Feedly does what GoogleReader used to do and it's based on the GoogleReader API. Unlike GoogleReader there is a subscription based premium membership available in addition to the basic ad supported service. I was an avid GR user and Feedly (basic) has served me very well after it was shuttered.
(I am not affiliated in any way with Feedly. Have tried many RSS readers and Feedly IMO is the best of the bunch.)
One thing Google Reader did great was "sort by magic" where it somehow knew VERY well according to my individual tastes what article I'd be most interested in reading from my massive set of subscriptions. Feedly and other readers' auto-selected articles don't seem to have come close, but that may be a function of their reduced userbase and shrinking RSS activity.
In my opinion Feedly is hands down better than any other RSS reader I have ever used, including Google Reader. I don't read auto-selected articles, however, I subscribe to and curate feeds on my own.
I'm afraid RSS readers aren't very popular, however, and Google was indeed in a better place to change that.
The best part about Google Reader was I could easily share articles with select friends and it would show up in their streams and comment on it. Feedly is pretty awesome but I miss that.
Nothing has ever come close to the level of, for the lack of a better word, intellectual intimacy I felt with my small circle of Google Reader friends. I still miss their daily share of thought-provoking articles to this day.
I would love to use Feedly but Feedly requires an extension to use who's only possible purpose is to spy on you. The extension provides zero features that could not be provided without it. Since it's required (as opposed to optional) the only logical explanation is its spying on you.
They used to require an extension but they don't any longer. Also, their mobile apps are amazing. I don't believe Google Reader had anything like that.
Correct! I use The Old Reader, free, because it's awesome. I remember now why I did this choice, and indeed invasive browser extensions which ask for * access to all my sites are a big no-no. Whenever I want to use a web-screenshot tool, I do it in a separate profile.
The extension was required to cache articles back in time when local storage sucked and feedly's infrastructure was not big enough to handle influx of all of the people who had to leave Google Reader.
