Google Reader (mini review)

Yet another release from the labs at Google, comes Google Reader, a web-based RSS feed syndicator.

Here are some of the initial issues I noted:

• UI feels slow and choppy (especially transition effects - YMMV)
• Subscribe button does not always work (I'm still trying to figure out when it does work)
• Attempts to subscribe to RSS feeds from sites like theregister.com or theinquirer.net failed. I have already subscribed to 4 feeds (maybe there is a limitation right now)

Here's the good part:

• User experience (look and feel) similar to GMail
• Same keyboard shortcuts as GMail (what they don't mention is that pressing 'o' opens a feed or feed item to reveal its snippet text)
• Conveniently unsubscribe to a feed
• Conveniently "Blog This!" (to your Blogger account) or GMail this (self-explanatory)
• Label your RSS subscriptions (similar to labeling your mail in GMail)
• Export/Import Outline Processor Markup Language (OPML) files
• All the usual sorting capabilities