The macosxhints Rating:
[Score: 9 out of 10]
- Developer: Mesa Dynamics / [Product Page]
- Price: $19.95
But recently I stumbled on Tickershock, which presents RSS feeds in a unique manner -- as seen here [2.2mb QT movie, reduced 50% from true size]. Instead of presenting an application window with some form of site and headline manager, Tickershock puts a scrolling list of headlines on your screen. You control the speed, font, color, location, etc. of the ticker to suit your tastes -- I have it positioned at the bottom of my 'alternate' monitor, moving relatively slowly. If you don't like ticker-style updates, there's an optional billboard mode that shows the headlines in a static panel.
For me, this is the perfect newsreader, as I can just let it sit there and slowly scroll by. When I have a free minute or two, I'll glance over at the scroller and see if anything catches my eye. When I'm busy, the ticker is positioned and set at a speed that I really don't notice it at all -- this is the feature that I know some (many?) will hate, as they find motion on the screen distracting. But with the speed and colors I've chosen, I find the scroller blends right into the background when I'm not actively looking at it. And yet, when I want news blurbs, they're but a flick of the eyeballs (and mouse) away. Like any good modern RSS newsreader, Tickershock includes a bundled WebKit browser, or you can click a button to jump to your default OS X browser.
Probably not a pick for everyone, but if you like having news available and don't mind a bit of onscreen motion, Tickershock is worth a look...

