In case you’re still using Google Reader to get your daily dose of RSS news from sites you monitor, you might be interested to try out Google Reader Play. It’s Google’s latest offering that aims to take the Google Reader interface into a new level. Something innovative and yet can be counter-productive.
Google Reader Play gives you the most recommended news items of the day. These are culled from various news items that were identified using the technology Google employs with Google Reader’s Recommended Items. It’s basically random selection, so you’ll never know what will be displayed next.
Speaking of display, that’s basically what Google Reader Play is all about. Feed items are displayed one at a time, in a huge, graphically-enhanced interface in full-screen mode. And it’s interactive as well. You just need to click on the next arrow to move to another item or browse other items by simply clicking on the filmstrip located below the screen. It’s like browse an online photo gallery. But in this case, if you click on an item, you will be brough to the source of the item.
To make it even more interesting, Google Reader Play can be personalized if you login to your Google Reader account while browsing Google Reader Play. It will allow you to like items and Google will use this information to show other items that may interest you. You can also categorize the items that you want to view.
But if you just want to browse items randomly, you can just visit Google Reader Play without signing in to your Google Account. Just hope that something interesting comes out as you browse.
Google Reader Play is currently in beta and is now part of Google Labs. Google was very clear that it is not aimed at replacing the original Google Reader, but an alternative way of viewing and getting the latest news items on the web instead. It can also be Google’s way of sparking interest to their Google Reader service.
