Google Reader Changes

[Mark Otway]

Hey Mariano,

Did you see the proposed changes to Reader coming next week - particularly relating to sharing? Are you aware of what the implications are for sharing in NR yet, or is it too easy to say?

Mark

[Henrik Heimbuerger]

Mind linking?

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[Mark Otway]

Sorry....

http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2011/10/upcoming-changes-to-reader-new-look-new.html

[Mariano Kamp]

Yes, I saw the announcement, but dont know for sure what it means. And with a week lead time I wouldnt be able to react to it anyway.

My take is that Google used Reader as a playground for social features over the last years and they will now revert that. As most of those were half assed anyway I think this can be a good thing. In particular I mean the loss of bundles (hopefully), blogger-following etc.

However other features that are more useful will likely also be gone and currently there is no alternative API from G+, but over time I am sure there will be and it would be up to the app developer to integrate (or not).

Specifically I expect Like, Share in Reader, Shared By Friends to go away in NewsRob as its core functionality of their new flagship product G+. The next version from NewsRob will come without them. I am not sure what happens in the time between GR releases their changes and the new version of NewsRob gets released (Dec/Jan?). I suspect that you will not see an error message, but it will silently fail, i.e. sharing an article will not work anymore.

If there is enough of an uproar maybe Google will just implement a bridge between their old GR API with regards to sharing and their G+ functionality, but I am not sure that there is an uproar.

In a little more than an hour I will leave for a weekend in London, returning Monday, so I will likely not respond to this conversation until Monday evening. Just so that you're not wondering.

Written on a mobile device

--

[Mariano Kamp]

Here you can find more conversations about that topic.

http://groups.google.com/group/fougrapi/

I may have been wrong about the G+ API. Maybe it already does all that is necessary today.

[Mark Otway]

If, while in London, you're anywhere near St Paul's,

A) look out for protestors and
B) drop me a line and I'll buy you a coffee to say thanks for all your hard work on NR. ;)

[Mariano Kamp]

That offer is only valid through today, right? ;)

[Mark Otway]

Nah, it's an unlimited offer. I can't speak for the protestors though. ;-D

[Mariano Kamp]

Here is the version that I tested during the day. Please give it a try also. It is the same version(*) you are using now sans "Share", "Share With Note" and "Like". Also the label "Friends' Recently Shared" will not get new content either and will be removed eventually too.

Could you give it a go and feed back soonish? I want to publish it as soon as possible.

Thanks, Mariano

(*) I slipped in one very small thing that shouldn't be able to break anything else. When you use Readability as your mobilizer sometimes their navigational elements where chosen to be the preview image. That shouldn't be the case anymore.

[Mark Otway]

Looks good so far. Will confirm tomorrow after a sync, but it runs up fine.

And the menu is less cluttered. Win!

[Mariano Kamp]

Please don't use this version anymore. I am pretty sure that there is a bug in there that in effect will not show some articles that are in the database. I am investigating.

[Mariano Kamp]

It's an import issue. Here is the new version, but let's wait until tomorrow until you try it out. Let it mature a night on my phone/tablet.

For anybody who installed the broken version, you need to clear the cache. Sorry!

written on a mobile device

[Mariano Kamp]

Ok this 2nd attempt seems to work fine.

With the first try botched I am a bit reluctant to release the version officially. Also I will be spending the weekend in a rural part of Germany and am not sure how good the internet connection will be, if any, so that I would have a problem fixing something. 

As a result I will likely postpone the release until Monday, but will post to the blog that the test version is available for a manual install.

So please use the version from below and let me know if something breaks.

[Tim Wood]

Mariano,

Can you please leave the share and like buttons in Newsrob since Google Reader still seems to accept and record these items?  The UI has just been changed to hide links to see these items.

Thanks,

-Tim

[Mariano Kamp]

No, sorry. 

My understanding is they will go away any minute now and then NewsRob will not be able to delete the articles that are liked or shared anymore, but haven't been submitted to the server.

You can keep the old version running however and we'll see what happens. There is nothing new in 483, except the exclusion of readability navigational graphics as thumbnail images.

[Ruymán Gil - Sysprocan]

Still working for now the social features, can check on my page Google
Reader shared items: http://www.google.es/reader/shared/sysprocan

Why not let the social buttons in Newsrob while work?

For me has been a big mistake of Google, I loved reading the news list
shared by all my contacts and above all can read it even without
Internet on my mobile phone with NewsRob.

Thanks.

On 4 nov, 12:07, Mariano Kamp <mariano.k...@gmail.com> wrote:
> No, sorry.
>
> My understanding is they will go away any minute now and then NewsRob will
> not be able to delete the articles that are liked or shared anymore, but
> haven't been submitted to the server.
>
> You can keep the old version running however and we'll see what happens.
> There is nothing new in 483, except the exclusion of readability
> navigational graphics as thumbnail images.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 4, 2011 at 12:59 PM, Tim Wood <timwo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Mariano,
> > Can you please leave the share and like buttons in Newsrob since Google
> > Reader still seems to accept and record these items?  The UI has just been
> > changed to hide links to see these items.
>
> > Thanks,
> >  -Tim
>

> > On Thu, Nov 3, 2011 at 10:26 AM, Mariano Kamp <mariano.k...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >> It's an import issue. Here is the new version<https://sites.google.com/site/newsrobapp/beta-program/newsrob483.apk>,

> >> but let's wait until tomorrow until you try it out. Let it mature a night
> >> on my phone/tablet.
>
> >> For anybody who installed the broken version, you need to clear the
> >> cache. Sorry!
>
> >> written on a mobile device

> >> On Nov 3, 2011 11:52 AM, "Mariano Kamp" <mariano.k...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>> Please don't use this version anymore. I am pretty sure that there is a
> >>> bug in there that in effect will not show some articles that are in the
> >>> database. I am investigating.
>

> >>> On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 6:26 PM, Mariano Kamp <mariano.k...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >>>> Here is the version<https://sites.google.com/site/newsrobapp/beta-program/newsrob483.apk>that I tested during the day. Please give it a try also. It is the same

> >>>> version(*) you are using now sans "Share", "Share With Note" and "Like".
> >>>> Also the label "Friends' Recently Shared" will not get new content either
> >>>> and will be removed eventually too.
>
> >>>> Could you give it a go and feed back soonish? I want to publish it as
> >>>> soon as possible.
>
> >>>> Thanks, Mariano
>
> >>>> (*) I slipped in one very small thing that shouldn't be able to break
> >>>> anything else. When you use Readability as your mobilizer sometimes their
> >>>> navigational elements where chosen to be the preview image. That shouldn't
> >>>> be the case anymore.
>

> >>>> On Fri, Oct 21, 2011 at 10:55 AM, Mariano Kamp <mariano.k...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >>>>> Yes, I saw the announcement, but dont know for sure what it means. And
> >>>>> with a week lead time I wouldnt be able to react to it anyway.
>
> >>>>> My take is that Google used Reader as a playground for social features
> >>>>> over the last years and they will now revert that. As most of those were
> >>>>> half assed anyway I think this can be a good thing. In particular I mean
> >>>>> the loss of bundles (hopefully), blogger-following etc.
>
> >>>>> However other features that are more useful will likely also be gone
> >>>>> and currently there is no alternative API from G+, but over time I am sure
> >>>>> there will be and it would be up to the app developer to integrate (or not).
>
> >>>>> Specifically I expect Like, Share in Reader, Shared By Friends to go
> >>>>> away in NewsRob as its core functionality of their new flagship product G+.
> >>>>> The next version from NewsRob will come without them. I am not sure what
> >>>>> happens in the time between GR releases their changes and the new version
> >>>>> of NewsRob gets released (Dec/Jan?). I suspect that you will not see an
> >>>>> error message, but it will silently fail, i.e. sharing an article will not
> >>>>> work anymore.
>
> >>>>> If there is enough of an uproar maybe Google will just implement a
> >>>>> bridge between their old GR API with regards to sharing and their G+
> >>>>> functionality, but I am not sure that there is an uproar.
>
> >>>>> In a little more than an hour I will leave for a weekend in London,
> >>>>> returning Monday, so I will likely not respond to this conversation until
> >>>>> Monday evening. Just so that you're not wondering.
>
> >>>>> Written on a mobile device

[Mark Otway]

Google is still storing your shared items and still generates that page, primarily so you can export your historical shared items. But you can't share anything new to it, so there's no point in leaving the share buttons in any Google Reader clients such as Newsrob.

[Tim Wood]

Things I share in NR continue to go to my shared items and there are now userscripts and chrome/firefox extensions to add the sharing buttons/links back into the Google Reader web interface.

I've yet to upgrade to the latest NR for this reason.  Makes updating other apps on my phone a PITA when there are a lot available.

[Tim Wood]

Actually, it looks like some of the sharing sections of GR have been removed as Mariano said they would.  :-(

[Ruymán Gil - Sysprocan]

Mark Otway
...But you can't share anything new...
See my shared item page, today I share a new article, yesterday 2
articles...(http://www.google.es/reader/shared/sysprocan)

Even this shared item are published in my buzz section of google+ as
"Google Reader" https://plus.google.com/u/0/108532633451146899234/buzz

For now it seems that still works, and I'm sharing with the usual
method of NewsRob

On 10 nov, 13:03, Mark Otway <m...@otway.com> wrote:
> Google is still storing your shared items and still generates that page,
> primarily so you can export your historical shared items. But you can't
> share anything new to it, so there's no point in leaving the share buttons
> in any Google Reader clients such as Newsrob.

> On Nov 10, 2011 12:36 PM, "Ruymán Gil - Sysprocan" <syspro...@gmail.com>

[Ruymán Gil - Sysprocan]

Today share buttoms in Newsrob work yet and share items it´s show in
google reader...

Please, Mariano Kamp, It´s possible enabled buttoms again?

In this way more people would share their favorite news again and we
may recover the shared news (item) from our friends

[Mariano Kamp]

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/fougrapi/sKclYEY7XsY/CAm6R07PNPQJ

It seems that Google hasn't made up their mind and indulge the chaos. If I reas this right "like" is still gone, but "share" is coming back, if only outside the Google Reader webapp. No idea how long this decision stays though.

I am on mountainbiking trip next week and will decide afterwards if I re-add it to NewsRob, which is a couple of hours work, if I do this before the ICS version or after.

[Mariano Kamp]

You can keep working with the previous NewsRob version if you like.

[Mark Otway]

That's great. Would love to see this back again. :)

[Mark Otway]

Anyone got the link handy for the old version with sharing enabled? I know Mariano posted it but I can't find the email.

[Mariano Kamp]

I just uploaded it again. Hope it is really the 4.8.2, but I think it is ;)

https://sites.google.com/site/newsrobapp/beta-program/newsrob482.apk

[Mariano Kamp]

Hey guys.

Thanks for waiting. Had a great vacation and thought about the this whole issue long and hard. 

Unfortunately I have to say that I am not inclined to re-add the sharing. The reasons are manyfold. In descending order of importance.

Re-Adding it is quite a little bit of work and I can't just re-appyl the stuff that I removed, because I removed it together with the "like" feature, which will not be re-added by Google.

Also the social features are "tricky" to implement. The ordinary articles and the syncing are for the most part pretty much straight forward and is mostly just the Atom standard. However the friends features, annotations etc. are homegrown stuff that are not very consistent and need lots of special casing. If you are not a software developer, this means it's a lot of effort to implement, maintain it and bug fix it.

I would see a reason to re-instate the original functionality, if I could be somehow sure that Google would leave it in for some time then, but unfortunately I don't have much faith in Google leaving it in and I already know that they won't restore the functionality as we know it (friends management, share with comment are/will be gone).

Here is my source of this information:

My question:

http://groups.google.com/group/fougrapi/msg/5b059d1071f8867b

The answer:

http://groups.google.com/group/fougrapi/msg/948cc822c8e9e001

But if you're interested in the topic, the whole conversation is interesting.

So, to me it seems that we could really just resurrect the feature to share articles in public and even that may be gone at some point in time. While I can see from our conversation here there are workflows that would benefit from that I don't believe it is a long term solution. And just leaving in/using those little bits, looks like a Frankenstein solution to me. For example, you don't get to share an article anymore from the GR web interface. So you could only do it from NewsRob. While this may work for some users, a solution that uses for example Read It Later (or whatever) would be more beneficial from my point of view as you can use if from the web app as well as from NewsRob.

So for me it seems clear that putting effort into making it easier to share with other apps on your device, e.g. G+, Read It Later, Instapaper ... is a better investment of development time.

I feel rather strongly about this, but in contrast to some other discussions here, I am still willing to listen and may change my mind; although I would prefer that I don't have to ;) But please, don't propose very specific solutions that cannot be used in a broader context than your idea of a workflow ;)