Compressing the Unread
Matt almost perfectly sums up my relationship with Google reader: “Here’s what I’ve come to realize about myself: I fully accept that there’s not a particular link in that ridiculous heap that will change my life. It’s been a while since I worried about missing a single killer post or app or XKCD or whatever; if it’s valuable enough, it’ll find me, I got it.”
Later on he also wonders something I’ve been asking myself (and some reader folks) since I got started: “Google, I want you to give me a button labeled ‘Compress into diamonds.’ When I click that button, spin your little algorithmic wheels and turn my reader into a personalized Memeorandum. Show me the most linked-to items in the bunch, and show me which of my feeds are linking to them. And take it a step further. You’ve got all that trends data that reflects the items I’m reading. Underneath the hood might very well be data about the links I click on in those posts. Use that information about me to compress my unread items into diamonds I will find uniquely wonderful.”
Google Reader is already turning into an awesome personal search engine, why shouldn’t it also act as your personal memeorandum? (And if it doesn’t, I’ve been thinking for a long time this is a really good idea for a startup.)
Hi, I'm 
Noah,
I’m exactly where you are, too.
I also want to use Reader and its share function to bring a group of people together (like plannerly types for instance) to create a buzzfeed of sorts for the most shared items.
Readburner is promising to do something like this, but it’s been ‘coming soon’ for quite some time.
For years now I am waiting that rss programms/services start to implement bayesian filtering/learning mechanisms (analog to spam prevention filters) to map personally fitting items from the big river of news into a very personal news-stream (or to be specific: into separate personal news-streams for different criteria/categories). I don’t really understand what is keeping them from offering such functionality.
Helping my Google Reader shed pounds via algorithmic wheel-spinning and diamond-compressing would be much appreciated, good sir. Thank you.
http://fiftylinkslater.posterous.com/my-google-reader-weighs-more-t