Remember how pleased we were to learn that Apple finally introduced movie rentals via iTunes? I was stoked. In the midst of the writers' strike, the fact we could potentially gain access to new entertainment via the Apple TV and playing on our big screen was a home run. But weeks after the MacWorld Expo hubbub has died down, we're still left waiting, and the situation isn't getting better any time soon. For as the calendar turns from January to February, we got news today that Apple still needs a few more weeks to get it right. (See Also: TUAW)

Rats.

Since the introduction of movie rentals, we've already enjoyed a few films we hadn't seen in the theaters, including "The Hoax" and "A Guy Thing". Both were in the perfect spot for this - not good enough to see for $10, but of high enough quality where I'd feel bad if I snuck off to some Peer to Peer solution and grabbed it, sans paying. As you would expect, the viewing experience from Apple was simple. After the films downloaded, they were in a special section of iTunes for rented movies, and played just like a DVD would on my laptop. When done, I deleted them, and got that 1 GB or so back of free space on my drive, just as I would expect.

But, despite this wonderful innovation, my Apple TV still doesn't have access to it. I've checked the settings, and each time I look, I'm told I'm "Up to Date". What a shame. Hopefully, Apple's newfound transparency in terms of notifying customers there are delays doesn't turn into a repeat pattern as the weeks turn to months and so on...

It wasn't all that long ago that RSS and blogging pioneer Dave Winer called for the ability to create a Digg clone. He envisioned a service not for a vast market, but instead, one for a specialized niche of readers. With a limited number of participants, an elite group of moderators could serve as editors, using their collective brainpower to push the best news to the top, unimpeded by random videos, images, politics and the latest Mac or Linux war to hit the blogosphere, as can be seen all too often on popular "wisdom of crowds" sites, from Digg to TechMeme.

Last Tuesday, Reddit was first to the scene, offering users the ability to create their own reddits. Now, instead of one massive catch-all site that absorbed all the news of the day, many parallel reddits have emerged, including some for Comics, lolcats, wikipedia and much more, from atheism to politics and the environment.

While the total number of subscribers to these custom reddits remains small, with the most popular typically sporting a few hundred users, one in particular has heeded Dave Winer's original call to deliver a site dedicated to the top tech news of the day, edited by a group of popular tech bloggers.

A sample of tonight's tech news.
The reddit, focused on "Elite Tech News" and featuring the "elite" address of http://reddit.com/r/l33t, is moderated, so far, by MG Siegler of ParisLemon, Steven Hodson of WinExtra, Frederic Lardinois of The Last Podcast and me.

While the site is just getting started, we are approaching 100 subscribers, and hope to include you among us. You can be sure that this reddit won't fall victim to pictures of kittens, promotions of fringe presidential candidates and off-topic nonsense. Find us at http://reddit.com/r/l33t.

Surprisingly, I managed to pass along all fifty of my first-day invites to AssetBar today, through this morning's blog post, and follow-up e-mails I had promised to those who contacted me in the last six weeks, looking to gain access to the new service. Amazingly, I even got a number of e-mails from close friends who tried to get in this evening, but were too late. So if you're still awaiting an invite, I won't forget you. Just send me an e-mail to [email protected], and I'll reach out your way should I get more.

While the first few dozen folks find their way through the new service, and uncover a number of kinks, we did see some ineresting reactions in the blog about AssetBar's early debut:

CBS 5.com: Come On Now Social

"When Google Reader made "shared" feed selections truly shared items, people wigged. But a new RSS feed reader is out for public consumption, and the whole idea behind it is about showing off your stuff..."

Unique Frequency: Alerts On Readburner, Social Alternative To Google Reader

"Basically while you can share feeds in Google Reader, you don’t know what someone else might be thinking about it, other than the person liked it enough to share it. AssetBar changes that by allowing users to rate articles and comment on them as well."

I promise to post some more updates around AssetBar in the coming days and weeks. After all, this site is becoming well known as a go-to destination for information on next generation RSS feed readers, covering not just Google Reader, but FeedHeads, ReadBurner, Spokeo, Shared Reader and AssetBar. More to come.

AssetBar, the next generation social RSS feed reader, has been in heavy development mode since we first got the opportunity to test the service back in December. (See: I Have Seen the Future of Social RSS Feed Readers) After significant infrastructure updates, error-checking and GUI tweaks, the service is ready to debut in pre-release.

Unlike every other RSS feed reader out there which I've tried, AssetBar catapults the user experience out of a journey of isolation, and instead to one of shared activity, commiseration, and comments. It's like taking the power of Google Reader, and spreading over a veneer of FriendFeed. Now, instead of wondering if a friend of mine has already read an article I found interesting, I can share it (like in Google Reader), I can rate it (thumbs down, informative or read now!) and I can post public or private messages to it.

Go to www.assetbar.com. Invite code is "louisgray". My ID is louismg. Bring OPML.


Additionally, as we've highlighted in recent weeks with Google Reader, I can add items directly to AssetBar that are not part of my subscriptions.

Essentially, AssetBar has created a foundation for what I expect to be the future of RSS feed readers - not aimed at individual news consumption, but instead, aimed at collaboration. AssetBar takes a leap forward, similar to the move away from Web portals and toward social networking.

In this pre-release phase, I expect to find issues, and AssetBar has been kind enough to make the site's admin a friend to all early access users, so you can make your suggestions known. In the six weeks I've had the opportunity to enjoy AssetBar myself, I know the team responds rapidly and continues to make updates.

Next up immediately for the service? Developing a river of news and keyboard shortcuts. This will give Google Reader's high-end users a real reason to make a move. As the site's co-creater, Israel LHeureux writes, "Our 100% focus will be on adding features to get high-end users to switch from GReader. You can bet we'll be sweating it."

Want an invite? Go to www.assetbar.com. The access code is "louisgray", without quotes. My friend ID is louismg.

See also:
AssetBar Early Access Delayed, Invites To Come Soon
AssetBar Set to Launch With Google Reader Inspiration