When categories are expanded Feedly only shows the site names with unread articles each with a count of unread articles. Sites with no new articles (unread) are hidden. At the bottom of each category is an option to show the other sites and a count of how many sites are hidden. Digg isn’t there yet. All sites are shown. Those with unread articles are not even in bold. This noticeably slows me down. Feedly is more efficient in this regard.
In both Digg and Feedly when a ‘category’ of sites is selected the right section of the page displays all the unread articles from all the category’s sites. In Digg and Feedly one column in the section, in list display mode, lists the site title ahead of the article title. That is nice. Once you move out of ‘LIST’ display mode the readers handle listing the articles source site differently. Feedly’s is way fancier. Digg’s is probably easier and faster to read.
You can make your list of sites followed public or private. I’m not sure where the public list appears. The reader provides a link in Settings to let you see what others will see and for you to share your list. No friending or anything, just share or not.
There is a section titled Read Later in Settings that I don’t understand. There are three sign-ins for Pocket, Readability, and Instapaper. These are services that allow you to cue up things to be read later. This feature was built into Google Reader. So, that has me wondering about how Digg Reader is handling saved pages. I’m also not clear on why an outside service is needed. I’ll have to do some experimenting with Digg Reader.
You can also link your Digg Reader Account to Facebook and Twitter. I have no idea what it is going to put on those sites or pull from them.
And there is a delete account option in Settings.
You also have an option to get an email listing the most interesting, I take that to be popular or most read, articles on Digg.
Problems
Not all my sites from Feedly are readable via Digg. I am not sure what is up with that. I’m checking it out. Of all the sites to not work, Myst Online forum is one. 🙁 There are a few sites Digg seems to be having a problem with.
Summary
The main site at Digg has greatly improved. While Drudge Report has all the hottest political news Digg has the hottest popular information. Drudge is drudgy looking. I’ve wondered if that is intentional. Digg is nice looking and a fun site to use, a combination of eye and mind candy. Drudge is an acquired taste for the politically informed.
I am thinking Digg Reader is eventually going to be the same. As the Digg Reader is now, it is a useable no frills reader. I expect it to move toward the style of the Digg home page and add eye candy and more features.
The Digg Reader blog promises search. Google Reader had a search that could be pointed at any site in your list. You could search single sites or all the sites. I found this a WAY handy tool. When Digg Reader gets search I may have to abandon Feedly. But, until then Feedly will remain my favorite reader.
I will be using Digg on and off over the next few weeks. If anything fun or interesting happens I’ll probably blog it.
” Geez, Obama probably knows too.” Obama (and the NSA) is small change, it is Facebook we have to worry about! http://honourmcmillan.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/second-life-as-idiotic-as-it-sounds-gave-me-an-illusion-of-privacy/
If you watched the Boston Bombing interviews on Outfront you would have noticed a former FBI Counter Terrorism agent say that ANY phone call in the US could be recovered. That means they had to be recorded. Watch: http://archive.org/details/CNNW_20130502_030000_Erin_Burnett_OutFront#start/540/end/570 and http://archive.org/details/CNNW_20130502_030000_Erin_Burnett_OutFront#start/570/end/600
Recently Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed on Thursday [6/13] that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call could be accessed “simply based on an analyst deciding that.” See: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57589495-38/nsa-spying-flap-extends-to-contents-of-u.s-phone-calls/
That is government violating the Constitution. That is not a small thing.
I totally agree. My point is that businesses and their advertiser cohorts are just as bad, although in a different way. Facebook, AdSense, Google Analytics, Mastercard, etc. have huge databases on all of us and too often it is ignored or seen as a good thing.
We get very worked up when the excesses of government spying come to light and ignore the commercial databases.
The reason people get worked up is because with commercial actors we have recourse and when governments do it they are already breaking laws that restrain the government. Any recourse is nearly impossible. If a government agency is willing to break one law, why would anyone think they won’t extend their power by breaking more?
Also, businesses are not recording our every phone call. Nor are they likely to use those against us. The IRS testimony under oath before Congress has shown that contributor lists were taken from conservative organizations and provided to their opponents, who then began harassing them. FBI and NSA agents are testifying that any American’s phone calls can be retrieved. The Constitution specifically forbids that without a court order for each individual or small group.
You seem not to see the significant difference between commercial interests and government interests gathering information. That suggests you are not much of a history buff?