Tag Archives: RSS

Stream 1.5

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Stream version 1.5 is now available in the App Store!

What’s new? 💥

This version includes a new feature that allows you to add a feed by invoking a custom scheme. What’s that you ask? Well, it’s basically a custom URL that Stream has registered with iOS that causes the operating system to allow Stream to handle them.

So, if you want to write a Shortcut to add a feed automatically you can add a custom URL like this.

hs-stream://actions/subscribe?value=https://multiline.co/mment

I’m sure folks will come up with all kinds of ways to make use of this in scripts and Shortcuts. Here’s an image of a simple example using Safari to open Stream and subscribe to a site.

I’d like to thank Ashur Cabrerra for the idea, for testing the implementation, for finding a bug that existed in Stream since the 1.0 release, and for his constant support of Stream! 🙏🏼

What’s Fixed? 🐛

During the development of the new automated subscribe feature Ashur discovered an existing bug. It’s been there since version 1.0! Basically the code that parses dates in Stream would fail on any date that included fractional seconds. As you can probably imagine dates are represented in multiple formats in feeds. Stream continues to adapt to those formats and it was really nice to be able to fix this bug so we can support more of your favorite feeds.

Thanks, Ashur!

Easy to Discover Feeds

Stream

If you’d like to help feed readers like Stream auto discover your RSS feed you can do it by including a very simple line of HTML in the <head> element of your web page.

Here’s what it looks like for Scripting News the weblog of the man who created RSS, Dave Winer.

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://scripting.com/rss.xml">

That’s it, that’s all it takes! Stream can now look through your home webpage, or blog main page, and ask for this element. Once it discovers it it will go right to that spot and allow you to subscribe.

Just like magic! 🪄

Stream - A feed reader

Stream 1.0

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First things first. You can find Stream in the App Store.

What is Stream?

Stream is a feed reader. Some folks call it a news reader, others an RSS reader.

Why do I need it?

Stream is a different take on feed readers. It displays your feeds in a timeline, similar to Twitter.

Stream doesn’t maintain a read/unread count because life is too short to stress over that kind of stuff.

Is it better than my current feed reader?

Probably not. Stream is great for casual reading. It’s a complement to your current reader.

Does it support services?

Nope. Stream treats RSS – and other feed types – as intended. When RSS was created the idea was to provide a decentralized way to get news.

Dave Winer, the man behind RSS, calls this idea a River of News. Stream is a mobile River of News. You have full control over what you subscribe to. It’s all decentralized so you don’t rely on a service to collect your feeds.

What does this marvel of software development cost?

Did we mention it’s FREE? No up front payment, no subscription, just FREE.

What if I don’t like it?

That’s ok! Stream was intentionally built to put simplicity at its core. Simplicity may make it too simple for your needs.

Here are some of my favorite alternative feed readers.

Mac

  • NetNewsWire – The granddaddy of Mac feed readers. Pure Mac.
  • Reeder – A beautifully designed feed reader.

iOS