Windows Phone Thoughts: TwoPeaks Releases Free MobileRSS Beta

Two Peaks has developed a mobile RSS web client. What's RSS? It's an increasingly popular web standard for news feeds; it uses a structured XML document to allow other sites or devices to get a syndicated, lightweight, newsfeed. Most of your favorite news and blog sites (including this one) have such a feed. What's cool about Two Peaks's solution is that it's entirely web-based, designed primarily for PIE; no application is needed on your Pocket PC, and indeed it should work with other handheld devices, like a Smartphone. Two Peaks is currently conducting a free public beta test, so you can try it on your Pocket PC and see if it's right for you.



I gave it a quick runthrough and found it to work exactly as advertised, even though it's a beta. The frontpage lets you set up a list of newsfeeds, which you can then quickly browse. The only downside to it is an inherent limitation of RSS: since providers can't tell who or what is syndicating the newsfeed, most RSS sites link to non-mobile-friendly full versions. I guess someone could develop multiple RSS feeds to solve this problem, but such a solution isn't prevalent yet. Overall, I think Two Peaks has done a commendable job, and it's worth a look if you want a lightweight solution to hit a variety of sites and check out the headlines.

I've attached screenshots of PPCT's and Slashdot's RSS feeds using mobileRSS.