
BrassReader: a serverless RSS reader - nissimk
http://brassreader.com/
======
greyman
BUT... the server (at least in Google Reader case) actually plays a crucial
role - it "caches" the RSS feeds, so if you subscribe to some, you can see the
history of the feed, i.e. the older articles, which are already not listed in
the actual RSS file. This is an important part of the RSS reader functionality
- without the server, you will not have that history (unless I am missing
something).

~~~
nissimk
Well, you do have to leave the extension running, but it does the same thing.
As mentioned on the site, this has the benefit of offline reading capability
because the rss content is saved locally. If the feed in question only
contains links or a synopsis this is not much help, but for feeds which
contain the full article it can be very nice. I'd also like to integrate
readability.js to cache a readable version of the link for feeds which do not
contain the full article.

~~~
juraj24
But the comment was talking about the previous entries of the RSS feed. For
example, if I subscribe to some feed today, do I see entries published in the
past? Like for example one year ago. If yes, how it is achieved?

Because in the Google Reader, when you subscribed to some blog feed, you could
usually see the list of all articles published since the creation of that
blog.

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rnernento
I'm sure it's great software but the color scheme for that site is so bad I
don't even want to read about it.

~~~
wambotron
Came here to say this.

~~~
frou_dh
Next time, just say it to your desk plant.

~~~
rnernento
Don't underestimate the importance of aesthetics...

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JeffJenkins
Until it has syncing there isn't really any differentiation from the desktop
readers listed here:

[http://alternativeto.net/software/google-
reader/](http://alternativeto.net/software/google-reader/)

The more the merrier, though. It's nice to see all of the competition.

~~~
ernesth
But the desktop readers do have syncing. Unfortunately, with google reader and
tiny tiny rss usually, but it is far better than an ad-hoc solution using
dropbox...

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pronoiac
So, it's a desktop client, that runs in a browser. This feels like the worst
of both worlds; you have to leave it on if you don't want to miss anything,
you can't access it from elsewhere, and you're constrained to a webapp UI.

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rogerbinns
It should be noted that some feeds only have content in them for a very short
time (eg a matter of hours). This means your browser would need to be running
almost all the time or you could miss content, and you wouldn't realise it.

I switched from Google Reader to tt-rss which I run on my home server. That
"server" is actually a 6 year old laptop (built in UPS) that consumes a
trivial amount of power compared to my machines running Chrome.

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donretag
The cons are exactly what makes Google Reader the go-to RSS reader.
Synchronization is the key selling point.

Tons of other options if you do not want to synchronize.

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webwanderings
The Brief add-on for Firefox does the same. It synchronizes across the
machines because your feeds are your bookmarks.

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pgrote
I love the breakout of the pros and cons. Refreshing.

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gnosis
Though certainly a step up from server-based spyware, this app is still
browser-based, which is incredibly annoying.

I'm trying to avoid using browser-based apps, especially ones that require
bloated browsers such as Firefox, Opera, or Chrome.

I much prefer open-source apps that are serverless and don't require browsers,
like Newsbeuter[1] and rss2email[2].

[1] -
[http://www.newsbeuter.org/index.html](http://www.newsbeuter.org/index.html)

[2] -
[http://www.allthingsrss.com/rss2email](http://www.allthingsrss.com/rss2email)

~~~
shyn3
You just listed 3 browsers that are pretty common and bloated. I was wondering
what you are using for a browser?

~~~
gnosis
w3m in emacs, mostly -- except for a few sites I care about (like HN) that
absolutely insist on using Javascript.

It might be a bit extreme for most people, but browsing the web in text-only
mode (w3m is capable of displaying images, but I mostly don't use it that way)
is great!

I quickly and efficiently get what matters to me most: the content. And I
don't have to worry Javascript, Flash, HTML 5, or other rich media
vulnerabilities.

Not to mention the great integration of w3m in emacs, which is far beyond
anything you'd get with a standalone browser (even if you're using addons like
Pentadactyl or It's All Text).

~~~
npsimons
Second this; having your browser as just another emacs buffer is just too
handy; now if I could just get w3m to support the minimum necessary JS to get
my regular sites to work . . .

~~~
gnosis
An experimental Javascript extention to w3m, called w3m-js, used to exist.. 10
years ago.[1][2] But unfortunately the project looks pretty dead now.

[1] -
[http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~hsaka/w3m/](http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~hsaka/w3m/)

[2] -
[http://en.sourceforge.jp/projects/w3m-js/](http://en.sourceforge.jp/projects/w3m-js/)

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pjmlp
Serverless ==> native, anything else is not worthwhile.

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jchrisa
You might want to consider PouchDB for synchronization. It is a layer on top
of IndexedDB that adds sync.

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AdrianRossouw
the idea has merit, even though this implementation still has a long way to
go.

i prefer a desktop reader (newsfire) as it is, but since that is practically
unmaintained, a chrome application will probably fill this role nicely.

