The moment it was announced that Google will be shutting down its Reader news app, everyone began panicking. We're talking 45,000 signatures on the petition to stop it, almost immediately.
But, then again, Google says it wants to cut down on the products/services it's focusing on right now and so clearly it's going to do what it's going to do. Google Reader is to be no more, so let's quit the crybaby routine and move on to where else we can go to get our newsy news.
Last week, Life Hacker was nice enough to ask its readers to suggest where else we could go besides Google Reader to find out the hottest goings-on. Life Hacker requested that the nominations be as similar to Google Reader as possible (viz. syncing, multi-platform, web-accessible).
On Sunday, March 17 - just in time for St. Patty's Day - Life Hacker released what it believes to be the five best alternatives to Google Reader that it received.
Now in Beta, Life Hacker says the Old Reader was "built to be a suitable replacement for Google Reader." This means that Old Reader has features representative not only of the current iteration of Google Reader but also the old Google Reader with its "tools for sharing and organization."
Fast, free and easy to use, the Old Reader's interface looks like Google Reader, employs many of the same keyboard shortcuts and "even [grants] the same ability to follow other Old Reader users and share interesting stories with them-the way you used to be able to with Google Reader."
Life Hacker says NewsBlur was one of the first alternatives to Google Reader its commenters suggested. Also having a similar interface to the Google Reader, NewsBlur boasts "some useful bells and whistles that make reading a bit more fun or easy on the eyes."
Such bells and whistles include those that allow NewsBlur users to better control how they can view articles they're reading. There's some really nifty features when it comes to sharing, as well. You can even keep your own "blurblog" which allows you to more easily share your favorite stories.
NewsBlur is not at the moment free, but might be again once demands dwindles. (Though, by then, we might want to go elsewhere.)
Feedly being on Life Hacker's list makes particular sense in light of the reader's recent announcement that 500,000 Google Reader users have joined its "community," clocking the transition over the period of two days.
"We love passionate readers," Feedly says. "Welcome on board."
This makes sense too as Life Hacker says Feedly was a favorite contender for Google Reader amongst its commenters, with many having used Feedly long before they got on with Google Reader.
At Feedly, you're sure to find "interesting articles" and great resources for sharing via social networks.
"Best of all," Life Hacker adds, "Feedly has said that while right now they connect to Google Reader and sync with it, they're building a new syncing engine so Feedly users can seamlessly continue using the service long after Google Reader turns off the lights."
A social aggregation and dashboard service, NetVibes remains a "robust RSS newsreader" that is free for those who want a basic account, and you can use it as a dashboard/homepage replacement. NetVibes does have a downside in not having any mobile apps, though.
Being only a partial syncing RSS reader, Pulse is best used as a way to be kept up on the most recent stories from users' favorite blogs. It's a prime suspect for Google Reader replacement then due to its being terrific at prioritizing the most interesting stories.
Pulse is also great for sharing.
Life Hacker reminds us that Google Reader isn't being shut down for a while and with all those petitions still going around, maybe these five choices for best alternatives (as opposed to replacements) will remain just that.
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