Netvibes is cool bites
Just ran across Netvibes today. It’s a super cool (and free!) web-based aggregator that’s all web 2.0-ish. It’s got a cool draggable interface, where you can drag and drop sections from one place to another. It’s got a gmail interface, you can check mail, etc. I really like how it displays recent posts from blogs and when you click on a title that post fills the screen, but can be minimized immediately. Very well done.
UPDATE
Whoa, Skip and Bryan’s comments are right on. I hadn’t messed with Google’s IG much, but just did and the two look pretty much identical. Boo on Netvibes!
The first time I fiddled with the Google IG, I couldn’t see how to add my own feeds so I bailed on it. Going back today and trying a little harder, I see that’s actually hidden under "Create a section|Search by topic" which is kinda confusing. Still, it can be done and Google IG is probably what I’ll use, since it can also include my search history, which I find very convenient. One thing I really wish that Google IG could do, which Netvibes already does, is add an OPML file. Much easier to load up a bunch of feeds that way…
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POSTED IN: web/tech
12 opinions for Netvibes is cool bites
Andy
Sep 26, 2005 at 11:17 am
http://www.kinja.com is cool also, thats my aggregator of choice at the moment.
Trisha
Sep 26, 2005 at 3:06 pm
Just got here - I love your topic =) Definitely going to be back!
…and ps, that fast tracking article is really useful!
- Patricia Mayo
Mayo Brains
http://spreadingthought.blogspot.com
Skip
Sep 26, 2005 at 3:07 pm
I’m confused. This looks like a knock-off of what Google is doing with their “Personalized Home” page. So much so, that it seems to have the same basic components and setup options.
dougpetch.com
Sep 26, 2005 at 3:09 pm
Good NetVibe-Rations
Thanks to a heads up from Slacker Manager, I’ve been playing around with Netvibes, a web-based aggregator currently in beta release. It seems to have all the Web 2.0 cred you could possibly want, and looks easy enough to use for even the most techno-ch…
Bryan
Sep 27, 2005 at 4:36 am
I’m going to have to agree with Skip. This basically looks like http://www.google.com/ig which will take whatever RSS you throw at it, and has a few google-grown widgets pre-configured (word of the day, movie listings, weather, stock prices, etc.).
JV
Sep 27, 2005 at 6:15 am
Yeah, it’s very much like google/ig and Microsoft’s start.com, EXCEPT it has OPML import. Which is a big deal if you already have 100 feeds and don’t really want to go reenter them all.
Plus the popup window is nice.
JV
Sep 27, 2005 at 6:20 am
Almost forgot to plug SearchFox, which has THE killer feature IMHO: article scoring and sorting based on the content you like to read.
http://rss.searchfox.com
Accounts are currently invite only, but if you ask nicely like I did, you’ll probably get in.
Dave
Sep 27, 2005 at 7:07 am
I wouldn’t give up on NetVibes that quickly.
It’s visually crisp - shows lots of data/articles
and I like the preview box.
Googles fonts seem large and only display a few lines
of stuff and you can’t preview — you’re thrown right
into the article. I’ll stick with NetVibes -
Go usability!
Bryan
Sep 27, 2005 at 7:08 am
There is a big consideration one must take with this type of interface. You certainly can’t efficiently use it to manage reading ALL of your feeds. I pick 3 or four low-importance high-frequency update news or zeitgeist feeds to put on my IG page and I check it periodically. #1, it doesn’t keep track of what you’ve already read, and #2, the presentation doesn’t lend itself to thorough reading but more of an at-a-glance.
Michael
Sep 27, 2005 at 9:14 am
It also seems that Google/ig does NOT like FeedBurner feeds. It ALWAYS seems to be “busy” when I try to add one.
Bill Gates
Sep 27, 2005 at 11:30 pm
Netvibes is a start.com ripoff
SlantySideways
Oct 6, 2005 at 2:29 pm
I think its slightly better then IG because it allows me to read the feeds in the page. Plus it still seems like its new and will improve in the future.