FeedJournal: Kill a tree and print your RSS feeds like a newspaper
Ever wish you could print out your RSS feeds and read them like a newspaper? FeedJournal is a new service that lets you convert RSS feeds into printable PDF files. The layout is very newspaper-like. You can choose the number of columns, and whether or not your paper will include images. Web publishers can also add a widget to their web sites that will let visitors view their content as a newspaper-style PDF.
There's something compelling about the newspaper format. For one thing, it can be much faster to read text in short columns because your eyes don't have to move across the width of your computer screen. On the other hand, why the heck would you want to print out a "newspaper" with a list of feeds that are updated far more frequently than your daily paper? Do you know how much paper and ink that could potentially waste?
FeedJournal Developer Jonas Martinsson says that FeedJournal works best for sites with longer articles that you might not want to read while sitting in front of your computer. So he acknowledges that you might not want to print every article from every blog or news site you follow. But most sites that publish long articles don't include the full story in their RSS feeds, and FeedJournal will only grab the portion of the text included in the feed.
Overall, FeedJournal presents a neat trick, but we're not sure we can see ourselves using it very often.
There's something compelling about the newspaper format. For one thing, it can be much faster to read text in short columns because your eyes don't have to move across the width of your computer screen. On the other hand, why the heck would you want to print out a "newspaper" with a list of feeds that are updated far more frequently than your daily paper? Do you know how much paper and ink that could potentially waste?
FeedJournal Developer Jonas Martinsson says that FeedJournal works best for sites with longer articles that you might not want to read while sitting in front of your computer. So he acknowledges that you might not want to print every article from every blog or news site you follow. But most sites that publish long articles don't include the full story in their RSS feeds, and FeedJournal will only grab the portion of the text included in the feed.
Overall, FeedJournal presents a neat trick, but we're not sure we can see ourselves using it very often.













Comments
6
Subscribe to commentsVitaminCMFeb 20th 2008 1:27PM
I swear that I just came up with this idea in my head while driving to work this morning.
I gotta get the patent office on my mobile browser.
ShawnFeb 20th 2008 5:30PM
Finally! I have a notepad note on my cell phone from some time in late 2006 that simply reads PRINTERNET!! I had this same idea to be able to quickly print out an RSS feed to take it to work with me (alas, I don't have work-approved access to the internet for 9 hours a day). Now, will I use it? It depends on if it can throw in a stupid political cartoon and an ad for a used car dealership automatically.
JeebusFeb 20th 2008 6:05PM
Got this:
[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
FeedJournal.NewspaperLogic.Reader.Generate_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) +147
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e) +105
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +107
System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) +7
System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument) +11
System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(NameValueCollection postData) +33
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +1746
JeebusFeb 20th 2008 4:45PM
Still can't get anything generated, nor can I even view the sample.
This has got to be the crappiest website ever, coded by a half-wit monkeys. Unbelievable.
WolvenSpectreFeb 20th 2008 9:38PM
Try looking back a few years to the original HAK 5 video podcasts. They were doing it then and automating it to print in the morning or evening, whenever you prefered to read it.
It was only text, but then again it was just something quickly thrown together, with a nicer interface and the ability to scrape website links added you would already have something better than this.
BecktembaFeb 25th 2008 4:59PM
The User Jeebus must have entered a bad RSS Feed.
The Feedjournal Has been Working Great for me!
Check out what I've been able to Create with the Feedjournal Publisher:
http://www.scribd.com/groups/view/4813-newspapers
Or Go to:
www.libertynewsprint.com
or create your own newspaper with your FULL TEXT FEEDS in the FeedJournal Reader
at www.Feedjournal.com