Feeder gets not one but two mentions in the June issue of Macworld UK magazine, out 21st April 2005. The first in the Product News section on page 42, the second in Andy Ihnatko’s opinion piece at the back about using it for Podcasting. Thanks to Gillian Thompson from Macworld for letting me know in advance. 😀
Also Omni Group are now using Feeder for their news feed. Thanks to Scott Maier for making that happen. 😀
The great thing about this blog is I get to write about things in my applications that would otherwise remain shrouded in mystery and pretend that they are important.
Take the “Insert Image” toolbar icon in Feeder – you’d be amazed the lengths we at Reinvented Software will go to source an image. The icon is actually a scaled-down and cropped version of the photo shown below, taken at the beach in Corona Del Mar, Orange County, California in Summer 2002.
When it came to doing this toolbar icon, I was looking for a real photo to use and originally wanted a sunset or something similar to iPhoto’s icon. Although I have similar shots, some also from the same location, none of them seemed to work as well as this.
This isn’t the first time I’ve managed to potentially offend an entire nation and maybe it’s not as bad as when I left Swedish off the list entirely. However, I received an email from Down Under, where Ian Graham of Lane Realty had this to say:
In supported languages, it should be English (Australian) NOT Austrialian. C’mon cobber, for a true blue bit of clobber like this you’ve gotta be dinki-di 🙂
I can only apologise. I blame a subconscious bitterness that many, many years ago some fool decided to set up a penal colony on a beautiful and sunny continent, while us whinging poms were left to eat potatoes back here in grey old Blighty. It should have been the other way around. Perhaps our Australian cousins were taught how to spell whilst in prison. There I go again! Sorry. 😉
Before I do any more damage, I should say that Feeder 1.0.4 is released today to fix this problem and a couple of other things.
Thanks, Ian, for letting me quote you here.
I said I was going to write a little about the future. There’s more going on than I can say here, but I can tell you things that are pretty certain.
Feeder 1.1 will be the next major release to come out. I’m very happy with the reviews and feedback this application has received. It was kind of like working in the dark, while there are other Mac apps out there for editing feeds they’re either free or hopeless and lack even the most basic functionality beyond editing items in a feed. On Windows I know of two roughly equivalent products (one was released after I’d started Feeder) – NewzAlert Composer and FeedForAll. I’ve had some requests from Windows users about doing a Windows version of Feeder – it’s not going to happen – I just direct them to either of these.
Feeder has comparable core functionality to both, but each has its unique features, which is cool. Also, while all three apps might do the same, they all look and work quite differently. Feeder is the most affordable at $24.95, NewzAlert Composer $29.95 and FeedForAll is $39.95. I should also mention here that for a while now, the USD to GBP exchange rate has sucked and always seems to be getting worse, so it’s possible Feeder’s price will have to rise in the future. It’s really difficult to be about 20% down on where you want to be. I know I have the market cornered, but that won’t last forever; I want to charge fair prices and Mac users can be savage in their analysis of a product’s worth. So I’m hoping the extra stuff in 1.1 will make Feeder worthy of a possible small hike, but what I’d really like is for the hike not to happen. Are you listening, markets?
And what will be in Feeder 1.1? In a nutshell, more publishing options and some extra polish. I’m pretty certain most of the following will make it through, barring any technical difficulties:
That’s quite a simplified list, there will be much more than that but these are the things people have been asking for. Feeder will be tweaked and refined in all sorts of small ways that might not immediately be obvious, but should feel perfectly natural.
I’ll write a little about KIT soon.