Org-mode as a replacement for Google Reader

[Karl Voit <devnull@Karl-Voit.at>]

Hi!

TL;DR: org-feed.el is not a doable replacement for Google Reader.
       What about alternatives?

I am using Google Reader with the Android app "NewsRob Pro" which is
very good in terms of features that make sense and support my
workflow.

Google Reader will die in July and therefore NewsRob will die as
well (or has to migrate to another server platform which is unlikely
due to lack of time from the author).

So I was thinking of using Emacs with or without Org-mode as a
potential replacement. I basically live in Org-mode. Since I read
RSS a *lot* on my Android devices (yes, even being at home), I'd
love to have sync abilities between desktop Emacs and something like
MobileOrg.

I stumbled upon org-feed.el[1][2] and tried it with two of my RSS
feeds (heise, Dilbert).

It's working. In a way.

Unfortunately, there is no (obvious) way of getting the feed content
rather than the short description (for selected feeds). Images are
not shown (Dilbert comic strip) and HTML fragments are all over the
place making it hard to read the news. Since the resulting data did
not fulfill basic requirements, I did not even bother and try to sync
it to MobileOrg.

Therefore, org-feed.el is not a replacement for Google Reader and
NewsRob for my set of requirements at all.

I wonder if there are a group of people having the same issue
because of the demise of Google Reader and apps that sync from/to
there.

Any suggestions? Ideas?

I'd prefer to think about having a solution which is hosted on my
computers rather than having to re-do the switch when the next cloud
based service stops working in a year or so.

  1. http://orgmode.org/manual/RSS-Feeds.html
  2. http://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/org-feed.html
-- 
Karl Voit