Google Reader Released

Google released its bright and shiny new toy on Friday, the Google Reader (Beta), which "makes it easier to keep up with your ever-expanding reading list of content from across the web."

Basically, any site that publishes any content will usually (but not always) have something called an RSS, or Atom, or whatever-other-technology-they've-got-going "feed", or deliverable programs/content. There's nothing really complicated about RSS; just think of it as a way that websites come to you, the reader, with content, instead of you having to check up on them. Every time content is updated, a "feed" is activated, and then the user can view these feeds (it's just techno-speak for content, again) in a feed "reader."

You'll need a Google Account in order to use the Google Reader, but once you're signed in, you can access all the other nifty Google services such as Gmail, Froogle Shopping List, or Google Answers.

Back to Google Reader. I've played with it quite a bit, and let me just say that while it's obvious that this is a beta release (meaning it was ready for prime time but it's still technically on probation), it's a nice application. A few things:

• I signed in, searched for a few things, subscribed. Easy.
• After reading said items, I signed out. When I signed back in, my subscriptions had disappeared. Good thing that I had only subscribed to a couple of test items or I would be crying into my mango sherbert right now.
• I searched again, and got a pink message telling me that "Oops! An error occured"...and then I was kicked out. Signed out completely. As far as I know I did nothing to provoke the Google, but who knows.
• Right now, there's not a lot of search results coming back; even for search queries such as Paris Hilton. I'm sure that this will change.
• One wonky thing that I noticed: if you are in the Reader, you'll see two buttons next to the query box labeled "Search for new content" and "Search the Web." I clicked on "Search the Web" and was taken to a new browser window. This felt awkward and again, is something that I'm sure Google will fix.
• The Google Reader Help took all my Indiana Jones/CSI/Hardy Boys sleuthing skills that I had to find. I finally gave up and Googled it (no joke).

Overall I do think that this is a nice way to keep Bloglines, Kinja, Pluck, et al on their toes, and I'm sure it won't be too long before we hear an announcement from other biggies in the search engine field about their "readers" as well.