Hello users of FeedSquares and NewsSquares (and friends)! We need your help!
We are working on a cool new product called Publish5.com, which allows ANYONE to publish mobile apps for their content with SUPER-EASY DIY. Do you have a blog, or a Twitter account, or a Youtube channel with active audiences? If so, please, click on the sign up button below and help us in the beta test. Or got friends and family that do? Please share this post with them!
Publish5 is a web app - all you need is a Chrome browser, and with it you can create Apps for Android devices, ChromeOS devices and Chrome browsers, plus iOS devices in future. It's gonna be fun so help spread our call for testers!
Update to NewsSquares - Vertical Mode! We have released NewsSquares 1.3.0! The latest version allows you to view your items vertically. You may go to Options page and enable "Show items vertically" now.
We have released NewsSquares 1.2.0. If you prefer to mark items as read when you click through them in Big Squares, you can go to options and enable it now. Enjoy!
We are looking for help on localization of NewsSquares especially for the following locales Brazil (pt_BR), Japan (ja) and Mexico (es).
The localization is very simple. Please go to http://code.google.com/p/rocketinbottle/
There are two files that require localization, description.txt and message.json.
Select which locale you would help to translate, e.g. ja
To translate the description
Go to NewsSquares in the gallery, it contains the description of NewsSquares in English
Select the description.txt in the corresponding locale
Please do not translate the Keywords section
To translate the messages
Select the messages.json in 'en' locale as reference
Open the messages.json of the locale (in a new window for easy reference) you would like to help translating
After you select the file (description.txt or messages.json), click "edit file", then begin to edit the file directly inside the browser. For each message, please translate the "message" section, you can contribute partial translation
Finally click "Submit Patch" (you will need to login with a Google Account), a new issue will be created include a patch file
After we receive the issues, we will include the translation in NewsSquares
We will link to the translation credits in the gallery. Thank you.
New options in latest versions of NewsSquares & FeedSquares:
Want to view older articles first? You can now check the 'Show older items first' option.
If you have a very wide and very narrow screen, you may change the width of the item view for better viewing pleasure.
NewsSquares only:
Notifications are disabled for new users by default. It seems many users have disabled NewsSquares accidentally by clicking disable when the notifications pop up. To enable NewsSquares again, please go to chrome://extensions, find NewsSquares and click 'Enable'.
In this new version we have reworked the rendering to resolve a graphics issue that crashes the Chrome browser. Please notice that at the time of writing Chrome Dev is still a bit unstable so any intensive HTML5 graphics may still crashes in certain specific machines and settings. Please mail us at rocketinbottle AT gmail DOT com with your OS and version if your NS still crashes. Thank you for your contribution to the beta test!
If you have tried to disable notifications via NewsSquares' notification window - it won't work properly (sorry Chrome bug! haha). Please go to our options page to disable notifications instead. If in some cases NewsSquares get disabled instead, please go to "chrome://extensions" then find "NewsSquares" and click "Enable". It should be back on the new tab page. It's kind of funny, we know, but please forgive Google - Chrome's App functionality is new!
You can actually manage your subscriptions in a one screen interface. Just click on the manage button in the Add dialog. :P
Hello fans of FeedSquares! Today we proudly introduce NewsSquares, our latest incarnation of news reader for Google Chrome! It's our latest creation that caters to the news and blog reading needs of casuals and power users alike. It has everything that FeedSquares offers, with a bunch of new features and every part as beautiful. Come and try it out!
Everyone who wishes to get updated with news and blogs will find NewsSquares helpful. NewsSquares syncs with your Google Reader like FeedSquares does, but it doesn't require existing Reader subscriptions to work. So if you have friends and family members who likes to read from the web but never tried Google Reader before, do us a favor and ask them to check out this beauty! You can click here to go to our Chrome Web App page. Enjoy!
Congratulations! Click on your NewsSquares icon any time to start reading your news in style. Or check out this very short intro video and help us spread the news by sharing it to your friends!
You can also click here to get an FAQ or here to get an update history, or here to get back to Chrome Web App page. Enjoy!
Need simple session management? Several users on the same Chrome? FreshStart is a simple cross browser session manager. Now supports synchronization through bookmarks, and crash recovery!
Bored with the default start page? Incredible Startpage is a new, customizable start page for Chrome. Easily find your favorite bookmarks and closed tabs. Take notes as you browse.
Q: Why can't NewsSquares be launched like FeedSquares with an extension button?
A: NewsSquares is a Chrome Web App (or packaged app to be exact). Currently Chrome does not allow web apps to have a launch button on toolbar like extensions. To launch a web app, you will have to go to the New Tab Page and click the app icon there.
In case you are using New Tab extensions that do not support web app listing yet. You can try this extension called AppJump which allows you to launch any web app directly from its popup.
Q: Why do I need to login to Google to use NewsSquares? What information will you collect from me?
A: NewSquares stores your news subscriptions and settings directly in your Google account to offer the personalized experience. We never store any of your info in our servers and we collect absolutely no information from you. NewsSquares is made by a small development team, and we made it because we love to read news in style ourselves. :P
Q: How do I start reading?
A: Just click on any squares and click whatever that interests you! NewsSquares is a very visual news reading experience.
Q: Why are some Squares larger than the others?
A: Large squares allow previews and notify you when there are updates. You can enlarge and shrink Squares according to how important they are to you. They consume more network resources though (to fetch previews for you), so please don't make 100s of them.
Q: I need more Squares on my News Wall!
A: Click on the Add button and type in your favorites. Or when you are browsing blogs and news sites, right click and choose "Add to NewsSquares"!
Q: Can I order or sort my Squares?
A: NewsSquares learn your reading preferences and order them automatically. Trust us, NewsSquares do a good job on that. If some subscriptions are especially important to you, enlarge it. Or start typing a particular subscription name anytime and our filter and bring it to you.
Q: I am a power user - what's in it for me?
A: Just start typing anytime in NewsSquares to filter by name. Did I tell you we have shortcut keys similar to Google Reader? Try spacebar or '?'. :P
Q: I love NewsSquares! How can I help?
A: Follow us! Tell your friends about us!
Q: There's bug! How can I help?
A: Please mail to rocketinbottle AT gmail.com. Sometimes Chrome has its own share of bugs in development and beta channels, so sometimes we can only transfer your report to them.
Questions Not-So-Related to Using NewsSquares
Q: What's the Inspiration for NewsSquares?
A: NewsSquares (and prequel FeedsSquares) came from an art experiment. It was about creating a dynamic artwork that visualizes a person's information inflow. It's then developed to become a Web App that everyone can use. Explains why it looks so gorgeous, doesn't that? :P
Q: What do you think about Flipboard/Pulse/etc.? Did you/they copy them/you?
A: LOL. Funny it's not an uncommon question. Prequel of NewsSquares, a RSS client called FeedSquares, was created and released April 2010 - months before the recent revival of RSS readers. Plus NewsSquares is not about touch interfaces - it's about power of HTML5 and the cloud. So it's Apples and Oranges.
