Google Reader

Google Reader is a feed reader, it scans the websites you want to follow and lists the new articles for you to view. Having everything in one place is much more convenient than surfing from site to site.

Google Reader was launched as a Google Labs project in 2005. Two years later it came out of beta. In 2006, some of the functionality was integrated with the Google homepage so you can display feeds on there.

Google Reader launched after many other online feed readers. It kept their good features and lost the bad ones. It is easy to understand and quick to use. One of the more unique features is the offline access through Google Gears. Although you have to install a special software program it enables you to read in the train or airplane.

Google Reader has a simple look which splits the screen in two sections. The small left pane shows your feeds and the right pane shows the articles. It is easy to drag and drop feeds between different categories. To view a certain feed you click on it, to show all new articles across all feeds you can click 'All items' in the top left.

Registration is done by getting a Google Account. You can use your Gmail address for this but you can also use another address. It is easy to share feeds with friends although any feed you share will be visible to all your friends.

Google is ad supported but so far no ads are displayed yet.

Google Reader represents the best of the online feed readers. If you need offline access it is the default choice. For all other purposes we wholeheartedly recommend it.

http://www.google.com/reader/