Filed under: Software, Internet Tools
Times makes your RSS feeds into a newspaper
Times is a new RSS reader with a snazzy interface designed to look like a newspaper. You can choose different RSS feeds to supply the content to the different columns. In the screenshot above I've got TUAW in the top, an Apple feed on the right, and I've left the space below TUAW clear where another feed would go. When you want to read a story the top page folds down and the story appears on a separate page behind it. At the top are buttons to go different sections, each with a different set of feeds. Finally there's a "shelf" where you can "save and sort articles for later reading."
While I couldn't possibily use Times in place of NetNewsWire for the hundreds of feeds I read, nonetheless it is a very slick piece of work. Times is $30 and a demo is available.
[via The Apple Blog]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
NutMac said 1:32PM on 5-02-2008
Times is indeed beautiful, but $30 seems rather steep when all the major RSS newsreaders cost nothing (e.g., my fave NetNewsWire and jerky Watanabe's NewsFire).
Reply
Samcritchlow said 1:44PM on 5-02-2008
I've been using the Times private beta for some time now and it offers a cool approach to getting your daily dose of RSS updates.
I like the fact that articles aren't displayed in a way that makes you feel like you should read them (like email) and its been nice adopting a more casual approach to RSS updates.
Reply
Gary Lee said 1:39PM on 5-02-2008
Make this into a website . . and you've made yourself some money my friend
Reply
mark said 1:41PM on 5-02-2008
Expensive...But extremely refreshing:)
Hopefully will improve with time.
Reply
db cooper said 1:51PM on 5-02-2008
I've never understood the need for a standalone reader. Frankly, Firefox+Sage = Bliss. Nothing comes close to the integration and functionality of this great little FF extension.
Reply
Adam S said 2:12PM on 5-02-2008
Is anyone ever going to make a gorgeous mac standalone reader that uses the bloglines sync API? If I could sync with Bloglines, I would use any reader that fit Leopard. Instead, I'm stuck on the Bloglines website at work and home.
Reply
Dalton said 2:34PM on 5-02-2008
I used to worry about the same thing, but as soon as NNW went free, I dropped bloglines like a hot potato and switched over to NewsGator syncing. It works pretty well, I think.
Chan said 2:28PM on 5-02-2008
I just use Vienna as my RSS reader, free, light weight, and easy :)
Reply
Temporal said 2:34PM on 5-02-2008
This thing is so bad. There are no words for the amatuerish effort that created this unstable and nearly unsuable piece of garbage. And to ask $30 for something that barely works is pretty astonishing.
The only thing even remotely decent about this app is it's farily innovative display of News(even though it is extremely limited to just the 3 provided sections). However this is far outweighed by the performance issues and the downright stupid use of animation and fluff of the stupid page curl.
Everytime I see something like this I curse Apple and CoreAnimation. Making this stuff easier for people to do so far hasn't created a lot of great results.
Reply
Chris Newton said 5:07PM on 5-02-2008
It crashed. I threw it away. It choked on Tuaw's feed... color me unimpressed.
Joseph Crawford said 2:48PM on 5-02-2008
Wow a news reader that only allows for 3 feeds or did I get that bit wrong? I do not see a need for a separate client either, I use the Mail.app for my news reader. I have tried NetNewsWire and Vienna both very nice apps but more power than I really need. My email client is open all day anyway so it just works better for me ;)
Reply
mr. Obsession said 3:04PM on 5-02-2008
Safari's built-in RSS reader FTW.
...and Watanabe's still a jerk.
Reply
booyaa said 4:00PM on 5-02-2008
flock will do 1 or 2 columns. it will also provide just headlines, summary or full contents of the article. you can save articles. oh and its free. don't see what what all the fuss is.
Reply
Evan said 3:55PM on 5-02-2008
Again, I must voice a common sentiment, $30.00 is way to expensive for a feed reader. When the heavy hitters already established in this arena are already free, a new comer would need to be packing some big ones to charge anything at all. Maybe, just maybe, they could justify $12.00 if there was also a web sync interface to go along with it. Thirty bucks is setting the bar too high and when they realize this and lower the price, they will have some pretty frustrated early adopters... Unless that is, they take care of them.
Reply
2shae said 4:25PM on 5-02-2008
I was gonna say that $30 was a little bit expensive even if that's only €19, but after a quick look at the demo I'm impressed.
Visually it looks really cool with the page turning effect and such.
I might actually buy it...I'll definitely buy it if it was $20.
Reply
Jeffrey said 4:40PM on 5-02-2008
Well, I will have to say after trying the demo, it's definitely not worth $30.
- It crashes when I am trying to delete feeds and pages.
- There is no way to delete multiple feeds
- It doesn't import groups from OPML file (from Google Reader)
I think it's cool maybe for people just start looking at RSS feeds. But certainly not for power users.
Reply
geochick said 6:21PM on 5-02-2008
Nice but $30 too much I also wish it just gave me the news in one place and integrated the pictures. What I need is a standalone app for assembling RSS like a newspaper. Pretty close but I have to go out to individual sites for the full article.
Reply
Todd Sieling said 7:33PM on 5-02-2008
It's nice - it has potential, but like others I can't see leaving my feed reader for it (netnewswire). It feels like google news could be if google wasn't diametrically opposed to to anything that looks good.
I have to fully agree that the price is too high, maybe by half. Otherwise it's cool to see a new take in UI development. I hope it evolves.
Reply
Kai Cherry said 8:34PM on 5-02-2008
Odd.
this is the first rss reader I actually like...because it makes the news work like news...not like...email or usenet.
I'm not going to get into the pricing. I find it...irritating how some TUAW writes seem to think that anything that has a charge is too much.
Now...for the critique:
The page curl thing is a mess. Switch to slide in the prefs.
Needs to support direct drag dro better.
What love:
I LOVE how i can drop hella feeds into the sections, based on the way the feeds are made.
And it will take as many as you toss in a section; it doesn't just work with 3 feeds.
I hink in a couple of version this will be great.
It comes close to me fav way to read rss...via a feed to ebook thingee i found. It cues up the overnight news, and i can read it n my hand on my e book reader over a coffee in the morning.
Reply
cylonite said 10:13PM on 5-02-2008
I prefer Klipfolio. Is there a Mac equivalent for that?
Reply