Last week, I ran into a site called FeedJournal. The site has two functions, one for bloggers and one for readers. The part for bloggers allows them to take their blog posts and export them into a PDF file, formated like a print newspaper or magazine.

The other service, for readers, is the more interesting one in my opinion(and also yet to launch). It will allow readers of RSS feeds to take their RSS feeds and create their own daily newspaper, which they can then print and take with them(presumably for reading on their commute or in their living room as a break from their computer). Reading on paper is claimed to be faster, so ostensibly this is a fairly decent idea. The program will apparently do all the work, so the reader not worry about formating or anything that would plague someone actually trying to create their own newspaper layout which is an added bonus.

Since the consumer product has yet to launch, I didn’t pay it any mind. But then as I was reading TechCrunch this morning, I read that Google has just been granted a patent to do something very similar. Google’s patent includes a very important advertising function which distinguishes itself from FeedJournal, and Google’s ideas are loftier(it is after all a patent) including things such as not only a web based distribution method but also an idea for kiosks in stores such as Target. These kiosks are most likely the most important thing that could potentially set Google apart in this marketplace, allowing large market based news outlets to disseminate their content in print to consumers through Google kiosks, like the traditional news stand but with much less printing overhead costs.

This development raises two important issues. The first is whether or not there is a market for such things, and second whether or not this Google patent someone is invalid because of the previous work of FeedJournal.

As to the first issue, it remains to be seen what consumer response to this sort of thing would be. Arguably, as noted above there are benefits to being able to print out your own newspaper, but will anyone really go through the bother? It is certain that if Google puts a lot of resources into something like this, that it will be able to go pretty far as noted by another blog, but that raises a another issues. Will Google actually follow through with this patent or is just a preventative measure to cover a good idea that they may or may not develop? Google has dropped products that would be interesting before, and there’s a far cry from a granted patent to monetization of a finished product, so we’ll just have to wait and see. I am sure that a lot of thought and market research will happen before a company like Google invests a ton of resources into something like this, at least I hope so for their sake. The best places for the aforementioned kiosks would be tourist area(airports for instance) and lower income areas, the upper middle class areas would have no need for such technology as they would be viewing the stories on the internet, or be using their own printers. The former area would be tried by Google to be sure, but the latter, inner cities and the like, would be the last place Google would go with these kiosks, and arguably the area that needs them the most.

The other company developing this technology, FeedJournal, has no such expansion of product line concerns, its their only product. The company rises or falls with this idea, and therefore they have a lot more vested interest in seeing it work. Its a perfect test case to see if there is a market for an idea like this. But they also lack the capital to make something like kiosks really work right.

There is, however, the other niggling issue, has Google somehow impeded on FeedJournal’s intellectual property? Google’s patent clearly expands on the service that FeedJournal is offering, but is any of it really that much more than what FeedJournal has? FeedJournal’s blogging program(for the blogger not the consumer) has several levels of membership, and the highest, Gold, has the ability to filter content to remove ads, it seems like Google’s approach is the exact opposite, but the same end result.

The idea for FeedJournal in the words of its creator,

…started to take form around the end of 2005. A few months later the “Made In Express Contest” launched, a competition to promote the free line of Express development products from Microsoft. There were 1,500 entry submissions, and FeedJournal was picked as one of the 12 finalists.

FeedJournal eventually went on to win the competition.

It would seem that this predates Google’s 2006 filing of their patent, and depending on when the idea was reduced to practice, may pose a problem for Google down the road. Google is obviously a large enough company to simply buy out FeedJournal and avoid a potential legal battle down the road, but it does make me wonder what the future holds for this market, which I didn’t give a second though to a week ago. I have added a print out a my blog’s magazine to give you a taste of what FeedJournal does, keep in mind this is only a demonstration of the free version of FeedJournal. Note: When you create your blog newspaper the e-mail sent contains both a PDF version and a widget link. The widget is provided by Widgetbox, a service that hosts widgets, unfortuately this widget is in Javascript so may not be useable on all blog services, Wordpress for instance.

Update: I have also been informed of ShelfMade a site that purports to do the same thing as FeedJournal(and presumably Google) but which has not released it’s service for either bloggers or consumers.

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