Forget Google Reader. Here's Star Wars Reader

Still bummed about the fact that Google is killing its RSS feed service, Google Reader, on July 1? Us too.

But there are other ways to read the headlines from your favorite websites. We've covered a bunch of Google Reader replacements — including Feedly, which now says it has gained 3 million new users since the Google Reader shutdown was announced in March.

But none of those replacements have quite the pizzazz of StarRSS, a feed reader based on the opening crawl from every Star Wars movie. With John Williams' famous music blaring in the background, even the most mundane of headlines looks exciting. (Unless it's a headline about a taxation dispute involving the Trade Federation, that is.)

For example, to see what Mashable's RSS feed looks like in Star Wars format, click here. Click on any headline as it blasts past into space to go straight to that story. (And replace the Mashable part of the URL to make any other site's feed look Star Wars-y.)

StarRSS is the brainchild of a user at the online open source software collective GitHub known only as fotcorn. It's a simple piece of JavaScript code using assets supplied by another GitHub user, Artem Avetisyan.

We doubt those materials are open source, exactly — as the Register recently pointed out, the majority of stuff on GitHub is released without regard to license. So enjoy the power of this fully operational RSS reader while it lasts.

1. Feedly

   For many users, Feedly may provide the most direct route of keeping their Google Reader experience intact.

   The service, which offers web, Android and iOS apps, can interact with your existing Google Reader account or store feeds on its own backend.

   The interface isn't identical to Google Reader; it's more fluid and Flipboard-esque, but it does offer a number of different views, and will keep read/unread lists in sync.

   The most promising aspect of Feedly is that the company is committed to making the migration from Google Reader to its own sync servers seamless.

   Feedly also has some built-in sharing tools that are reminiscent of Google Reader's old Sharebros days.

   Our only real concern with Feedly is its underlying business model. Maintaining these servers isn't cheap, so how will the service monetize?

   

2. Fever

   Shaun Inman launched Fever in 2009 as a self-hosted alternative to feed readers such as Google Reader.

   Fever works like a traditional reader, but also sorts news feeds based on hotness -- wherein links that have the most links on other sites (or within your own feeds) get more prominence on a temperature scale.

   This is a pure web app, and it is optimized to run on mobile or in the desktop, though some third-party apps (including Reeder for iPhone) support accounts as well.

   The only downside to Fever is that it is self-hosted, meaning users need to have their own domain, PHP install and MySQL database. It's not a hard app to install or maintain, but its self-hosted nature makes it ideal for certain types of RSS geeks. The price of Fever is $30 per instance.

   I have been an avid Fever user for the last four years, and I recommend it to anyone who needs a Google Reader alternative and doesn't mind getting their hands dirty.

   

3. NetVibes

   An oldie but a goodie! NetVibes was popular in the golden era of RSS clients and services.

   In addition to its web-based RSS feed reading options, NetVibes also has iGoogle-style widgets.

   NetVibes is still kicking and can be a good monitoring tool for different types of content, but be aware that it isn't as fast or keyboard-friendly as Google Reader. Moreover, the service doesn't integrate into third-party mobile apps.

   

4. NewsBlur

   NewsBlur describes itself as innovating on the shoulders of what Google Reader built. To that end, the open source project offers free web, Android and iOS apps for news reading.

   In addition to letting users run their own NewsBlur instances, NewsBlur also has hosted offerings that work with its apps.

   A free NewsBlur account is good for 64 feeds and 10 feeds in a River of News, but for $1 a month, users get unlimited feeds, unlimited rivers and more share options -- including private and protected shares.

   Like Google Reader of old, NewsBlur lets users share feeds and stories to one another.

   

5. OldReader

   The Old Reader describes itself as "the old Google Reader but better," and its design and sharing features are similar to pre-October 2011 Google Reader.

   While users can import feeds from their Google Reader accounts, Old Reader is having a hard time taking on the Google Reader traffic.

   On the surface, Old Reader looks like a good alternative, but we're curious as to its business model and ability to sustain maintenance of a sync server.

   

6. Managing News

   Managing News is definitely for DIYers, but it's an interesting project designed to let groups (or individuals) track data, RSS feeds and visualizations.

   Like Fever, you'll need to install Managing News on your own server. Unlike Fever, Managing News will require a little more finessing. It's a customized Drupal 6 installation, and getting everything set up can be tricky for newcomers.

   Still, the underlying technology is VERY promising, especially for groups who want a way to share feeds, comment on data and do different visualizations or keyword tracking.

   

7. Twitter Lists

   Twitter isn't a perfect replacement for Google Reader but for many users, Twitter lists curated by website or influencer are often better sources of information than traditional RSS feeds.

   The problem with Twitter is that it is best for a source of current and breaking news, but not as good for finding or sorting through older news.

   Still, for many feed addicts, Twitter is both more immediate and better at sharing than any RSS alternative.

   

Image courtesy of fotcorn