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So Long Google Reader, and Thanks for the Memories

All I can say is I’ll miss you. I don’t know how I could have been a journalist these last few years without you. I may have been forced to find my own scoops by leaving my desk or a picking up a phone.
Believe it or not, this picture was taken just a few weeks ago. We both thought it was, like, really beautiful. Oh, bitter irony! How could I have known leaving was on her mind?

Not even two days after Google announced it would kill Google Reader, its RSS feed aggregator, there’s very little left unsaid. The Daily Beast called it “soul-destroying”, which it is. Hitler weighed in, too.

All I can say is I’ll miss you, dear Google Reader. I don’t know how I could have been a journalist these last few years without you. I may have been forced to find my own scoops by leaving my desk or a picking up a phone.

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As with the end of any relationship, whether by death or by break-up, I’ve already begun passing through the Kübler-Ross grieving process—otherwise known as “the five stages.” I experienced denial. (No way, this is just another internet-driven hoax, like when Boo, my favorite internet dog “died.” Maybe it's Sam Biddle’s fault.) Anger (Damn you, Google for giving and taking away so imperiously.) Bargaining (Maybe if I start a petition I can get Google to put off killing Reader for at least a little while.) Depression (Never mind, fuck it. I hate my life and I’m quitting journalism.)

And that’s where I’ve stayed. I don’t think I’ll reach the acceptance stage for a while.

New York is a hard place to make a relationship work. But Google Reader and I really helped each other out. We both agreed it was a lot easier when you had someone you could depend upon. And we never tired of that magnificent skyline.

Life with Google Reader just felt so free and easy sometimes, the way you always hear love is supposed to make you feel. Haha, sometimes she really brought out the little kid in me, like when we hung out on this jungle gym shaped like a train. Choo choo!

Given the benefit of hindsight, I guess it’s good we never got that puppy.

Read the rest over the new Motherboard.VICE.com.