February 2015

Tiny Tiny RSS, Possibly my Perfect RSS Solution

rss_iconSo, I mentioned recently, I wanted to migrate off of my shared Hosting to a VPS on Digital Ocean.  One reason sited was more control over what I can do with the server.  It’s essentially just a cloud based Linux machine, I can do anything I would do on a locally hosted Ubuntu box with it.  I came across Tiny Tiny RSS recently, and it’s the perfect example of the kind of thing I wanted the VPS for.

While nowhere near the main reason, the final straw with my tolerance of Google’s increasing level of crap was the closing of Reader, a service I’d depended on pretty much since it’s inception.  I’d tried a few alternative solutions but nothing really did anything for me next tot he simplicity to Google Reader.

Eventually I just sort of lost the want for RSS feeds.  The whole web seems to be abandoning the idea 9probably because it’s not nearly as easy to plaster crap ads all over an RSS feed) so I just decided to let it go.

Recently I’ve been trying to find a good solution again.  I really hate not being able to keep up with infrequently updated blogs i find.  That’s like 90% of the reason i liked having Google Reader, so when that interesting niche blog I like that updates once ever 4 months updates, I can know.

I looked into some Firefox extensions but using them tends ot be clunky.  I’ve tried a few different apps on my phone but nothing is idea.  The biggest issue is a lack of sync across everything.

tinytinyrss

Tiny Tiny RSS is a self hosted RSS Reader.  You download it (with Git in this case), set up a database for it, and let it roll.  I’ve set it up on my little sandbox domain BloggingIntensifies.com and added feeds I was pulling with other services to it.

It’s web based, so I can get to it from anywhere.  Need number one.

It’s hosted by me, so I won’t have to worry about some “thinks they know best” company screwing me over again, need number two.

There is a built in API so it can be access via mobile with an app.  Need number 3.  BONUS!  There is even a compatible Windows Phone app.

The next step is to figure out what I did with my old list of Google Reader feeds and start loading it up.