A “do it yourself” alternative to Google Reader

rss_iconI am a huge fan of Google Reader. Well, used to be, because the service is shutting down on July 1.

There is plenty of alternatives, but I like the fact that there is a central web application that stores all your feeds (and keeps track of read/unread). It needs to be accessible and optimized for iPad also.

After a lot of testing and comparing, I went for the following solution:

  • I purchased and installed Fever (one-time fee of 30$). You have to host the application yourself (requires php-mysql-apache hosting); the license is tied to your domain name. 
  • I installed Sunstroke for iPad. Can be used on iPhone too.

The two work nicely together, but even the web interface alone is already quite usable on an iPad. I am really happy with the alternative, there are no specific functions of Google Reader that I am missing.

Update: Sunstroke is no longer available. Fiery Feeds is a valid alternative on iPad, even works much faster.

Why Gmail is no longer my friend…

OK, Google, that was really nice of you to offer me unlimited e-mail accounts with unlimited storage, with a nice webmail, a (bit flaky) IMAP integration. For that, I did not really mind that you have a peek in my e-mails to offer me “targeted” advertisement. 

Until today. Now you really crossed the line. Bye Google. Back to my favorite hosting company for my e-mail.

If you don't speak Dutch: my wife asks me what I want to eat, Google sends me ads about losing weight...