Perhaps it was fitting that Google updated its Reader RSS tool on Halloween Eve, because the results have been positively ghoulish. And while there are numerous opinions about the new design, there can be no debate about the web giant’s decision to delete social sharing from the Reader options, thus pulling the plug on projects like the BossRoss WebRead.

For the uninitiated, an RSS feed is a stream of content generated from blog entries and/or news headlines and stories. Google describes its Reader app saying, “Google Reader lets you subscribe to your favorite websites so new content comes to you when it’s posted. Google Reader collects information from news sites, blogs, and other sources on the topics of your choice, and lets you read it all in one place.” To find these RSS feeds look for the orange icon with radio waves.

In the case of the BossRoss WebRead, this writer acted as curator, sifting carefully each day through dozens of sources to find and share articles of interest. Those articles would immediately post to a widget found on MusicRow.com, and other places. Unfortunately it appears that functionality has now been replaced with the ability to share articles with Google+, a welcome addition to be sure, but hardly a replacement.

“We hope you’ll like the new Reader (and Google+) as much as we do,” says the official Google Reader Blog. “But we understand that some of you may not. Retiring Reader’s sharing features wasn’t a decision that we made lightly, but in the end, it helps us focus on fewer areas, and build an even better experience across all of Google.” (Yeah, Happy Halloween and welcome to my nightmare!)

Apparently, I’m not the only user feeling unfairly violated.

According to Mashable, a group of 10,000 like-minded individuals, known as the “Sharebros” have signed a petition. “Many of us have been faithful users of your Reader for years,” the petition reads. “It’s central to our daily information consumption. …Reader builds tremendous goodwill from a core group of heavy Internet users, leading us to recommend this and your other services to our friends.”

Sharebros in Iran (who knew?) are especially upset, since Reader’s sharing function provided a “useful way to distribute news and comments under the radar,” and away from Government view.

Angry Twitter users have starting using the hashtag #OccupyGoogleReader.

According to theAtlanticWire.com, Sharebro fanatic Francis Cleary has declared he will build a replacement for the new Reader app, to be named HiveMined. “Google+ is a cool idea, but it’s not about content first,” Cleary told The Atlantic Wire. “It’s about page views–that’s not what people want. It’s about the content you like. It’s not about you pushing the link and being like, Everybody look at the link and look what I shared. The way to think about it is that the people on the Hive are going to mine out the best content on the internet,” said the 26-year-old Pennsylvania native, who settled on the name with the help of 40 other Sharebros.

Can a signed mighty petition of 10,000 be enough to influence the Google monolith? Can Francis Cleary and his HiveMind project restore peace of mind to the Sharebro community? Stay tuned, but don’t expect to read the results right away in the BossRoss WebRead, unless Google relents of course!!

 

 

It’s official: people are going mad for Eli Young Band’s “Crazy Girl.” The Republic Nashville group’s breakout hit single has now been certified Platinum by the RIAA for download sales exceeding 1 million. It also recently hit No. 3 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout Chart, and is sitting pretty at No. 2 on both Billboard/MB monitored charts.

The video for “Crazy Girl” has amassed an impressive 6 million views so far on YouTube, and the band is scheduled to perform the song Thursday, Nov. 3 on Late Show With David Letterman. Following their television appearance, EYB will rejoin their opening slot on Dierks Bentley’s fall tour. They are also currently nominated for an American Country Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year.

“The saying be careful what you wish for because you just might get it, is really coming true this year for us,” said James Young. “Having a platinum single is one of the things we’ve always dreamed about. Thank you to the fans and country radio for allowing us to do what we love night after night, and for truly making our dreams come true.”

>>ReDigi.com is an online Boston-based digital marketplace for pre-owned music sales in the U.S. The beta version of the site opened last week and is designed to establish a resale value for digital music. Consumers can legally buy and sell used digital music direct from one fan to another, while “granting artists and labels a significant portion of the proceeds from the sale (and resale) of their music.” ReDigi CEO CEO John Ossenmacher says, “ReDigi gives users the new freedom to take full advantage of the ownership rights of their music. It also provides artists and labels another revenue stream so they can keep producing the tunes we love so much.” Pre-launch, the new company amassed a following of over 130,000 social network fans.

 

>>New Broadband adoption data has been released from Connected Tennesse, a public-private, non-profit partnership with goals to accelerate technology in Tennessee. Tennessee’s Technology Trends 2011 is the group’s latest report which says that 64% of all TN adults have broadband service at home. Today, 50% of low-income families with children (those with incomes below $25,000) subscribe to broadband, up from just 17% in 2007 – an astonishing growth of 194%. Meanwhile, 55% of rural residents now have broadband at home, compared to just 30% in 2007, growth of 83%. Over the past three years, Connected Tennessee has specifically targeted both groups through its Computers 4 Kids program and eCommunity leadership teams (eCS). “It is gratifying to know that our hard work over the past three years has made a real impact on Tennessee’s broadband landscape,” says Connected Tennessee Executive Director Michael Ramage. “More Tennesseans than ever before are now able to access all of the benefits afforded by a high-speed Internet connection. What we set out to do was to help better the lives of those citizens who were virtually cut off from the information highway, due to either geography or income levels, and we feel that these statistics prove that we have been able to accomplish that formidable task.” Read the complete findings here.

 

>>Enjoying Google+? Then this new [free] Chrome browser extension might be just what the doctor ordered to boost your G+ followers and add you to circles all over the Internet. The extension was created by programmer Joshua Woodward using data from Google+ Statistics a site which tracks and generates detailed stats for over 76,309 users. Woodward describes it simply saying, “View a profiles socialstatistics.com infograph, all without leaving the comfort of Google+.” (My profile here.)