I relied heavily on Google Reader to keep up to date with all of websites/blogs that I read. So when Google announced the death of Google Reader, I had two reactions:
- That’s not smart.
- What do i do now?
I wanted out of Google Reader ASAP. There really aren’t that many alternatives out there, but I stumbled on (with the help of a few good people) the Fever website. The best way to learn about the application is to watch the demo on the Fever homepage.
Fever is a bit more geeky than Google Reader since it requires you to self-host the application. However, the install is fast and easy. I did have a bit of an issue with the cron, but after working with my hosting provider, I got the refresh script working as promised.
Here are the things I love about Fever:
- It’s a new way of looking at old (yet still extremely useful) technology
- I’m not afraid adding as many feeds as I want knowing full well I might not get around to reading everything
- The keyboard navigation is really awesome and, if you buy Fever, I recommend taking 10 minutes and learning basic commands
- It generates an RSS feed of your saved articles. You can take the generated feed, stick it in IFTTT and add your saved articles to Instapaper, Pocket, Facebook, etc…
Here are a few things I do not love about Fever:
- The mobile site could be better, but it’s usable on my iPhone 5
- The iPad/Tablet site SHOULD/NEEDS to be much better
- DO NOT CHANGE YOUR PERMISSIONS TO 777 as directed in the install manual. It should work on most hosting providers without this modification. 777 permissions are a no no no no no no and no
Overall, I love Fever and would recommend it to my nerdier friends any day of the week. However, if you do not want a self-hosted option, you might want to keep looking OR sign up for news and early access to Digg Reader.