Apart from the ‘vi’ shortcuts, I was slightly underwhelmed by Google Reader when it was released last year.
Imagine my surprise, when I just used Google Reader to quickly check that I had reinstated full text feeds for this blog. Unless I see it with my own eyes, I just don’t believe it.
Google Reader launches with a modest splash screen with some exciting announcement (which I immediately skipped) and I was greeted by some unexpected and welcome changes to the interface.
All my feeds appear in a hierarchy grouped by ’label’. However, I must admit I am confused. They used to be ’labels’. Now it appears ’labels’ are dead and my categories are ‘folders’ or ’tags’ depending on the context.
Google has also added:
- Shared articles (but not grouped feeds)
- Reading feeds via bookmarks which is an interesting idea
- Integration with Google Homepage
- Quick subscribe
- Support for mobile phones (err, no thanks)
Even more strange is the fact I have happened upon something brand new all by myself.
Nothing on the blogs which I just scanned a minute ago. Nothing on Technorati. Nothing from Robert Scoble. Nothing on the RSS related blogs. No text message from the wife. Nothing on the Google blog. No IM from my son. Nothing on the Google Reader blog. Nothing on digg. Nothing on reddit. Nothing on del.ici.ous.
This is it. I am finally going be famous. My 15 minutes is here. I am going to be dugg and the WordPress servers will creak under the strain.
Apart from the fact it took me 7 minutes to compose these words, by which time this exciting Web 2.0 development will be yesterday’s vinegar stained fish’n’chip paper.