Spb Insight 1.0 Released

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/insight/?en' target='_blank'>http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/pro...cts/insight/?en</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Spb Software House, the leading Pocket PC software developer, releases Spb Insight - a new Pocket PC News Reader which provides full-text articles with pictures for handy and fast offline reading. Throughout the day we all have those many periods of time that are too short to be useful but too long to be wasted. Examples could be standing in line or waiting at the airport. A Pocket PC can be used to fill these intervals of time with reading books, or playing small games, etc. How about the news? Typical news web pages aren't designed for small Pocket PC screens and can take minutes to download. RSS readers help in this situation, but usually provide only summaries and links to original articles, which bring us back to online browsing. Spb Insight was designed to overcome these shortcomings. Besides being a powerful Pocket PC RSS reader, Spb Insight provides full article texts instead of typical RSS article summaries. Original article web pages are specifically optimized for Pocket PC screens using unique Spb Insight channel technology."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/about/pressreleases/images/SpbInsight_PressRelease.jpg" /><br /><br />Spb Software House has just released <a href="http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/insight/?en">Insight</a>, a RSS/Atom news reader with full text capabilities. We have a review that is set to appear in around fifteen minutes, so keep your eyes on the front-page for an insight (excuse the pun). ;)

[wbgordy]

Bit pricey for a RSS reader.

[Jason Lee]

It is not actually an RSS reader. I would compair it more to a pumped up Avantgo. Spb Insight is a channel reader.
Channels are basically special version of full websites. So you can have a channel of a site that does not have an RSS feed. It just seemed to be a nice option to also support RSS.

There are hundreds of pre-made channels provided by Spb as well as documentation on how to make your own channel. (Trying to find that again)
Channels are kind of XML templates to pull content from real websites, format it for your device and store it localy for offline viewing. RSS is just an added bonus.

Strait from Spb FAQ:

1. What's the difference between Spb Insight channels and usual RSS channels?

You will find the difference significant. Usual RSS channels contain only headers and links to articles. Spb Insight supports channels, which provide full text article reading. You will not have to visit links and wait till your article is loaded. You have all your favorite channels content right in your pocket!

I hope this will shed some light on what Spb Insight was actually developed for. It was never intended to be just an RSS reader.

Edit: More info about Spb Insight can be found here:
http://www.spbinsight.com/

The developer link has inforation about creating custom channels.

[mattbugz]

Wow! Good stuff...I currently use Newsbreak from Ilium Software which is basically one of the most used apps for me.

I must take this for a test drive.

[mattbugz]

hmm...I see, so they have a list of "channels" that can be subscribed to. Only the "channels" have full text. Otherwise, it's a typical RSS reader. Please let me know if I'm mistaken.

[Jason Lee]

hmm...I see, so they have a list of "channels" that can be subscribed to. Only the "channels" have full text. Otherwise, it's a typical RSS reader. Please let me know if I'm mistaken.

That is correct. It is a channel reader that happens to support RSS also. So you can mix and match both to get the content you want. :)

[mattbugz]

That is correct. It is a channel reader that happens to support RSS also. So you can mix and match both to get the content you want. :)

The program is still pretty amazing...worth the $20! Interesting that PPC Thoughts is atop the 50 most popular! :wink:

[Marcel_Proust]

hmm...I see, so they have a list of "channels" that can be subscribed to. Only the "channels" have full text. Otherwise, it's a typical RSS reader. Please let me know if I'm mistaken.

exactly. i don't think it's a great rss reader, although that could change, and knowing spb, that's possible.
it's strength are the channels, no browsers needed to read your article. and i believe users can post channels they create or you can create your channels if you know html? is that true?

[ctmagnus]

I've been holding off paying for NewsGator Mobile in anticipation of this. Now it looks like I may be buying both. What I would really like, though, is for this to support NewsGator subscriptions in future versions, if NG would open things up to Spb.

[Darius Wey]

I've been holding off paying for NewsGator Mobile in anticipation of this. Now it looks like I may be buying both. What I would really like, though, is for this to support NewsGator subscriptions in future versions, if NG would open things up to Spb.

I've found NewsGator Mobile to be awfully buggy and slow. I think it has room to grow. Yes, that unintentionally rhymes.

[CESkins]

Interesting software. I currently use Newsreader for RSS. For "channels" I use Mobipocket Pro + Mobipocket Creator. The combo of the 2 serves as an RSS reader and also allows you to craft your own channels quickly for reading offline. Only thing lacking is that you still need a desktop component. Other than that how does Insight compare to the Mobipocket combo (if anyone is using both)?

[Marcel_Proust]

Interesting software. I currently use Newsreader for RSS. For "channels" I use Mobipocket Pro + Mobipocket Creator. The combo of the 2 serves as an RSS reader and also allows you to craft your own channels quickly for reading offline. Only thing lacking is that you still need a desktop component. Other than that how does Insight compare to the Mobipocket combo (if anyone is using both)?

I'm doing the exact same!
I somewhat prefer Mobipocket as a program, stable and mature reader, and I read many of my ebooks on it as well.
As well, creating your own channels is much easier with Mobipocket. They should create a channel creator wizard for Insight.
However, you can't get your channels directly from the device, you have to sync. Which I do like.
So I'm using Egress (really similar to newsreade and pocketrss), Mobipocket, and Insight since the initial beta, each for it's own strengths and weaknesses.
Insight 1.0 is pretty stable, and more stable than the betas i tested, but still a bit flakey sometimes. I'm sure they'll update.

[thaihugo]

I' ve been beta testing this great software, and I first, I also thought YARSS reader. But I quickly discovered it was so much more. The template concept is not propriatery. It is javascript. You can parse any website for articles if you know how to write it. So it means the catalogue is just a repository of user created templates. YOu can also create yours on the fly, store them on your PDA and use them to get your website.

A template from a RSS feed takes 10 lines of code (with 9 out of ten that are a copy paste form other templates), and gives the full content. Some are more complicated.

Also, the developer is just creating the framework now and will add more functions after that.

There is no current solution to parse a web site from your PPC. All existing use PC as a content parser. Avantgo doesn'T give you 5% of the control on the web pages you get with this prog.

You have a revolutionary tool in your hand, that will change your web browsing on PDA, and not make you wait for mobile optimised websites.

I'm sure SPB made a commercial mistake by not stessing this out. No review actually seen it (except the one made by the beta testers).

It's not only RSS, it's any website for full content. I can make a new template in less than 2 minutes now. I hope they will publish soon my tutorials on how to create templates.

[thaihugo]

hmm...I see, so they have a list of "channels" that can be subscribed to. Only the "channels" have full text. Otherwise, it's a typical RSS reader. Please let me know if I'm mistaken.

You can create your own channel woth a quick javascript code. So it's not a real RSS reader because you can get also non RSS websites with full content and you don'T depend on the catalog as you can create templates yourself.

[Marcel_Proust]

"It's not only RSS, it's any website for full content. I can make a new template in less than 2 minutes now. I hope they will publish soon my tutorials on how to create templates "

yeah. without a simple tutorial or better yet a wizard, that isn't really good for 99% of users. i would be surprised if more than 1% of end users want to mess with code.

[thaihugo]

Tutorials are already written, just need to be published. And the code generator - Helper is on the to do list of the programers.

[Alexander Shtuchkin]

You're right, Marcel, 99% of users are not programmers or have time to write another template. That's why we made Online Catalog - a place where template developers can share with the users. Currently there are about 1600 channels there and I hope it will grow even more.

[Marcel_Proust]

You're right, Marcel, 99% of users are not programmers or have time to write another template. That's why we made Online Catalog - a place where template developers can share with the users. Currently there are about 1600 channels there and I hope it will grow even more.
i don't want to come across as offensive, bcause i am only engaging in this because i see a good program with the potential to be great.
i've been using the catalogue, and it's fine, but a way to easily write custom made pages would be even better. i also hope to for it to be quick and fast. when i was a teenager, i wrote programs in machine language of all things for my first computer, an ancient beast that was. but with my career havng taken me somewhere else, engaging in code isn't a good use of my energy. i suspect many people arein the same boat.
so yes, more prefab channels are always nice, but a way to make channels quickly without too much effort would also be nice.

[captgoodhope]

That's why we made Online Catalog - a place where template developers can share with the users. Currently there are about 1600 channels there and I hope it will grow even more.

Haven't been able to figure this out. Where is this catalog located? On the channels page at spbinsight.com, there are lists of channels, but nothing to download, no url, nothing. How does this work?

[thaihugo]

You can add new channels from the catalogue from inside the program. Just select new then channel from the catalogue, and you will be able to choose and even select languages to display.

[Alexander Shtuchkin]

Sorry, Marcel, it's me who sounded a bit offensive :)
Yes, you're absolutely right about the custom templates, and a bit later we'll make template creation even easier (I'm thinking about online template wizard right now). But I think a good community could be a solution too. There is a "suggest a site" section on our web site, so you can always suggest something that you need and there will be people who will create a template and share it to everyone.. In the end, it's really easy to do :)

Capt. GoodHope, thanks for the question :)
When you install Spb Insight and tap New, you get a choice of methods to add channels. The first is named "Online Catalog" and if you choose it, you'll get the whole catalog listed on web site, with categories and sorting. After this, it's just a matter of ticking interesting channels and pressing "Finish" :)