Snackr: A Flex RSS Ticker
Snackr is a simple RSS ticker built using Adobe AIR 1.0 and Adobe Flex 3. It pulls random posts from RSS feeds and scrolls them across the desktop. As it tries to store and update its FeedDatabase whenever it is opened, it can be run even offline.
The constant scrolling on the desktop can be annoying, no matter on which side of the screen it happens. However, I found it useful to run during the daily hours I spend exclusively for browsing or reading news. There are new RSS feeds that I subscribe to every once in a while, and it is not possible to keep abreast with all the updates in all these feeds. By allowing Snackr’s deliberate distraction, I get an idea about what is going on in those sites. If a headline catches my eye, I see the description, and if my interest is sustained, view the complete post.
A nice feature of Snackr is that once a post has been viewed, it is never scrolled again. Plans are on to sync the app with Google Reader as well.
Snackr works on Windows, Mac and Linux. It has some glitches on Vista and Linux though. This open source project is hosted on Google. Take a look at their issues page and you will see how active the project is. Or the downloads page to try the 0.35 Test build, instead of the 0.33 version available on the official website.
It has a few easily configurable options like the side of the screen where the app can be docked, the minimum freshness of posts, the ticker speed. Work has also been going on to give the users more control over its working.
Snackr is definitely a good way to pass time while updating oneself with various blogs.
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