Editor’s note: Jason Shellen is a former Googler and founding product manager of Google Reader. He is now co-founder at Boxer and advisor at Tapedeck.
As part of Google’s recent announcement that it is shutting down Google Reader in July, I thought looking back at the history of how our beloved but beleaguered Reader came to be, why we’ll miss it and what we really want in the future. → Read More
Google Reader turned into a zombie a long time ago and it’s good that Google finally killed it. For years, Google Reader has been sitting on Google’s servers without any appreciable updates. Sure, it got a bit of a facelift in 2011, but it only lost functionality since Google decided to rip out its social features in an effort to drive people to Google+. Its core features hadn’t… → Read More
RSS readers, Instapaper, Pocket, Flipboard, etc., all provide ways for consumers to gather, collect, and share news. But each of these is aimed at the general user, and while definitely usable in a business setting, none are actually designed for enterprise deployment. That’s the itch NYC-based startup Delve wants to scratch with its new tool for collaborative enterprise news consumption, which… → Read More
As I’ve been digging deeper into companies, specifically their internal culture, one company that has stuck out to me is payments powerhouse Square. As I wrote last week, the company does some pretty interesting things to keep its team connected and on the same page. At the same time, Square is on an absolute hiring spree and is moving into a larger office in San Francisco in hopes of filling it… → Read More
When Apple launched subscriptions for iPad publications back in February, it effectively became a digital newsstand. With iOS 5, it will formalize the process with an official Newsstand app, exec Scott Forstall announced today at Apple’s WWDC today.
Much like its iBooks app is a store for digital books, Newsstand will be an online magazine rack where you can keep and organize all of your… → Read More
With all the flaws that e-book readers have, they don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. VTech, makers of fine educational electronics, are rolling out the Flip animated e-book reader, so now, your kids can get in on the action too. → Read More
The US e-reader market is about to get one more player when Dulin’s Books brings its Boox 60 reader to the States in the middle of January. But even though it packs a lot of tech into its shell like W-Fi, Wacom technology, and a Webkit browser, chances are it won’t ever make it mainstream thanks to the Kindle, Nook, and Reader. → Read More
This is cutting it close. Sony had previously promised to make the 3G-equipped Reader Daily Edition available before Christmas and the company just announced it’s shipping out pre-orders placed before December 20th. The rest? Well, you’re SOL like some folks that ordered the Nook. → Read More
The Amazon Kindle costs $260. The Barnes and Noble Nook costs $260. The Sony reader is $300. Clearly there’s an established price point for what we call an e-book reader. Jumping into the e-book fray comes the Intel Reader, for fifteen hundred U.S. dollars. No WiFi, no associated book store, but it does include a 5 megapixel camera, and a host of features designed to make it the best choice for… → Read More
Oh, the wonders of our Internet. J&R apparently posted product pages of the new, and also unannounced, Sony Readers which were then of course pulled, but not before Google cached ‘em. (hehe) There really isn’t any tantalizing details that the wasn’t in the prevous leak. There still isn’t any mention of wireless connectivity like WiFi or WWAN though. If said product pages are indeed correct… → Read More
Sony’s got a new Reader in the PRS-700 and that Reader, it’s got a touchscreen. Simply slide your dirty, smudge-inducing finger across the six-inch screen and watch as the e-inked pages magically turn, just like a real book. Or use that same finger to enter notes and/or highlight text. There’s also a stylus for people like me who have weird issues with touchscreens. And for those of you who… → Read More
Google yesterday announced a few updates to Google Reader. The company tried to throw in some cool lingo to make the announcement sound better than it was, but let’s face it — how excited can you really get about putting your feeds in alphabetical order?
According to the company, sharing is now available to friends across the globe. Prior to this announcement, it was only available in the US. … → Read More
Just in time for the Christmas buying season, Target is going to start pimping the Sony Reader. The e-ink reader should hit stores starting September 14, and purchasers will receive a free, early download of…wait for it…The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory. Exciting, I know. → Read More
Even as Google grows bigger and bigger, its developers continue to slip little Easter eggs into their applications. It’s never anything huge – just little inside jokes which serve as a reminder that there are living, breathing people behind the otherwise faceless applications. As Blogoscoped points out, one of these people has infused a bit of gamer lore into Google Reader. Log in… → Read More
In what appears to be a last ditch effort by Sony to thwart the onslaught that the Amazon Kindle is bringing in the realm of eBooks, they’ll be giving away 100 Connect eBooks Classic titles with the purchase of the Reader Digital Book. That’s not too shabby considering each title is $1.99. A few of the titles included are Beowulf, The Time Machine and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. Just… → Read More
Samsung, our favorite tech company ending in “sung,” has revealed a compact and complete RFID reader, which they’ve managed to compress onto a single chip. It’s small enough (6.5mm square) to be embedded in clothes, posters, and probably babies as well – at least, if they wanted babies to be able to read RFID tags. Its low power consumption rate means we’ll… → Read More
Call me Mr. Crazypants — it’s a Hungarian name, I think — but aren’t we done with eBook readers? I could see eBooks on the iPhone or eBooks on our laptops, but a standalone reader is just too esoteric and niche to really go far. I want this stuff to work but it’s just not in the cards. That said, Sony just announced their new Sony Reader. It will cost $300 and will be… → Read More
Hey readers. How are you? We love what you did with your hair. You smell nice, would you like a hug? All you beautiful people should shoot us an email at commenter at crunchgear dot com with your name, password, and email address in the subject line so that we can set you up with your very own commenting account. Yes, yes, the responsibility is great but we think you’re up to it. Also… → Read More
Hey kids, time to pick out another trio of our most awesome readers. The comments are getting better and better, thanks everyone! Sascha seems to be a newcomer on the commenting circuit and a welcomed one at that. Grammatically correct, interesting comments always deserve the first spot. This sucks. → Read More
You know damn well ever since that genius implanted himself with an RFID chip, you’ve been wanting to do it to. Not that we’re condoning surgical practices, but if you want to become more familiar with RFID and how it works, ThinkGeek was selling a kit with lots of RFID tags and a USB RFID reader for your tinkering pleasure, but is currently sold out. From the product description… → Read More
If you’re too cheap to buy a Sony eReader and too lazy to flip a real book by yourself, there’s the Japanese automatic book reader. All you have to do is plop down your book, set the page turning interval (automatic, or timed at X minutes), and voila, a machine turns the pages so you don’t have to. Of course, your eventual blindness from lack of exercise and diabetes will prevent… → Read More
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