NetNewsWire 5.0
The prodigal RSS reader has returned from the wilderness with the release of the free, open-source NetNewsWire 5.0. Originally developed by Brent Simmons in 2002 (and first noted in TidBITS in “Unleashing the Power of the PowerMate,” 28 October 2002), NetNewsWire was sold to NewsGator in 2005 and subsequently purchased by Black Pixel in 2011, which released NetNewsWire 4.0 in 2015 (see “NetNewsWire Updates Solid But Fail to Impress,” 12 November 2015). Simmons reacquired NetNewsWire from Black Pixel in 2018 and has built NetNewsWire on the foundation of his Evergreen feed reader project.
NetNewsWire 5.0 features include multiple accounts, a Safari extension for easy feed-adding, direct feed downloading, support for Feedbin synchronization, importing and exporting OPML feed lists, and smart feeds for All Unread and Today. Simmons promises to add more features in the future, along with an iOS version and support for more syncing services. (Free, 4.9 MB, macOS 10.14.4+)
I’m so excited about this, I used to love NetNewsWire. However, I can’t use it yet as it doesn’t support Feedwrangler, my RSS sync service of choice – I’m hoping they will add support before too long.
You know what really needs to return from the wilderness? Articles that have a link to the actual product they’re talking about instead of linking to 5 year old articles on the same site (which probably also don’t link to the product, I’m guessing).
Doh! Fixed.