I discovered Gruml a while back, but didn't write about it right away because there were too many glitches in the first beta to make it really interesting. Thankfully, recent releases have smoothed out the vast majority of the kinks, and I can now present -- with gusto -- a great RSS reader that interfaces with Google Reader.

NetNewsWire switched to syncing with Google Reader back in July, and I was pretty excited. Google Reader has been an amazing tool for me in the RSS world, and the more apps I have that all sync with it, the happier I am. However, despite seemingly endless trials and searches, I haven't really found the app that can top a Fluid SSB with a good userstyle. Gruml comes the closest so far, and it's free (at least right now, I'm not sure what the future holds after beta).

One of the things I like about desktop clients (when it comes to RSS readers) is scriptability. Gruml currently lacks the AppleScript dictionary that, say, NetNewsReader has, and I'd love to see it implemented. The keyboard navigation is decent, but not yet up-to-par with Google Reader's web interface, which can be navigated entirely with the keyboard. It might not make a difference to a lot of folks, but when I'm cruising through headlines I like to be all-keyboard when possible. The "Send Article to ... " menu is fantastic, covering 12 services ranging from Delicious to Twitter, and including Facebook, Ping.fm and Posterous. Note-taking, starring and sharing are all very well done, and sync perfectly with Google.

NetNewsWire was one of the first native applications on the iPhone to read RSS feeds. Today, NewsGator released some astounding statistics about their application and users. One of the announcements was that NNW on the iPhone has over 200,000 users. Some of the other interesting stats they're talking about are:

• 115,000 users have signed up for the iPhone version in the past 30-days
  
• Average NNW for iPhone users subscribe to 26 feeds (I subscribe to over 115 -- just sayin')
  
• One NNW for iPhone user subscribes to over 2,800 feeds (and how does this person read all of the newsies coming over the wire?)
  

NetNewsWire is a free application for the iPhone that can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store (iTunes link). You can celebrate with the NewsGator folks on their blog. Be sure to take part in our poll to find out how many RSS feeds you subscribe to.

Coming hot on the heels of the 1.5 release, Dave Watanabe's popular RSS reader, NewsFire is now free.

David posted this on his blog:
"After much internal debate, I've made the decision that as of today, NewsFire is totally free. No feature restrictions, no ads, no cut-down 'lite' version... this is the real deal."

Newsfire is just the latest in the growing trend of free offline RSS readers available for the Mac. In January, leading reader app NetNewsWire became a free program, joining Vienna, Safari and even Mail.app as alternatives to the 800 lb gorilla known as Google Reader (also free).

Whether or not some of the other freeware alternatives will be able to sustain development without the support of a company like Newsgator (which owns NetNewsWire) remains to be seen, but in the meantime, I'm loving all these new RSS choices that don't deplete my wallet.

Although David Watanabe has been a controversial figure in the Mac community, he does make beautiful looking software. If you aren't already married to your RSS reader, or you have been waiting for NewsFire to have full Leopard support, now is your chance to try it out.

Thanks Carlo!

John Gruber's Daring Fireball is probably my favorite Mac blog out there (save for the ol' TUAW, of course)-- it was one of the first I started reading, and he consistently provides not only great insight on Apple products and policies (and journalists' treatment of them), but a strong, often funny voice in the community. We're big fans here at TUAW, and that's why we were so happy to hear that even more people will have a chance to read Gruber's work. Because as of today, he's releasing his full RSS feed, free to anyone.

Previously, he had a plan where you paid a membership fee (included when you bought a T-shirt from him) and then got access to the full RSS feed. A feed was available for free, but it was partial content only. Now, he says, confusion about which feed is which, and RSS readers without HTML authentication (most notably Google Reader, and the .Mac reader for iPhone that David loves so much-- what's up with these popular readers not providing a feature that supports the content producers that supply them?) have convinced him to try out a free full feed for a month. Additionally, the free feed will be supported from week to week by sponsors.

If you haven't signed on to DF's feed yet, now's your chance. And if, like us, you find it interesting and informative, might as well put a couple bucks in the bucket and pay for it anyway-- Gruber's definitely earning it.

ThinkMac has announced that their RSS newsreader, NewsLife, has hit 1.0 and come out of beta (and as you can see above, they couldn't have chosen a better site to show it off with, if I may say so myself).

David did a quick rundown on the app last week, and found it to be "a simple, streamlined app for reading your favorite news sites and blogs." There is a cool feature called the News Bin, which seems like an easy drag-and-drop clipping interface. The obvious comparison to NewsLife is NetNewsWire, of course, but NewsLIfe appears to be filling the role of the simpler, cheaper (€12, or about $16 US) alternative to that old favorite. You can pick the 1.0 release up right now from ThinkMac.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Vienna is a free, open source news reader that we like (we've written about it here); it's not as full-featured as NetNewsWire but it's a pretty slick app. The Vienna Development Team is preparing to release version 2.2, which will feature a huge list of changes and improvements, including:

• A new UI (no more brushed metal!)
• Russian localization
• Improved drag-and-drop from Safari
• Unsubscribe/resubscribe command added to the File menu
• SQLite updated to 3.4.0

The full list of changes hasn't been released yet, but you can get a look at what we haven't mentioned here. In the meantime, you can check out the 2.2 beta. Just remember, it's a beta, so backup your stuff.

Vienna is free, universal and requires Mac OS 10.3.9 or later.

It would seem that Apple is eating their own dogfood in regards to Web 2.0 applications for the iPhone. Go visit reader.mac.com, I'll wait. At the time of posting you'll get a splash page like the one shown above (assuming you aren't using an iPhone to visit it). The iPhone in that graphic clearly shows a web based RSS reader designed just for the iPhone (perhaps it syncs with your Safari RSS feeds). It is hosted on .Mac, so does this mean we'll be seeing some useful additions to .Mac very soon? I hope so!

[via Daring Fireball]

The NetNewsWire 3.0 beta is now over. That's right, RSS junkies, NNW 3.0 is now publicly available. I've been using NetNewsWire 3.0 since Macworld 2007, and it has really come together in the last few months. There are lots of new features, including:

• Growl support
• Spotlight integration
• Twitterific support
• A New UI
• Performance enhancement (this sucker screams on Intel Macs)
• Improved Tabbed browsing
• Microformat support

That's just the tip of the iceberg in regards of to new features. Check out Newsgator's website for all the details.

NetNewsWire 3.0 is available now and costs $29.95. Upgrading is free, if you have the NewsGator Online Premium Package. NetNewsWire Lite, the free version of NNW, is still a work in progress.

It is time once again boys and girls for the TUAW Podcast. On this latest episode #11, Laurie A. Duncan and I got down to business discussing Apple's recent stock options investigation results, Steve's confirmed keynote for Macworld 07 as well as the event's doubled size, the upcoming new .Mac webmail and whether it's important, the growing passion for RSS readers and what I like to call Adobe's Universal Blunder™.

The podcast (or for all y'all Leo supporters out there: netcast) in MP3 format (I know: we're working on support for an enhanced version) weighs in at just under 35MB and 38:08, and it's available from our TUAW podcast feed in the iTS, or right here. Enjoy.

Update: we also have a dedicated podcast RSS feed for the non-iTS users out there: http://podcasts.tuaw.com/rss.xml.

Some people have given us flack for focusing too much on one particular RSS reader, so I thought I would help the Vienna 2.1 preview. Vienna is a full featured open source RSS reader for OS X (and you know what means, it is free).

2.1 brings with it a host of new features including:

• A new 'Unified' layout
• Filter articles by various criteria
• Manual folder reordering

And many more bug fixes. Vienna 2.1 also features my favorite blog in its screenshots. Head on over and try Vienna 2.1 out (it was able to import all of my subscriptions without a problem, all 700 of 'em).

Thanks, Dave Jeffery.

Another day, another beta of NetNewsWire hits the streets. The latest beta brings with it a French localization, as well as NewsGator syncing subscriptions via https (I wouldn't want anyone to nab my subscription list).  It may also fix a crashing problem with favicons (but it might not, this is a beta folks).

Get it while it is hot.

Hot on the heels of NetNewsWire 2.1b32, Newsgator has released NetNewsWire 2.1b33 which crushes some syncing bugs, and some combine view bugs. It also fixes a problem where the demo would think that the trial period had expired (even when it hadn't).

If you're a fan of NetNewsWire and beta software, go give it a whirl.

From the makers of ecto, the blog editor, comes endo, an RSS reader. endo (the application begins with a lowercase 'e') takes a different approach to RSS reading than typical readers. It lists your subscription groups on the top toolbar, allowing you to quickly jump from group to group. Color also plays a large part in this application, which is a little unfortunate for folks like me who are slightly, or totally, colorblind.

This Universal application has a 21 day trail, and the full version costs $17.95 but you can get a special combo of ecto and endo for $25.95.

Thanks, Dan.

Whilst I am on the subject of updated newsreaders I should mention Shrook 2.42, that was just posted. Shrook is a fairly popular RSS reader that includes sycning between copies of Shrook and with Shrook.com, the reader's online component.

What's new in 2.42? Well, the big news is that it is a Universal Application now, so Intel Mac users can rejoice. Also in this version, groups are synced properly with Shrook.com. This is a free update, so check it out, Shrook users.

Here's a handy tool. RSS Menu by e dot studios lets you keep track of all of our RSS subscriptions right in the Finder's menu bar. Simply add your favorite feeds via the preferences menu and you're off. You can create groups, insert spacers, display the number of unread messages awaiting your eyes and more. RSS Menu is also aware of Growl, so you can take advantage of its pop-up notifications.

RSS Menu requires Mac OS 10.3 or higher and is donationware.  On a side note, I've now got fourteen little icons on the right hand side of my menu bar. I've really got to slow down with all these little extras.

[Via Appleology]