Google RSS Reader Meets Google Gears

Apparently I’m on a Google kick.

Previously I’ve used a desktop reader to get all of my RSS feed fixes. Specifically I use Vienna; because it’s good and cheap (free).

I had recently found the Google Reader widget for iGoogle and decided to see if the Google Reader would work for me. So far I enjoy being able to go to any computer and have all of my feeds synced in one place. Between work and home I can just pick up where I left off and not have to worry about re-reading content because it wasn’t marked as read since I had switched computers. I also like that it’s integrated with iGoogle. I can easily see when I have new feeds. The only issue there is that I have so many feeds that they update too often and content gets lost in the shuffle.

I’m still evaluating.

Today however, I noticed an added bonus to Google Reader; it’s new integration with Google Gears. It’s simple - just click a button and all of your content is now accessible offline.

For those who don’t know,

Google Gears (BETA) is an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality

Google Gears is a whole nother post onto itself. It will in fact allow for Google to bridge the gap into creating the killer app series.
I maybe getting ahead of myself, but, Google Gears could be what was needed in order to kill of traditional desktop applications. We’ll see.

Integration with Google applications has begun and I think that Google’s RSS Reader application is definitely interesting fit. Although, Google Doc’s and Spreadsheets, Gmail; every application that they currently have can only be enhanced with Google Gears. I can only hope that when the iPhone comes out it will have the ability to have Google Gears installed and used - imagine the possibilities.

I digress, just thought I would share.