RSS feeds are an excellent way to keep up to date with all kinds of information sources (blogs, news, the weather, discussions,..). An RSS feed reader will check subscribed channels for updates automatically and let you browse the news that's important to you. Here are my top picks of news aggregators for Mac users.
Shrook is a clever RSS feed reader that displays and organizes news in a smart (and customizable) way. It's a pity Shrook lacks tools to put news in context and that its interface relies on a wide screen.
NetNewsWire is competent and flexible RSS feed reader that combines Mac elegance with smart tools that help you follow news updates efficiently. Fast search and smart folders make getting to the important updates a snap (though NetNewsWire does not plug into Spotlight) and reading news in NetNewsWire is a pleasure indeed.
Cyndicate lets you organize news from RSS feeds in just about any manner you could like, and even knows (from your own past ratings) which stories you're likely to like in particular. Unfortunately, Cyndicate was a tad slow — too slow to really appreciate all its wonderful appeal.
NewsFire is an RSS reader designed with beauty and simplicity in mind. This makes NewsFire attractive, easy to use and very functional. The price you pay is in some advanced features the lack of which makes NewsFire best suited for finding, reading and then forgetting news, not for archiving and handling them.
Bloglines is a great, web-based way to read RSS feeds. There's no software to wrestle with, and using Bloglines is smooth and easy. You can even subscribe to searches in either your or all feeds.
PixelNews is a flexible and efficient reading environment for RSS feeds that lets you organize, filter, search and browse your news your way. A few edges are still rough and a bit confusing, though, and it's a pity PixelNews does not allow more per-item action (labeling, for example). The smart folders could offer more than plain keyword search, too.
Squeet delivers news items from RSS and Atom feeds to your email Inbox, integrating them nicely with other incoming "stuff" and exposing them to all the power of your email program while providing convenient subscription management itself. Unfortunately, Squeet emails themselves are not all that appealing and, worse, hard-coded to take up too much horizontal screen estate. More flexible delivery schedules would be great, too.
Vienna keeps following RSS feeds simple and functional with smart folders, groups, an integrated browser and item flagging. Unfortunately, you can only set a global refresh interval, podcasts are not really supported, and custom labels cannot be created.
NewsLife provides a sane and simple way to read news and articles coming via RSS feeds.
Smart folders could still be a helpful addition, and better keyboard navigation would be nice.
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