Update – Pluck (new product releases)

Company: Pluck
Previous Profiles: July 16, 2005 (Pluck for Firefox), July 18, 2005 (shadows)

Pluck Launched Three Product Updates:

Pluck announced three product updates on August 9, 2005 – Pluck 2.0 for Internet Explorer, Firefox and their Web product (web product image on left). A key new feature is that all of these products syncronize feeds (and will hopefully syncronized read/unread posts in the next version).

Pluck also does an excellent job of explaining what RSS is, and how to subscribe to feeds for new RSS/Atom users. See, for instance, the Pluck tour here and “What is RSS” here.

An excerpt of the press release follows:

Pluck Version 2.0 Delivers Cross-Platform Suite of RSS Readers for Firefox, Internet Explorer and the Web

AUSTIN, Texas (August 9, 2005) Pluck Corp. unveiled Version 2.0 of the industry’s #1 browser-based RSS reader for Internet Explorer and extended the product line with RSS readers for Firefox and the web. The product suite is the first in the RSS space to allow users to synchronize important web information, such as RSS web feeds and bookmarks, between different computers, web browsers and operating systems. Pluck is available for free at www.pluck.com.

The product suite released today includes a major upgrade to the Pluck Internet Explorer Edition and the Pluck Web Edition, and also introduces a new product called Pluck Firefox Edition for use in the popular and fast growing Firefox web browser. Pluck Firefox Edition offers advanced RSS aggregation and management within the Firefox browser, enabling Firefox users to easily organize, view, store and share RSS Web feeds, Internet search results, web pages and other information in easy-to-view folders. Like all Pluck RSS readers, Pluck Firefox Edition includes the ability to search on topics of interest for relevant web feeds, and imports existing collections of bookmarks and Web feed subscriptions.

The new Pluck 2.0 upgrade to all three products in the suite provides active Internet users with a rich set of features and capabilities that enhances the way they find, access and manage web information. Features available with this release include:

* Synchronization: Enables users to automatically access and synchronize their bookmarks and RSS web feeds between multiple computers (PC, Macs, etc.), different web browsers (Firefox, IE and more) and Internet enabled devices so RSS content is always available at work or at home.
* Significant UI improvements: Improved user experience in all aspects of RSS reading, bookmark organization and subscription management. This new experience is designed to ease the RSS learning curve and increase adoption rates for RSS.
* FeedFinder: This new feed discovery engine from Pluck dramatically improves the relevancy of feed searches and opens new ways for users to discover web feeds. With FeedFinder, users can find feeds of interest by browsing a feed taxonomy, reviewing featured RSS web feeds and submitting keyword searches across Pluck’s large cache of feeds gathered from around the Internet.
* Power Search Tools: Allows users to send search queries to multiple search engines via one click and in one view, saving time and improving the quality of results.

All Pluck products are free of charge.