--- layout: post title: "We DO need another RSS Hero" description: "Announcing RSS Hero, a social feed reader I'm building with @kalv" categories: - Announcement tags: - RSS - RSS Hero - Google Reader - Kalv Sandhu --- I wrote a couple of weeks ago asking whether Google's changes to Google Reader were going to destroy an entire ecosystem. Many others wrote articles about their usage of the Google Reader social features. From meetups to marriages, a whole world of stories were uncovered about the personal connections that people had made through Reader. I got emails and Twitter messages from a number of people in response to my own post. One of those messages lead to a meeting where many ideas were shared, and a desire to scratch our own itch. What if there was a Google Reader like feed reader? One that kept those social features? What if we added some features, like X, Y, and Z? In short, what if feed reading had some innovation applied to it again? That night, RSS Hero was born. I've been using RSS Hero to read items from the 500+ feeds I am subscribed to for the last two weeks. It's good enough, which means it's time to let other people in the door and start giving some feedback. Other people's accounts are being activated starting today. If you were already on the Alpha list, you're first in line. If you're a news junkie who relies on RSS as part of your workflow, go sign up. I've written a few other things about what you can expect from RSS Hero today as part of the alpha launch. I've been a heavy cheerleader and eager consumer of features, but mainly a strong advisor to RSS Hero. The founder and technical brains behind it is someone new to the Vancouver area, Kalvir Sandhu aka @kalv. Kalv is a fantastic technologist who has been a pleasure to work with. I've enjoyed riffing on ideas and then seeing them come to life a day or two later. I'm waiting with baited breath as other people slowly start coming into the RSS Hero app and I again start to see that familiar flow of shared items from other people add to the feeds that I consume, and as we as a community of early adopters decide the direction that we want the app to take. Bonus link: Tina Turner.