RIP Bloglines

Bloglines is shutting down. It was (the future tense is a bit premature, since the service will be up till October 1) easily the best online newsreader, Google Reader notwithstanding. I have also tried out alternatives like Newsgator and Feedshow in the past, but I didn't feel as comfortable with them as with Bloglines.

One of the reasons for Ask.com shutting down the service: the supposed waning popularity of RSS as compared to Twitter and Facebook as more effective means of real-time information flow. Doesn't sound very convincing to me. Twitter and Facebook have a place -- e.g., when I want to know how Amitabh Bachchan's digestive system reacted to the new breakfast he tried yesterday (not to mention herding away from Blogger and Wordpress all the non-serious twats with short attention spans and few original things to say), but this in no way reduces the importance of RSS; reports of its death are vastly exaggerated.