Khoi Vinh:

There are some important takeaways from this unfortunate history. First in my mind is the fact that Google Reader didn’t beat every other feed reader purely because it was free. Google Reader won because it was an extremely well-executed example of interaction design.

My first shot to ever make it on Flickr Explore.

Over at Tools & Toys, Stephen Hackett compares four different sets of earbuds against Apple’s EarPods.

David Smith asked me to be a guest on his iOS developer’s podcast, Developing Perspective, to talk about some of the right and wrong ways to pitch your app to the press. My input was obviously coming from my perspective as a one-man shop who doesn’t answer all his email. We also hit on something I consider far more important than the practicals of “how to send an email about your app”, and that is the importance of building relationships within the community.

Cameron Moll on the rumored Apple Watch:

Apple faces the opposite problem it faced with iPhone, where every phone in the market was painful to use. Just about every analog or digital watch on the market is already extremely easy to use. The challenge facing Apple is one of introducing new complexity, rather than eliminating it.

Cameron has been wearing an iPod nano with the Lunatik watch strap for the past year and a half (he’s the only person I’ve ever seen in real life wearing one). If Apple ships a watch, I think Cameron is exactly right and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the press label the watch as “boring” and missing its potential from the start. If people are asking themselves, why would I want an Apple watch instead of my current analog watch / in addition to my iPhone?, then it’s a safe bet Apple has a runaway hit on its hands.

Just a fantastic update to what has become my favorite App.net iPhone app. Highlights in Riposte 1.1 include support for private messages and granular control over push notifications. Check out the release notes for all the details.

Update: As developers, the Riposte team was given a special type of new-user invite link from App.net. While most users (like myself) only have a few single invites here and there, this invite link is good for 100 new users to sign up for a free App.net account.

The Riposte guys, being awesome, were gracious enough to reach out to me and offer the link to shawnblanc.net readers who want to sign up for a free App.net account.

Update 2:The invites are all used. Thanks!

Don Southard wrote an excellent review of Alfred 2 which launched last Thursday. For the persnickety power-user there is only one way to navigate around a computer, and that is with the keyboard.

If you’re a current Alfred user, the upgrade to version 2 is a no brainer — it’s a massive update with some great new features and preferences that you are sure to benefit. As for me, I’ve been using Alfred 2 for a bit and I think it is a really amazing update. But in the end, I think I’m still a LaunchBar and Keyboard Maestro guy.

There are a lot of folks sharing the workflows they’ve built. You may want to check out Daniel Shannon’s list, David Ferguson’s site, and, of course, the Alfred Workflows forum.

Matthew Lang Sottile had a chance to talk with Feedly’s head of product strategy, Cyril Moutran, about the influx of new users and how they’d been preparing ahead of time for the inevitable closing down of Google Reader.

It seems the Google Reader Alternative with the most new users is Feedly — they aded half a million new accounts in the 48 hours following Google’s announcement. I installed Feedly’s Safari extension and downloaded their iPhone app, and they’re very well designed.

At first, I couldn’t figure out what Feedly’s business model was. But at the moment it seems they are an ad-supported, free-to-use service. After installing the Feedly Safari extension, I noticed that Feedly is actually a part of the Fusion Ad network, and they serve up a Fusion ad on their feed reading home page for logged-in users.

NewsBlur added 60,000 new users — more than doubling its total user base — over the past few days.

Xero is online accounting software that’s simple, beautiful and smart. With Xero, your financial data is displayed visually on the dashboard so you get a clear picture of your finances — anywhere, anytime, on any device.

It connects to your bank, and with over a hundred apps such as Harvest, Batchbook & Quoteroller, to give you all the information you need to run your business — without any manual data entry.

Xero’s online so you can start using it right away, no need for installation or updates — you’re always using the latest version.

For your free trial or to find out more, visit xero.com/creatives.

Sign up to Xero before June 30, 2013 and get 60 days free.

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My thanks to Xero for sponsoring the RSS feed this week. If you’ve got a couple minutes, watch their promo video / commercial which was made by Adam Lisagor’s Sandwich Video.

Sponsorship by The Syndicate.

Jessica E. Lessin wrote a classy profile of Loren Brichter for the WSJ.

Wowie zowie that was fast. Mailbox launched 37 days ago. (And isn’t there still a queue for people to get access to the service?)

I never did get into a groove with using Mailbox instead of the built in iOS Mail app (in part because my primary email account is not on Google). But I’m very glad to see that Dropbox is the company to acquire Mailbox. I have a lot of trust and goodwill towards Dropbox, and, no doubt like many of you, I’m very interested to see how Dropbox plans to use the code, ideas, and talent of the Mailbox team.

When I discovered the Pilot G2 0.38mm pen, it just about changed my life. Little did I know that that fine-tip gel ink pen was just the tip of the iceberg (pun intended), and I’ve since tried and used a dozen or more different brands and sorts of fine-tip gel ink pens.

While the Uni-ball Signo DX is hands down my favorite, there are many great options and it seems everyone has their own favorite. Which is why I asked Brad Dowdy, author of The Pen Addict, to write this guide for us at Tools & Toys.