Palm OS RSS News Reader Released

Posted By: Ryan Friday, September 26, 2003 2:14:08 PM

Stand Alone software today announced the release of Handheld Headlines/RSS, a dedicated news and RSS reader for the Palm OS of devices.

RSS News feeds are the newest way to download and read news stories on a variety of subjects, from all over the internet. Handheld Headlines/RSS for Palm OS allows you to download these news feeds, either via a HotSync or using a direct internet connection on your Palm Power Handheld, and then read them later.

Handheld Headlines/RSS supports onboard device downloading, making use of a Palm's internet connectivity (whether WiFi or modem based) as well as the Palm VII and i705 series devices. It also runs on the newest devices from Palm and Sony, taking full advantage of both their advanced wireless capabilities and larger screen sizes.

Handheld Headlines/RSS has a list price is $14.95, and is available directly from Stand Alone and from PalmGear and Handango.

Palm OS RSSS Reader "Handheld Headlines/RSS allows you to keep track of the news no matter where you are." said Ben Gottlieb, CEO of Stand Alone. "You can update your subscriptions during a HotSync, or directly on the Palm, making it easy to stay up to date."

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cool

UZI4U182 @ 9/26/2003 4:47:50 PM #

Nice! This would be very handy for boring study halls; I could download news over WiFi on my NX70v in the morning and read it at school. But $15 is way too expensive for me.

UZI4U182@suscom.net | Main PDA: Sony NX70v
http://clieflash.shorturl.com
Free Flash Downloads for your CLIÉ

RE: cool

sford @ 9/26/2003 4:57:52 PM #

I agree. With so many free options, like AvantGo, I don't see myself spending $15 for a reader.

What is the difference with AvantGo?

feranick @ 9/26/2003 5:09:02 PM #

It seems that this new software does pretty much what the free version of AvantGo does...

RE: What is the difference with AvantGo?

palmdoc88 @ 9/26/2003 7:12:26 PM #

Avantgo cannot take RSS/XML newsfeeds. This is a different ballgame my friend.

RE: What is the difference with AvantGo?

McMagnus @ 9/27/2003 12:08:08 PM #

I played around with the trial download for a while and the main difference between the AvantGo channels I have and the RSS channels I tried is that the RSS channels doesn't include the actual articles. Is it impossible to specify a "link depth" when downloading RSS content?

Or is RSS content mostly aimed for the desktop where you can click on the article and follow the link? In that case, I fail to see the point of reading these RSS channels offline, you just get curios without any possibility to read what you're interested in.

RE: What is the difference with AvantGo?

costas @ 9/27/2003 5:46:28 PM #

I think I have a better alternative for you: get Plucker (which rocks BTW) and point it to my newsbot, http://memigo.com/ Memigo suggests news articles that it thinks you're gonna like based on your past reading history and explicit ratings and it is and will be free to use.

Since I am a gadget freak and a road warrior to boot, I added http://memigo.com/now/ which can give you a customized PDA-formatted page with links to the articles suggested for you specifically. As an extra bonus the links actually point to a lite-formatted version of the article (i.e. PDA or Printer version) if memigo can find it, so that Plucker's job gets even easier. Try it out and lemme know what can be improved; just check out http://memigo.com/users/mynow after you sign up.

[End of shameless plug]

RE: What is the difference with AvantGo?

timconstan @ 9/28/2003 10:35:17 AM #

[ASP - Another Shameless Plug]

Not hardly full-featured (yet), but you can also use NewsMob (www.newsmob.com), to convert your favorite RSS News Feeds into a web page suitable for your PDA or phone.

[/ASP]

http://www.togosolo.com
http://www.newsmob.com

RE: What is the difference with AvantGo?

cbowers @ 9/29/2003 2:11:45 AM #

Another simple solution.

Plucker with Jpluck on the desktop (Java, so run it on your OS of choice). Unlike the Plucker desktop, Jpluck handles RSS feeds.

RE: What is the difference with AvantGo?

eKennedy @ 9/29/2003 6:24:12 PM #

I just gave newsmob.com a try and it works great. Pointed it at an RSS xml, copied the url of the result, and entered that as a custom channel in AvantGo.

Don't know how long it'll work, but for now its perfect.

eKennedy

eKennedy

You could do it for free...

palmdoc88 @ 9/26/2003 7:09:05 PM #

That is if you already have iSilo.
Tools required:
iSiloX
Amphetadesk

I blogged it here:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?I20831606

RE: You could do it for free...

Keithos @ 9/26/2003 10:59:01 PM #

Actually, iSilo isn't free anymore. If you really want to do it for free, get Plucker (http://www.plkr.org) and Jpluck2 (http://jpluck.sourceforge.net), both open source and under steady improvement.

Plucker is the iSilo and AvantGo replacement, and Jpluck is the desktop application that creates Plucker documents from web content, much like iSiloX. The difference is that Jpluck2 can retrieve RSS content, in addition to the standard web fare. If you're uncertain about beta software, use original Jpluck for web content, and BlogPluck for RSS feeds; Jpluck2 is just an attempt to combine the feature of both of those applications.

I recently replaced iSilo and iSiloX with the Plucker tools, and am quite happy with the results.

RE: You could do it for free...

McMagnus @ 9/27/2003 4:22:34 AM #

Is there any free tool that can download new content over a modem connection without the need for a conduit?

That's my main reason for sticking with AvantGo, it was ok with OS4 but it never really got ported to OS5 right. And the bloatness factor have sky-rocketed.

RE: You could do it for free...

Keithos! @ 9/27/2003 11:50:12 AM #

For RSS content, not that I'm aware of.

Not wishing to steal thunder..

skeezix @ 9/26/2003 8:50:04 PM #

I've got a little plugin for Shadow Plan half developed; its not something very simple, but it was what I wanted at the time :) Is this something that is needed, and is it worth $5USD?

New Conduit for Shadow Plan --
o You provide a list of URL's to RSS news feeds
o It downloads the whole feed
o It spits out a Shadow Plan .pdb file into your install directory

So you install the conduit, edit the config file to put in the URL list, and then just sync and go.. it shoves the news feed sinto Shadow as Shadow files.

Essentially, a list of items, with the Note being the content.

I have been debating working on it.. adding pollish and making it distributable. What do you think?

jeff

The Shadow knows!

RE: Not wishing to steal thunder..

souper @ 9/27/2003 7:21:24 AM #

Jeff,

That sounds great! I use Shadow all the time for project lists and reading/music lists. Using it for newsfeed access would be cool.

RE: Not wishing to steal thunder..

Gar @ 9/27/2003 7:58:38 AM #

While I enjoy using Shadow as well. Isn't this a microsoft move here. Talking about a great new app that is better than someone elses for less when they announce thier software... but it's not quite ready yet.
I thought we had moved beyond vaporware.

-----------------
My wife has to sell a lot of candles (www.ccandles.com) to buy her new Palm.

RE: Not wishing to steal thunder..

skeezix @ 9/27/2003 5:27:38 PM #

Microsoftian? With a title like not wanting to steal thunder" (so you could avoid it if you didn't want to), and talking about a lesser tool? As I said.. it woudl not be as useful.. it would just be a simple reader.. it wouldn't know if you've already read anything.. it just grabs whole RSS feeds and spits them into a Shadow list. Vapurware? You've no idea what you're on about.. I've launched dozens of apps ove the last few years, thank you :) Here is a tool I've whipped up, and jus toffering to find out what people think.. to get your input. Pre productoin. You know... product development life cycle ;)

Besides, I even have a demo of this one that some folks have seen, and I could post to anyone wanted. (Though not for general public, since its overly simple right now an dhosted on a devo server, not a public hardened server). But if you want to see it, let me know -- it is readily available.

Anyway, its certainly not cheaper either.. Shadow is inexpensive, but more than $15... so this would only be cheaper for people who already own Shadow Plan.

As I said.. just wondering what peopel think -- is there a need? I've only produced it to the demo level, to decide if it is worth continuing.

jeff

The Shadow knows!

Killer app for wireless...

StickyC @ 9/29/2003 2:09:45 PM #

For me, this is great. I'm already an RSS junkie - now I can keep updated wirelessly on the handheld - that's great!
AvantGo is nice and (IIR) supports a direct net connection, but doesn't support RSS.
Plucker and similar support RSS, but can't really update immediately wirelessly. You could do a LAN sync, but (again IIR) the news aggregation is not triggered by a Sync, but on some other fixed schedule.

Now if they'd just add selective image support so I could read the RSS comics...

Widescreen on UX50!!

Omnitron @ 9/29/2003 9:23:01 PM #

I'm pleased -- I just tried it and found it to support widescreen on the Sony UX50! None of the alternatives I've tried or am using do that -- Not Mobipocket, nor Avantgo.

Because it doesn't deal with graphics, this takes a MUCH smaller footprint and gives you more news than some of the other programs... And I found it a breeze to install.

=============================
Mark A. Brinkman aka Omnitron
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