Tickershock - A non-standard RSS reader
Oct 27, '04 11:11:00AM
Contributed by: robg
The macosxhints Rating:

[Score: 9 out of 10]
I'm guessing that this week's PotW will be disliked by many, as it clearly reflects one's personal preferences in newsreaders (programs like NetNewsWire Lite, for instance). My work habits don't lend themselves to traditional newsreaders; I don't usually have the time to sit down and page through screen after screen of updates on numerous websites -- my newsreading time comes in odd (small) snippets and chunks of time throughout the day. So I end up probably reading less news than most people, as I do so by only regularly visiting the handful of sites that I find truly interesting.
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...
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Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20041027075947466