I am trying to find an app out there that pushes you RSS feeds of your choice. I can't seem to find it, which brings me here. Is there any developers out there who need a project? This would be an amazing app, and I wouldn't mind paying for it. Anyone?
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RSS reader with push?
- Thread starter FunkyMonkey
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that would be great. i have a lot of rss feeds that i view through mail on my computer, though having them saved in an app and being notified of updates would be very handy indeed, especially if my computer is out of reach.
hope someone has some insight or there is an app/update in the pipeline somewhere!
hope someone has some insight or there is an app/update in the pipeline somewhere!
Yeah I hope something is in the works that is like what I described. Looking forward to more and more apps getting push soon.
I desperately want this!
I check an RSS feed of the craigslist free listing for my neighborhood. I would love a popup notification of new listings. You got to act quick on that thing.
I check an RSS feed of the craigslist free listing for my neighborhood. I would love a popup notification of new listings. You got to act quick on that thing.
Here's the issue with Push that most people don't understand.
In order for a developer to offer push they need to have their own server essentially. They have to monitor what needs to be pushed. So let's walk through a typical RSS scenario.
1. You add some feeds
2. It lets you view the feeds and items within
3. It checks for new items every time you refresh, every x minutes, or whenever you open the app.
For an app to have push added to this the developer would need to do it this way.
(By Server in the following steps, i mean the application developers server, not the RSS feeds website server.)
1. you add some feeds
2. app syncs back to the server with those feeds
3. you read items and it syncs back to the server with those being "read" status.
4. Server monitors your feeds and finds unread items even when the application isn't running on your phone.
5. Server sends a push notification that you have unread items
6. Your phone receives the push notification and you open the feed in the application
7. Repeat from 3
Most RSS applications simply download the feed from the website. In the case of byline it syncs with google reader.
The issue here is no app developer (except NetNewsWire) actually has a server caching and monitoring feeds. Google could do it, but push notifications would never work with anything other than their own application, it wouldn't be workable with Byline.
If you want push notifications, it's going to be from either NetNewsWire or Google. Or some other company that caches and monitors a large quantity of web feeds. So any web based feed reader could essentially do it as well.
In order for a developer to offer push they need to have their own server essentially. They have to monitor what needs to be pushed. So let's walk through a typical RSS scenario.
1. You add some feeds
2. It lets you view the feeds and items within
3. It checks for new items every time you refresh, every x minutes, or whenever you open the app.
For an app to have push added to this the developer would need to do it this way.
(By Server in the following steps, i mean the application developers server, not the RSS feeds website server.)
1. you add some feeds
2. app syncs back to the server with those feeds
3. you read items and it syncs back to the server with those being "read" status.
4. Server monitors your feeds and finds unread items even when the application isn't running on your phone.
5. Server sends a push notification that you have unread items
6. Your phone receives the push notification and you open the feed in the application
7. Repeat from 3
Most RSS applications simply download the feed from the website. In the case of byline it syncs with google reader.
The issue here is no app developer (except NetNewsWire) actually has a server caching and monitoring feeds. Google could do it, but push notifications would never work with anything other than their own application, it wouldn't be workable with Byline.
If you want push notifications, it's going to be from either NetNewsWire or Google. Or some other company that caches and monitors a large quantity of web feeds. So any web based feed reader could essentially do it as well.
I was just going to comment on this. The overhead required for an app like this is tremendous. This also makes me worried that it's going to take a long time for a Twitter client to come along that supports push. Of existing Twitter apps my guess would be that only 1/10 will have this functionality. I hope that one app is Tweetie.
I was just going to comment on this. The overhead required for an app like this is trumendous. This also makes me worried that it's going to take a long time for a Twitter client to come along that supports push. Of existing Twitter apps my guess would be that only 1/10 will have this functionality. I hope that one app is Tweetie.
Tweetie will never support push unless Twitter builds it in. Sorry. Again, for this to happen there needs to be a server monitoring the twitter feeds for a particular user account. Then notify the client of any changes via a push notification. Currently, Tweetie just talks to Twitter directly. This makes me think you didn't understand my previous post. Twitter would be exactly the same situation as an RSS client.
I really REALLY would not count on ANY twitter clients to support push. It's just too many possible push notifications. I can see it wrecking, absolutely wrecking battery life. And it makes little to no sense. Twitter isn't a "direct communication" service. That's what AIM and Yahoo etc are. Twitter is a "post what you're doing now" type of service with replying and direct messages built in. But it isn't an immediate response required type of service. Don't expect to see this happen ever.
I completely got your point and have been thinking the same thing. That's why I wanted to write out the same exact thing you did but you beat me to it.
Yea it's a lot of overhead for a company who makes a Twitter client, 9/10 won't be able to afford it but a few can and probably will. We will see a Twitter app on the iPhone do this eventually, whether Twitter decides to officially support this or not. You underestimate the desire for a company to be "the first" and make some money.
Sorry. With the sheer volume of messages that would go across the wire for twitter a company would have to be completely stupid to do it. There's nothing inherently wrong with what they're doing now.
I still don't think you get it. Which is fine. You are afterall the same person who reposted a whining thread about aim/beejive that was being discussed in other threads already. So I shouldn't expect a lot.
Well, all this is sounds out of reach for most people, but I hope a big developer will get their act together and make this happen.
For the base use of Twitter push is useless, there is to much coming over the wire to be useful. That coupled with the horrid notification UI on the iPhone it would be maddening.
I could see it being used for direct messages, since those would be in smaller numbers and possibly mentions. Or if the dev got really fancy maybe the option of saying I want to get notified when this user posts something. Maybe even push updates to searches but even that has the possibility of being to much.
But again as a dev you would need one heck of a server back end to deal with it all. This is the main reason you see push coming from people like Beejive or ESPN, they already have the infrastructure and they are just adding Apple's push support to it.
I could see it being used for direct messages, since those would be in smaller numbers and possibly mentions. Or if the dev got really fancy maybe the option of saying I want to get notified when this user posts something. Maybe even push updates to searches but even that has the possibility of being to much.
But again as a dev you would need one heck of a server back end to deal with it all. This is the main reason you see push coming from people like Beejive or ESPN, they already have the infrastructure and they are just adding Apple's push support to it.
RSS and Twitter
As far as an RSS reader, I would expect NewsGator's NetNewsWire to get it first (only because they already have a server infrastructure in place). Or maybe another NewsGator or Google Reader compatible app. Since NewsGator or Google would do all the work, a Developer's server would only need to make one poll at a time to either Google or NewsGator (or similar). This would be a lot less bandwidth and processing power than an independent developer's server that polls ALL of the feeds individually.
My guess for a twitter client would be Twinkle. For the similar reason: the developer already has a server infrastructure in place (and a social network for that matter).
Also, even if an RSS reader comes out first, you can just throw the RSS feed of those you follow into the reader. Not very elegant, but it will work until there is a Twitter client for iPhone with push.
As far as an RSS reader, I would expect NewsGator's NetNewsWire to get it first (only because they already have a server infrastructure in place). Or maybe another NewsGator or Google Reader compatible app. Since NewsGator or Google would do all the work, a Developer's server would only need to make one poll at a time to either Google or NewsGator (or similar). This would be a lot less bandwidth and processing power than an independent developer's server that polls ALL of the feeds individually.
My guess for a twitter client would be Twinkle. For the similar reason: the developer already has a server infrastructure in place (and a social network for that matter).
Also, even if an RSS reader comes out first, you can just throw the RSS feed of those you follow into the reader. Not very elegant, but it will work until there is a Twitter client for iPhone with push.
This would be a great place for Netnewswire to get back in the race.
I recently left them for google reader in browser.
Tired of the no landscape and other issue. Being that they have yet to make any significant changes to app I don't see it coming but would be nice.
Prowl Alternative
Yes, the Growl + Prowl option is a nice alternative. It will work for both RSS and Twitter as well. The only downside is that when your computer goes offline, so does the push.
Since I only have my laptop to work with, this will only do any good for me when I leave it home.
A nice workaround nonetheless.
Yes, the Growl + Prowl option is a nice alternative. It will work for both RSS and Twitter as well. The only downside is that when your computer goes offline, so does the push.
Since I only have my laptop to work with, this will only do any good for me when I leave it home.
A nice workaround nonetheless.
This would work only if you can limit the push alert to certain rarely updated feed. If you are subscribed to several frequently updated RSS feeds like NY Times, you will be getting a push every few minutes.
In other words, I don't see this feature as being very useful.
In other words, I don't see this feature as being very useful.
Remember, push notifications don't have to mean message alerts. A push RSS app could simply keep the icon badge up to date with an accurate count of unread items, or play a sound whenever there is a new item. Even if the app is pushing out messages for every new item, you can disable the messages in the push preferences.
Personally, I'd really like to see an RSS app that handles Google Reader syncing and updates the icon badge in real time.
That's good but I think if a developer would go all that way to do a badge icon, he could do just a bit more to get the alerts as well.
I'm not saying an app developer shouldn't create the alert functionality, I was just responding to nutmac who thought this functionality would be annoying.
As you point out, someone who subscribes to only a few feeds may want an alert on each updates. Others (like myself), will only want a badge icon to prevent bombardment. Thankfully, push notifications can handle both use cases.
Ah I see. As I have said before, this would require a lot of resources and time but I hope some one out there can do it.
I have just stumbled across this thread after all this time and found IronLogik's comments to BklynKid a little harsh. I hope in the year that has passed since the comments you two have made friends. I am sure you know a lot more than me about "push" but your attitude in this thread was pretty poor and went along the lines of what I say goes and I am right so that is that. Well your prediction of a Push Twitter and a Push RSS app never existing was not true as I have both on my iPhone and they work very well. To be fair I am being wise after the event and as I say I am sure your knowledge on this is far greater than mine, but this is not about "push". I hope in this last year you have matured a little and you are not such an obnoxious know it all. If not, maybe you should read back some of your comments that did not turn out to be true and look at the way you put them across and become a better person for it.