Google Reader is probably my second most visited site in a day after Gmail.
As much as RSS readers have and RSS feeds have gained popularity, a vast majority of people don’t want to take the pains of setting up their Google Reader account with the sites they want to follow.
Google Reader has released a cool experimental feature where a new user can browse through popular feeds as a slideshow in an attractive interface without curating their own Google reader account.
Current Google Reader users can use this new feature to browse through their own RSS feeds in a new unique way.
Google Reader Play is Google’s latest attempt at making Google Reader a fun web app to use for new and existing users.
In Google Reader Play, items are presented one at a time, and each item is big and full-screen. After you’ve read an item, just click the next arrow to move to the next one, or click any item on the filmstrip below to fast-forward. Of course, you can click the title or image of any item to go to the original version. And since so much of the good stuff online is visual, we automatically enlarge images and auto-play videos full-screen.
Plus, Reader Play has the smarts to adapt to your taste based on stuff you enjoy by clicking the like button. Kind of a StumbleUpon for RSS feeds. You can also choose categories and stream news from it.
If you already use Google Reader, you are probably familiar with Recommended Items section. Reader Play basically feeds off of the same technology to show you news in a different view.
Even if you don’t have a Google account, you can try out Google Reader Play. Of course, you can save feeds you like, star it, like it, etc., with a Google account.
I found it to be a little slow to load but it could be because Google just rolled it out. But, this could be a fun way of browsing for news just like how Feedly makes for a great Google Reader alternative interface.
Try Google Reader Play
Oh, you could also customize your Google Reader experience with Google Reader Greasemonkey sctipts.
Awesome blog. I enjoyed reading your articles. This is truly a great read for me.