Blogs, like most of the web, are a ‘pull’ technology. You visit the site in order to pull down and read the content.
Part of the initial success of the Blackberry was its ‘push’ technology. New messages were automatically sent to the device. Newspapers and magazines are most successful when pushed to their readers. Publishers prefer to have readers subscribe and readers like the convenience of having their favourite content arrive at their doorstep.
Hence the availability of RSS: Really Simple Syndication to feed blogs to regular readers.
The Blackberry is good at reading messages but it is not noted for web browsing (or floating, but that is another entry). So, what do you do to read Telecom Trends or any other RSS feed when you are on the go?
The answer is Newsclip, from Virtual Reach – a really useful reader of really simple syndication. Any RSS feed. Check them out. Virtual Reach has entered into a distribution agreement with Rogers although Newsclip is also available for any Blackberry and many other devices on any network.
The CTO, and one of the founders of Virtual Reach, Jay Steele, will be speaking on the Mobile Applications panel at The Canadian Telecom Summit on June 12.
Disclosure: The president of Virtual Reach is my brother Brian. He has overcome the unfortunate handicap of being born after me.