So I was searching for a good RSS Gadget for my Win7 desktop and came across several 'modified' ones from various authors. Let's just say I am NOT impressed by any of them for the following reasons:

1.    It is supposed to read your RSS Subscribed Feeds from Internet Explorer. Hmmm I use FireFox not IE and when I opened IE there were NO subscribed RSS feeds, yet one of them belonged to the "Nouveau Riche Blog". Isn't that interesting...so where is it pulling from?
2.    The basic Gadget was authored in 2007 and has been modified by the following people
   • RSS Reader by Ronnie: while he added the ability to select more or less headlines than the initial ridicules choices of 30, 60, 90, 120 and having typo's in his ego credits, it's pretty much useless as a choice for RSS feeds on my Desktop.
     This is the gadget that prompted me to write this blog, the name 'RSS Reader' is miss-leading to say the least. If it is an RSS Reader, then why can't it be linked to live.com where we could centrally set the feeds we wish to have to be applied on any computer with the gadget? Oh because Microsoft isn't that friendly... so I suggest you join me in this small, but significant complain and file it at https://feedback.live.com/. Here is my filed compliant.
     

     When Windows Vista Came out, it introduced Desktop Gadgets, good in concept, but poor in execution on many levels. For example the RSS Feed, supposed to take from IE, but does it? Not always, why not have Live.com manage centrally what ever RSS Feed people want and redo the gadget to to accept this and profiles, for say work, home, and laptop. Make the info find us, isn't that what Microsoft is supposed to be doing?
3.    Then there are thee feeds for g33ks widgets, while I am ALL about companies promoting themselves without be intrusive, if you give away a free widget, make it customizable with unobtrusive credits to the author. If people like it, they will want to have the help or about tab page in the options to get to the original author site for feedback...hell I even like the idea of the feedback button being right there in that same tab, makes it easier. So what are some of these ego rss feed freebie widgets...
   • Atom/RSS News Reader: okay this is better, but I still must be a member of Atom to use it and set my feeds...sort of defeats the purpose of a desktop widget, however it does address the short coming voiced earlier of wanting my same feeds on my work, laptop and home pc's. HOWEVER this brings up another flexibility point that no one I have seen yet addresses....PROFILES. I want an RSSFeed profile for my different locations. I may need a specific feed for work, but at home, I would rather know what is on slashdot today, okay you caught me I am a geek.
   • Visual News: I give this one a thumbs up for having a 32 and 64bit version, nice to see in a desktop gadget, as well as images sent to you, very handy for graphic artist, web developers or social media outlets. BUT again no profiles /li>
     
   • Fox News and BBC News: Could we get any further apart in opinions, yet still remain as egotistical about our own company? Toss in some commercials why don't you? News feeds are great, but they are very one sided and are in need of counter opinions, if you can't think for yourself...personally I would rather have a Reuters RSS Feed and think for myself. But at least the BBC reports real news that is censored by US sources from around the globe...something not even CBS, NBC or even CNN can yet figure out.
   • Hermes RSS News Ticker: This is the best one I have found thus far, for setting up on each computer, seeing how it lacks a central login, profiles and update status.
4.    Social Networking became HUGE in 2009, it invaded everything from our phones, every website we went to and became very popular in sitcoms for social comedy. So why hasn't any of these gadgets included social networking tie ins?
5.    And Finally, WHY can't ANY Gadget on Microsoft's site be updated to work with Windows7? Some do work, but there are many still that have small bugs, that prevent them from wanting to be used...it sort of reminds you why you didn't by a Mac.

So what should a Desktop RSS Widget do for Window 7

1. Framework
   • 32bit & 64bit versions
   • AJAX support
   • JSON support
2. FEED Access
   • And any RSS Feed for stand alone<
   • Login in to any central Feed aggregation service with profile support (if in the future): FeedBurner, Atom, Microsoft, Google, 90 more below
   • Browser Link Support from IE, FF, Opera, Safari, etc.. to pull selected subscribed feeds as an option
   • Categories: until profiles are widely adopted, having category control would be helpful to quickly turn on/off different categories. i.e. News Category would keep your BBC, CBS, FOX, etc.. together under a heading of News, Tech would hold Andantech, slashdot, etc..
   • Update intervals per feed, category or globally
3. General Settings
   • Scrolling speed
   • New item flagging: highlight option, popup or popout option, sound option, what ever way anyone needs to be alerted for feed, category or globally
   • Alert canceling per feed, category or globally, say you need quiet time both visually and auditorially, so it could have a snooze function not to alert you for a specified user time period
4. Dispaly: options for font family, size, weight, color, background, theme, what ever makes it easy for the reader/user
5. Support for Proxies, because face it who wants to have the FBI know you are getting the latest bomb technology by RSS feeds or what ever you want to keep private
6. Social Media Support: to link with your social media accounts to keep the interest up
7. Support: a tab for the creator, an auto update or notification, quick feed back form

Feedback

   Obviously you can give me feedback below in a comment, but if you are developer and all of this makes sense to you, I am not an ego person, but a small credit in the app for design to SoCalCreations.net (my company) would be nice.

90+ different RSS Feed Services

1. AJAX Feed Reader : feed meme ajax reader
2. AlertBear : rss feed reader for windows
3. Alesti : rss / feeds reader
4. AlmondRocks : rss / feed reader
5. Attensa : rss feed reader for outlook
6. Awasu : rss feed reader
7. Beanrocket : online rss reader
8. BlogBridge : rss feed reader
9. BlogBurst : blog syndication service
10. Blogdigger : blog/rss search engine
11. BlogExpress : rss feed reader
12. Bloglines : rss / feed reader
13. BloxOr : online aggregator
14. DailyRotation : customized rss feed reading
15. Delicious : social bookmarking
16. EvolvePoint : rss feed management
17. Feed Digest : mix, filter and republish or syndicate feeds
18. Feed2Podcast : converts feeds into podcasts
19. Feed43 : rss feed for any web page
20. FeedBlender : combines multiple rss feeds into one feed
21. FeedBlendr : combine multiple rss feeds into one
22. FeedBlitz : receive rss via email
23. Feedburner : create rss feed for your blog
24. FeedButler : web-based feed reader; bookmarking
25. FeedCraft : create, manage, deliver, and track rss feeds
26. FeedDigest : display rss feed on website
27. FeedFeeds : web 2.0 feed aggregator
28. feedication : aggregation service for 43, delicious, flickr
29. FeedLinx : synch multiple feed readers
30. FeedLounge : rss feed reader
31. Feedmarker : rss aggregator and bookmarks manager
32. Feedmeme : misc rss feed tools
33. FeedoStyle : rss feeds for blogs/sites
34. Feedpath : rss feed reader
35. Feedpile : web-based rss aggregator
36. FeedPing.com : free rss submission to all major directories
37. FeedRinse : rss feed filtering
38. Feedsky : blog / feeds / rss search
39. Feedster : blogs / rss / feeds search
40. Feedtier : rss feeds for all webpages
41. FeedTV : feed reader with news headlines
42. FeedWhip : rss feeds for all webpages
43. FeedXs : generate your own rss
44. FeedYes : rss feed for any web page
45. Filangy : search engine for active web pages
46. Flitic : rss search engine
47. FrankenFeed : combine multiple rss feeds into one
48. Gada : blog / rss feeds search
49. Google Reader : google rss reader
50. Grazr : display rss feed on website
51. Gregarius : web-based rss aggregator
52. Gritwire : rss feeds aggregator
53. IceRocket : create rss feeds for your site
54. Immedi.at : instant messaging notification when feed is updated
55. Infocaster : branded rss readers
56. InstantFeed : rss feeds via instant messengers
57. KickRSS : combine multiple rss feeds into one
58. mail2rss : converts email into rss feed
59. nativetext : rss feed language translation service
60. NewHots : chinese portal for rss, bookmarks
61. NewsAlloy : personalized feed / news reader
62. NewsGator : online rss / news / blog reader
63. NewsMob : news / rss / atom aggregator
64. Nooked : rss feed management
65. Odiogo : rss converted to speech
66. Omea : rss feed reader
67. PonyFish : rss feed for any web page
68. Publi.sh : rss feed creation service
69. Quickmail : email to rss script
70. RapidFeeds : rss feed management
71. Rasasa : rss feeds via messenger / mobile
72. Readio : convert rss into mp3 podcasts
73. Readio : convert rss into mp3 podcasts
74. Rel8r : tag search rss feed
75. ReminderFeed : reminder service
76. Rojo : online rss reader
77. RSS Bandit : rss feed reader
78. RSS Reader : rss feed reader
79. RSS2PDF : converts rss to pdf
80. RSSHut : online rss reader and rss directory
81. RSSMAD : rss feed reader
82. RSSor : social rss subscription sharing and reader
83. Sabifoo : instant messaging into rss
84. Squeet : rss feeds via email
85. Tagsy : social bookmarking and feed management; coming soon!
86. ThePort Network : hosted solution for private news aggregation service
87. Tiny Tiny RSS : online rss reader
88. TinyTinyRSS : web-based rss aggregator
89. Vienna : rss feed reader for mac
90. Yutter : rss to email subscription service
91. ZapTXT : rss filtering and notification
92. ZoomClouds : tag cloud created from atom/rss feeds