Reader Notifier / permanent
This is an howto intended for people who are interested in the more specific features of Reader Notifier, the missing application for your Google Notifier bundle.
What does Reader Notifier do?
Reader Notifier aims to supplement the official Mac Notifier menubar plugins for OS X, in adding support for Google Reader. Reader Notifier tells you when you have new unread rss/feed items available, and lets you visit those feeds without ever going to the Google Reader interface. In addition, Reader Notifier will tell Google that you've already read the items you've accessed through the menubar, so that they won't bother you as unread when you actually go to Google Reader (for instance at work where you cannot bring your Mac).
Growl support
Reader Notifier utilizes the groundbreaking Growl framework. This means that if you have Growl installed (which is free and open, by the way), you can be notified of new unread items with style.
Items you don't want to see
Sometimes there will be unread items in your feed that you, just by looking at the title (or even better, the tooltip snippet) know that you do not need to see. That is why you can option-click on any of the items to make it go away, as if you'd just read it. Also, if you've just got a whole bunch of new unread items, and you instinctively know that you're not going to read any of them, you can just hit the "Mark all as read" button, and make them go away.
Don't worry. If there are new unread items available online, Reader Notifier will let you know. Don't forget to try out the "Open all items" as well, and if you're using Safari, remember to let all the items open in tabs by making this the default setting in the Safari preference pane.
Subscribing to a new feed
To subscribe to a new feed, you can choose to simply click the Reader Notifier icon and choose "Subscribe to Feed". A new window will appear and you can tab in the address of the feed you wish to include and press Subscribe.
If you want Reader Notifier to subscribe to the feed without going through the Google Reader interface, you should go to the preference pane and check "Skip online verification when subscribing"
If you're interested in a more integrated workflow when subscribing to feeds you should register Reader Notifier as your default feed client. Doing so on a Safari-based system is easy. Just go to Safari preference panes and select Reader Notifier under the pane RSS.
If on a Camino-based system instead, just go to Camino preferences and select Reader Notifier as the default feed viewer.
Now you can just click on the RSS icon in the addressbar of either Safari or Camino, and Reader Notifier will automatically route you to the subscription pane in the Google Reader interface. Or, if you've chosen to bypass the verification in the preference pane of Reader Notifier, you'll subscribe instantly to the new feed pressing on the RSS icon in either browser.
TorrentCasting
TorrentCastings, like PodCastings and AppCastings are basically just normal feeds with extra information attatched. In the case of TorrentCasting the extra information attached is a bittorrent .torrent file. TorrentCasts are useful for many things, one of them staying up to date with continuos video-casts. Reader Notifier is capable of understanding TorrentCasts and relaying the attached torrent to a folder of your choice, and optionally opening it on arrival.
That is all for now, I hope you'll have a better day with Reader Notifier in your menubar.
I've seen enough, where do I download?
Luckily you can download Reader Notifier right here. Reader Notifier is completely free of charge, and open source as well.
58
August 22nd, 2007
Unofficial Google Reader Notifier
August 23rd, 2007
[...] Mac users, there is a similar program called Reader Notifier. Firefox lovers can try out this [...]
Unofficial Google Reader Notifier at Technology Bytes
August 24th, 2007
[...] Mac users, there is a similar program called Reader Notifier. Firefox lovers can try out this [...]
Macintoast.org » Google Reader Notifier
August 24th, 2007
[...] Google Reader Notifier (Versio 0.96) on pieni ohjelma, joka ilmoittaa kun Google Reader rss-lukija on löytänyt uutta luettavaa netistä. Todella mukava pikku ohjelma. Ilmoittelee Growlin kautta äänimerkin kera kun uusia otsikoita olisi tarjolla ja valikosta saa valittua kiintoisimmat otsikot luettavaksi suoraa selaimessa. [...]
Macintoast.org » RSSBean
August 24th, 2007
[...] Itse tosin käytän nykyään Google Readeriä ja Google Reader Notifieria (linkki kotisivulle). [...]
Jompeich d’er Bisente » Migrando a MacOS X
August 28th, 2007
[...] Reader Notifier. Avisa de artículos nuevos en Google Reader. [...]
Mark Norman Francis
September 3rd, 2007
Love the app! Very useful. One question though - I never get a Growl notification when I use it to subscribe to a feed using the Camino RSS icon? It's enabled in Growl and I have set the 'do not confirm' pref setting.
troelsbay
September 3rd, 2007
Hi Mark. There currently is no notification of a successful subscription implemented. Though, you should immediately see the new unread posts in the feed of which you just subscribed through Growl notifications.
TPN :: The Global Geek Podcast » Blog Archive » The Global Geek Podcast #061 :: The Vanishing Timmy
September 3rd, 2007
[...] Reader Notifier [...]
Matthew
September 7th, 2007
Would it be possible to add the ability to star an item from the menu, similar to how it's possible to mark an item as read? And more importantly, I'd really like to have a submenu for starred items. Is that possible? I really like the UI of the original gmail notifier (1.8.2), where the main menu lists the number of unread messages and then provides a submenu for those unread items. In Reader Notifier I like having 50 items listed, but It would be nice to have them in a submenu to that the main menu is a little more clean. Thanks!
Google Reader Notifier « Nothing Happening
September 18th, 2007
[...] Reader Notifier 18 09 2007 There is a Google Reader Notifier or two out there. Who [...]
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September 20th, 2007
[...] a Antonia Romero, que también pasó por los dolores nefríticos. De paso he instalado el notificador compatible para [...]
M.T.
September 22nd, 2007
Hallo! Thank You for fantastic Reader Notifier!!!! Please, please - integrate preview feed by tag (folders by tag)!!! I Love Reader Notifier!
W pogoni za informacj? - Applobia
September 22nd, 2007
[...] Jestem pewien, ?e b?dziecie mile zaskoczeni. Przydatnym dodatkiem mo?e si? okaza? program Reader Notifer, który sprawdza status witryny w regularnych odst?pach czasu i wy?wietla ilo?? nowych [...]
Google Reader Notifier 1.0.2
September 22nd, 2007
[...] Website Download Google Reader Notifier These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Reader Notifier at neosushi
September 23rd, 2007
[...] verstehen, ich meine: Google, hallo?). Und für den Mac gibt es passend dazu den schnuckeligen Reader Notifier, der in bestimmten Intervallen die abonnierten Feeds nach neuen Beiträgen absucht. Mit einem [...]
Reader Notifier - 1.02
September 23rd, 2007
[...] Website Download Reader Notifier These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Google Reader Notifier 0.75 » Beitrag » mov blog, [danny4]
September 26th, 2007
[...] neue Version des Google Reader Notifiers ist auf der Entwicklerseite [...]
Pedr
October 2nd, 2007
Hi, Firstly, thanks. An excellent idea. Secondly, I can't seem to get it to launch at startup like my gmail notifier. I have to launch it from my dock every time I startup (Macbook Pro). I've ticked the 'check at startup' box, but I'm thinking this is not the same as 'launch at startup'. Thanks
Troels Bay
October 2nd, 2007
Hi Pedr. You should go to the System Preferences -> Accounts -> then you can drag in Reader Notifier to make it startup automatically.
Pedr
October 3rd, 2007
Nice. Should probably have known how to do that, but still getting used to the mac way of things. Thanks again.
google » Bay " Reader Notifier
October 8th, 2007
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt [...]
How to get notified about your Google Reader feeds « Decoding the Web
October 8th, 2007
[...] Info Download [...]
Dante
October 27th, 2007
hi. great app. after upgrading to leo last night it seems that reader notifier gives no internet connection errors - yet it can use the internet to check for versions. anyone else experiencing this?
KH
October 28th, 2007
Dante, Same thing here...
Troels Bay
October 28th, 2007
Dear KH and Dante Please download version 1.03 from the page. It should work with Leopard. Apple changed a reference that made the auth fail.
Dante
October 28th, 2007
works perfectly now. thanks for the quick update.
Glenn
October 31st, 2007
I see log messages like the following every minute in /var/log/system.log. My prefs only state that GRN should check for updates every 120 minutes. Oct 31 18:49:38 mac-mini Reader Notifier[201]: lastTimeCheckedTimer run 59 Oct 31 18:50:38 mac-mini Reader Notifier[201]: lastTimeCheckedTimer run 60 Oct 31 18:51:38 mac-mini Reader Notifier[201]: lastTimeCheckedTimer run 61 Oct 31 18:52:38 mac-mini Reader Notifier[201]: lastTimeCheckedTimer run 62 Oct 31 18:53:38 mac-mini Reader Notifier[201]: lastTimeCheckedTimer run 63 Oct 31 18:54:38 mac-mini Reader Notifier[201]: lastTimeCheckedTimer run 64 Is it possible (just in the name of housekeeping) that you can suppress these messages to avoid the extra 1,440 log messages per day? :-) Also, it would be great if there were a pref option to turn off checking of feed count at all (instead of max 120 min) for those of us that love GRN but use it only as a proxy for subscribing to feeds from browsers but only actually read feeds from the web interface. Thanks! Love GRN!
ad
November 4th, 2007
When running GRN on 10.5 my MBP 2.16 C2D won't go in sleep mode.
Eric
November 7th, 2007
Since loading 1.03 the app appears to hang in a state where the menu stated "Check Now ... Updating". I quit and restart and things are back to normal. I'd be happy to send a screen shot an log, but can't find an address to send to.
Christofer Falkman
November 22nd, 2007
Hi, is there a way of filtering notifications using multiple labels? I only get it to work with one.
nh
November 27th, 2007
Same as 'ad' above - GRN seems to prevent my MBP running Leopard from entering sleep mode. Great app nonetheless.
Mike
November 30th, 2007
Same problem as Eric... Reader Notifier hangs on getting new items. The number in the task bar stays the same. After restart everything is ok till it hangs again... Usually hangs once every other day.
Joe Attardi
December 3rd, 2007
Hi Troels, I love this app, I use it every day. I have some suggestions to improve the UI of the preferences screen, if you are interested. I wrote an entry about it at my blog: http://thinksincode.blogspot.com/ Please don't take it as criticism. I like Reader Notifier very much and use it every day, and recommend it to all my Mac-using friends. There are just a few minor usability tweaks you could make to improve the usability of the app. Cheers, Joe
SwitcherG
December 8th, 2007
Hi, Thanks for this really nifty and useful utility. My question - Is there any way to change the browser that Reader Notifier opens, other than changing the default browser? For example, I want to specify a different browser to open Google reader, than my current default (Safari, I am on a mac ;)) but want to leave the default for other sites. Waiting eagerly for your reply! G
YYota
December 15th, 2007
Sometimes, the notifier gets stuck forever in a checking state. The application does work, is responsive etc. It just won't check anymore because it's "checking". Only solution is to restart it. I guess this occurs when you put the machine in sleep while the notifier is checking greader. It would be great if it could be made more robust. It often takes hours before noticing that the reader notifier is stucked and not doing its job! Thanks a lot for the great work!
oswald
December 17th, 2007
I love Reader Notifier & have become dependent upon it. I use it w/ Camino. I am no longer able to add feeds from w/in the browser. I now receive the following Google error: The requested URL /reader/preview/*/feed/http%3A%2F%2Ftroelsbay.eu%2Ffeed was not found on this server.
SwitcherG
December 21st, 2007
Hi, Any updates to my past question? Thaks, G
Javan
December 27th, 2007
Not sure if google recently changed their URL structure, but when I click on an RSS feed (in Safari), I get sent to the wrong URL for subscribing to a new feed in Google Reader. GRN sends me to something like https://www.google.com/reader/preview/*/feed/http... but Reader wants https://www.google.com/reader/view/feed/http...
Toby Roberts
December 27th, 2007
Love the google reader notifier, but do not seem to be able to to use with Google Applications for Your Domain. So my account for reader is at my domain, not googlemail.com, etc. Do you have any tips for this?
Peter
December 29th, 2007
I also get the "updating..." forever thing. It seems to happen completely spontaneously for me.
me
January 22nd, 2008
I think it would be cool if aside from torrent-casting, the app could realize when its was dealing with a podcast feed and upon clicking it, open the url in the media player of your choice. This would allow users to stream their favorite podcasts!
Tim
January 25th, 2008
Hi, I think something must have changed at the google end as "Mark all as read" has stopped working on all my machines. I get the "There are unread items" warning every time even though there are not any new items. Great product, hope you can fix this.
Andy M
January 26th, 2008
Nice little app. One issue has turned up in the last few days. 'Mark all as read' no longer seems to work. It always says there are more unread items, even when there is not. Thanks.
Bob
January 27th, 2008
Hi. When i run mark all as read from the GRN menu i get "Warning: Unread items available online" message, which is wrong because i am trying to mark said items as read. Log is as follows: 2008-01-27 18:06:31.313 Reader Notifier[844] markAllAsRead begin 2008-01-27 18:06:31.313 Reader Notifier[844] markAllAsRead end 2008-01-27 18:06:35.597 Reader Notifier[844] retrieveGoogleFeed begin 2008-01-27 18:06:36.292 Reader Notifier[844] retrieveGoogleFeed 1 2008-01-27 18:06:36.298 Reader Notifier[844] retrieveGoogleFeed 2 2008-01-27 18:06:36.300 Reader Notifier[844] retrieveGoogleFeed 3 2008-01-27 18:06:36.300 Reader Notifier[844] retrieveGoogleFeed 4 2008-01-27 18:06:36.300 Reader Notifier[844] retrieveGoogleFeed 5 2008-01-27 18:06:36.300 Reader Notifier[844] retrieveGoogleFeed 6 2008-01-27 18:06:36.301 Reader Notifier[844] retrieveGoogleFeed end 2008-01-27 18:06:36.304 Reader Notifier[844] Error marking all as read 2008-01-27 18:06:36.306 Reader Notifier[844] updateMenu begin 2008-01-27 18:06:36.313 Reader Notifier[844] updateMenu end
Super Nintendo Chalmers
January 28th, 2008
My unread count will often read something like "-2147483522 " in the menubar. Sometimes it is okay. Mark all read doesn't cure it.
Ben
January 30th, 2008
Great program that I'm finding very useful. Two bugs that I've noticed. Like somebody else, I've sometimes gotten the negative sign and an enormous number as the messages unread. I think this might happen when there are more unread messages than whatever you have selected in "maximum unread items to display." I set that number to 50 and it stopped happening. Also, the "mark all items as read" seems to always return a warning that there are more unread items online (even if there aren't) unless you check "Always enable mark all as read."
Tristan
February 12th, 2008
Hi. For the last few weeks Reader Notifier has sometimes (as in most of the time) been displaying that I have "-2147483487 " unread messages. It isn't always that exact number, but it is close. Any idea what is happening? Thanks.
Kathleen
February 20th, 2008
I have installed google reader on leopard and it has crashed my machine twice. Any thoughts?
Troels Bay
February 21st, 2008
Dear Kathleen, Please provide more details. This is not a known problem, I've never heard of Reader Notifier crashing the entire system.
Lon
February 25th, 2008
Love the app. Just upgraded to 1.07, but liked the font size of previous versions that matched the Google Gmail and Calendar notifier. Looked cleaner and more unified with matching font size. Thanks for the good work on the app.
Ken
March 3rd, 2008
Could you add an option so that Reader Notifier does NOT wake up a sleeping Mac? It seems that even though I put my Mac to SLEEP at night, Reader Notifier wakes it up to refresh it's feeds. Or, perhaps you can add a Preference to switch it off and on.
Troels Bay
March 3rd, 2008
Hi Ken - that is impossible. Reader Notifier cannot wake your mac from sleep as internet connection is suspended while your computer is on sleep.
Keffer
March 3rd, 2008
Hello mister, just a small comment to tell you i have make some différents icons for your program, the same size and design of airport, volume ... So, i will make a program icon too, just for the fun :) Cheers. http://www.cheersparis.com/keffer/readernotifier.zip
Shell
March 8th, 2008
Yes, I also have a problem with the Notifier getting stuck where it stops giving me new notifications. Then I have to manually ask it to "Check now" or just quit and restart the Notifier to get it working again.
Mandy
March 14th, 2008
I would like to change the URL under "Go to Reader" from http://www.google.com/reader/view/ to http://www.google.at/reader/view/ ... any idea?
Avi Flax
April 10th, 2008
Thank you for a great app! Just want to let you know about some issues I'm experiencing: * The light gray text next to "Check Now" *always* says "Checked 1 min ago" * Sometimes when I go offline and come back on, the app gets stuck in "checking..." and the only way I can get it unstuck is to quit and relaunch it. Otherwise, it's nearly perfect - thanks again! Avi
justin
April 12th, 2008
could you please add a hotkey for sharing items? I share instead of starring, as I create a feed of all the stuff that I find interesting that I distribute to my friends.
Nic
April 14th, 2008
It's a shame about the sleep issue and the stuck in a loop issue. It's a great App... but I rely on my MacBook going to sleep (leopard) and so I just can't really use this!
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