Law Times

Page 12 FOCUS May 13, 2013 Law Times • Lawyers seek replacement for Google Reader Internet giant to retire popular news tool this summer his allegiances. "The ones that seem to be getting the most attention are Feedly and NewsBlur," he says. Feedly is an RSS reader billing itself hen Google announced it would be retiring its as the alternative to Google Reader. It popular RSS feed reader works on desktop computers, Android as of July 1, many law- devices, iPhones, and iPads and uses an yers who use it to track developments interface that's similarly clean. NewsBlur also has in their practice area mobile applications started wondering but limits users to 64 what to do next. feeds before charging The service makes them. it easy for users to get Whelan says the notice of updates to ability to access feeds blogs and news sites on smartphones and through Google's tablets is a feature of search function or by most of the newer entering an RSS adreaders. dress. Sites with RSS But he recomfeeds include the Sumends firms considpreme Court of Caner switching to a platada and the Ontario form hosted on their Court of Appeal. own server, such as Google anTiny Tiny RSS, in nounced its decision order to reduce their on March 14. "We reliance on an exlaunched Google ternal provider that Reader in 2005 in an 'I don't see Twitter as being a replacement for might then close its effort to make it easy RSS,' says David Whelan. service. for people to dis"Even a small firm cover and keep tabs on their favourite web sites. . . . Usage would be able to do it," he says. "It means they might not find themof Google Reader has declined and as a company we are pouring all of our en- selves jumping from product to prodergy into fewer products," the company uct." Some have questioned whether RSS said. Before long, the topic was trending has become old hat given the growth worldwide on Twitter and U.S. lawyer of other platforms, such as Twitter, that Dan Lewis was petitioning Google to provide quick access to news sources. Whelan strongly disagrees. While reverse its decision. Lewis' mission seems unlikely to suc- Twitter is useful for monitoring news ceed, but there are several other services on a minute-by-minute basis, it's sometimes challenging to find posts from the touted as possible alternatives. Law Society of Upper Canada legal previous day or week while important information manager David Whelan updates can get lost. "I don't see Twitter as being a replaceis a loyal Google Reader fan left in the LT position of deciding where to switch ment for RSS," he says. BY CHARLOTTE SANTRY Law Times W STILL THE ONLY "ONE-STOP" GUIDE IN CANADA NEW EDITION THE LAW OF INDEPENDENT LEGAL ADVICE, SECOND EDITION TED TJADEN, LL.B., M.I.St., LL.M. OF THE B.C. 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Tried and tested: Two alternatives to Google Reader Taptu for BlackBerry, tested on a Z10 phone by David Campbell, corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP "For corporate/commercial work, an RSS is useful for seeing what's going on in the world. On Taptu, the story [displays] are really short with nothing too detailed. If you're on the subway and pick up the Metro, it's like that: just three to five sentences. David Campbell It was very easy to set up, very intuitive. "However, I have a new phone and am happy with how fast it is, but the [Taptu] app lags as you scroll down the screen. There are a lot of thumbnails and text to load. "You can add Facebook and it reformats your news feed, but I couldn't get Twitter [integration] to work." Flipboard, tested on an Android tablet by Rikin Morzaria, partner at McLeish Orlando LLP "I loved it as a recreational reading tool. It's somewhat limited using it as a tool to keep up to date with cases and other legal research. "The visual display is beautiful and it makes it a pleasant experience to read through decisions but it doesn't let you see at a glance which decisions are new, which ones you've already started reading, and which ones you've already read. "I've tried Netvibes, too, which is pretty comparable to Google Reader and you can use it offline." www.lawtimesnews.com Rikin Morzaria

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