RSS On Your Google Desktop
Google fan boys probably know about this by now, but for those of us who may not have heard of it yet, Google has brought out a new first party widget that can be used with the Google Desktop. The widget basically allows you to see your Google Reader feeds without having to open up your browser.
Josh Lowensohn from CNET tells us all about it:
It puts Google Reader’s source list in your sidebar where you can peruse feeds you’re subscribed to and read individual stories in a small pop-up window that slides out across your screen.
The widget works both in Google Desktop’s dock and “popped out” on its own. Between the two, I prefer it off the dock since you can see more of the feeds and stories at once without having to change the height and width of your sidebar; something that can affect the look and feel of other widgets.
The widget is not without its faults, though:
One major drawback is that it can’t yet properly display HTML-formatted feeds, meaning some of your feeds will be left unreadable with images and page formatting stripped out. However, just like in Google Reader proper, you can simply click on the headline to hop to it on its original site.
I also found performance on this widget to be a tad sluggish. It doesn’t provide the instant feedback you get in the browser. For instance, clicking on my source list of feeds and seeing them appear took about two or three seconds. The same goes for any time you drill down to see any feed’s list of stories.
Still, I have to agree with Lowensohn that despite these flaws, having a widget from which you can easily access your RSS feeds is pretty convenient. I am off to download it now myself.
