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*Update:* It seems I am wrong about the lack of a mark read/unread functionality in the API according to O'Reilly Network: The New Bloglines Web Services. In the getitems call, feed entries that are pulled down are automatically marked as read on the server side; additionally, the XML returned (in OPML format) from a listsubs call has some Bloglines specific extensions including BloglinesUnread.
Good stuff!
(And, it appears, I should read the documentation more closely before blathering on about missing components of an API...)
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Okay, earlier, I declared that a Bloglines fat client must be just around the corner with the announcement of their web services. Unfortunately, it looks like I may have jumped the gun.
Reading over their API Documentation, they have three basic RESTful API calls:
- Bloglines Notifier API Documentation — returns unread count for a user
- Bloglines Sync API Documentation — retrieve subscription list for a specified account and get the contents of unread items for a specified account
- Bloglines Blogroll API — OPML file of subscriptions
To create a Bloglines fat client, you would need a lot more methods. The top 3 that come to mind are a method to mark an item read, mark an item unread, and "save" or "clip blog" an item.
Then, of course, there's all of those persnickety actions one can do to their subscription list like reorder, reorganize, rename... I'm sure the list goes on and on.
But, it's a good step towards IMAP for Syndication (in comparison to POP3 for Syndication or Webmail for Syndication, which we have right now).
Comments
We don't need a bloglines fat client...
As described here, you use your newsreader of choice (that supports bloglines web services, obviously), and roll with it all day at work.
When you get home, you use the same (or even a different) reader, and yet via the magic that is bloglines, you're read/unread & all that are still synchronized.
In an internet cafe without your laptop? Just hit the web interface.
Now that this is a possibility, I may actually go look into using a fat client aggregator.
How do you add/delete feeds? Change the names of feeds? Save an item for later? Reorder your lists? Add new folder categories?
I need a true fat client.
This whole service is badly implemented and illegal.
http://www.kbcafe.com/rss/?guid=20040929052201