With Google intending to kill off Google Reader by July of this year, people in my industry are freaking out a bit. You see, we all live and die with RSS feeds as we browse dozens throughout the day to help us create the stories that we bring to you. But we’re a small group, as the comments on this site and Twitter have helped us realize. RSS feeds are not as popular as they once were – if they were, Google wouldn’t be killing off their famed service. Many of you have turned to Twitter, Pulse, Flipboard, Google Currents, or a variety of other services.

Speaking of Currents, I retweeted a comment this afternoon from a reader who suggested Google kill it off instead of Reader. As someone who rarely looks at Currents unless it has received an update, I fully agree with this person, however, many of you were quick to point out that you enjoy the service and would rather stick a needle in your eye than use Reader.

So that brought me to today’s poll – how are you gathering your news throughout the day? News readers? News gatherers like Pulse? Social media?

Google Currents received an update this morning that introduced all sorts of audio enhancements for editions that include audio. Our edition doesn’t include audio, nor am I subscribed to any that do, so I’ll simply have to re-hash whatever the changelog says to get you up to speed.

In this new version, you’ll find audio playlists, a media bar (with stop, start, next, previous controls), a story scanner for audio icons, status bar audio controls, and post read syncing between devices.

Play Link

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Cheers MrEastwood!

A couple of popular Android apps received updates this morning that make them tablet optimized. NFL Mobile, the Verizon exclusive, now supports bigger screens with a new tablet UI, is ready for the post season, will have live video of select post season games (including the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl), and live audio of all post seasons games.

Flipboard, the popular news feed app that came over from iOS this year, received an update that only lists it as being “bug fixes,” however, it actually introduces a new tablet optimized layout. Instead of flipping up and down to jump between pages and stories, you now flip left and right. It looks a lot like the newest Google Currents, actually – very nice update. 

Looks like Google is to start pushing Currents again, as it just received a major update to version 2.0. This year at Google I/O, they released an updated version of the news feeder app that brought Nexus 7 support and a basic redesign. This time, in 2.0, the entire app has been re-imagined and it’s much prettier than it was previously. 

After the update to Android 4.2, many users of the Nexus 7 have experienced major lag issues, with no real fix or explanation for the occurrence. Neither ASUS or Google have acknowledged any issue, which isn’t a shock, but that hasn’t stopped one member of XDA to dig for a solution. 

One of Google’s newer applications called Currents, which delivers magazine-like content from everyone’s favorite websites, just received a much need update to boost performance. Users will notice a drastic speed boost when navigating throughout the app and also a new auto-sync feature which was really needed so you don’t have to manually update your feeds once the application is opened.

What’s in this version:

1. Sync speed – Dramatic (7X) performance boost.
2. Instant online sync – No need to press “sync”. Just open an edition for latest content.
3. Offline reading – Choose favorite editions for offline images.
4. International – Currents now available worldwide (in 44 languages).
5. Translate – Translate complete editions to your preferred language. (38 languages).
6. Trending – Local trending stories provided for US, FR, UK, DE, IT, ES, JP, AU.
7. Bug fixes

Make sure to start following us on Currents!

Play Link

The Google team popped out their latest product today called Currents and asked us to join in on the launch party. Currents is an application that runs on both Android and iOS phones and tablets, giving you a beautiful view of your favorite websites in an almost magazine-esque format. As a part of the original group of sites to be featured, once you load it up, you can find the Droid Life edition already available under “Science and Tech.”