them in a few short keystrokes. The only problem with Quicksilver is that a lot of people also find it to be one of the most obtuse desktop applications around. In this first part of our Quicksilver series, I’m going to introduce you to the basics of Quicksilver to lay t“

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