Related
When using Aldiko on the NC the pages don't seem to be formatted correctly. It turns the page too far and after a few pages into the chapter you have a quarter of the next page invading the right side of the screen. I prefer the app with the night view but can't use it like this as its unusable. Anyone else have this problem?
Have you changed the LCD density at all? Moving away from the default could mess up the formatting of Aldiko books...
Sent from my Nook Color
Aldiko woeks perfectly for me. I'm at 250 density.
Sent from my Nook Color using XDA App
I'm at default pixel density, and Aldiko works just fine for me.
I'm at 204, works great!
Sent from my Nooted friend...
Aldiko won't remember last page read
I'm having a different problem with Aldiko on the NC. The program cannot remember the specific page-read location when re-staring. Instead, it returns to the first page of the most recent chapter. This also happens if I switch between portrait and landscape -- It jumps to the first page of the current chapter.
I bought 2.0 today for $3……It has worked perfect for me. A side note,,.I like it much better than the stock NC reader. You can set the brightness down much dimmer. More comfortable onn the eyes.,and the paid version supports drm epubs.
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
Thanks for recommending the paid version. It has none of the issues I described earlier.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
+1 for the 2.0 paid version. I no longer use the stock reader and library.
Add me to the list of those who think Aldiko Pro is worth the dough. None of the bugs (had the one you mentioned, plus formatting quirks, plus it would never remember my spot, dropping me to the start of the chapter every time I left the book (even to the Aldiko menu). And it has terrific epub support, and nice customizability.
For free (non-library) book reader, I'd go with Cool Reader.
Another vote for 2.0 paid version. Plus it's a whole lot easier to import books.
I would recommend moon+ as a better reader than aldiko. Moon+ offers a wide range of customizations, including my favorite real page turning effect, and syncs up with my Calibre server flawlessly.
Works 95% on NC, only has a few issues with some menu text colors that look invisible, and the app will restart when you create a bookmark, but it still makes the bookmark and returns you to the last place you left off.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
I guess I'll be the dissenting voice on Aldiko Paid. Based on the recommendations here, I went ahead and bought it. I think this is the first program I've ever bought (any platform!) that has LESS features and options than the free version. For instance, I had set the free version to turn to the next page regardless of whether I tap on the left or right side of the screen. That option is GONE from the paid version. The free version was remembering my place when I closed a book or the app and then later returned to it. The paid version opens to the cover (page 1) everytime I open it. I created a bookmark, but when I go to navigate to it, the program tells me there are no bookmarks.
Very frustrating!
Ordieth said:
I would recommend moon+ as a better reader than aldiko. Moon+ offers a wide range of customizations, including my favorite real page turning effect, and syncs up with my Calibre server flawlessly.
Works 95% on NC, only has a few issues with some menu text colors that look invisible, and the app will restart when you create a bookmark, but it still makes the bookmark and returns you to the last place you left off.
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also recommend Moon+. very good bookmarking too and lots of views and auto scrolling
Moon+ looks interesting.
I tried Moon+ today. It's pretty descent for a free app. There are a few bugs and it could use some refining, but it definitely has some nice features. The biggest shortcoming for me is the lack of font choices. Something is not quite right with the ones available. On the plus side, the highlight and note features rock! Aldiko 2.0 should offer this.
I like aldiko but the new version has unbelievably slow page turning which I dislike. I'm gonna try moon now.
//from the nook COLOR
Well. Got moon+ pro and it wins by a mile. Thanks for the rec.
Would like my covers to work as well as the import menu.. (can't see what I'm checking off) and no pdf support...but I like everything else
//from the nook COLOR
What's the best Google Reader app that will work for the VG?
Well...have you tried the, uh, Google Reader app?
Of course. But I am unable to get my account to connect to it I get a no accounts message and hitting "add accojnt" gets me an unableto sign in message.
I use Pulse:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.alphonso.pulse&feature=search_result
works awesome, syncs with my google reader account perfectly and works great on a large screen.
I tried it a long time ago on my phone and I didn't like it, mostly because it didn't seem to fit well on the phone, but on the gTablet it's all kinds of awesome.
No issues whatsoever on vegan gingerbread rc1
I have used a bunch of the available options. If you want a fancy GUI and don't follow a ton of feeds there is pulse or feedly. A quicker/more pro type reader would be newsrob, g_reader, feedr or goodnews. Rssdemon is good, but doesn't 2 way sunc with Google reader. I think newrob might be the best of these right now, but this is very subjective and changes with releases.
I have been pleased with the features and flexibility of gReader. Works in conjunction with Google Reader feeds, and great for offline downloading and reading of RSS feeds. As I have a long commute without wireless access, the offline reading works well on the gTablet.
FeedR is the best out there. I have pulse, but just to show off. Pulse is rather pointless if you follow more than 10 feeds.
I have a problem with Google Reader and that when I click on an article it gives me a small window, about the size of a mobile phone screen to read the article and when I go back one level, it goes full screen again.
Try NewsRob
couchmonkey said:
I have a problem with Google Reader and that when I click on an article it gives me a small window, about the size of a mobile phone screen to read the article and when I go back one level, it goes full screen again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same issue.
I've settled on NewsRob, which I've been using on my phone forever. Works good enough with the large GTab screen.
couchmonkey said:
I have a problem with Google Reader and that when I click on an article it gives me a small window, about the size of a mobile phone screen to read the article and when I go back one level, it goes full screen again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you email Google for support? If you do and enough people mention it they will incorporate it into their next build.
It's apparently a version problem, in 0.9.3....0.9.2 didn't have that problem. If I could find the 9.2 .apk file, I'd go back one version.
From my experience the "tiny window" issue is a result of the DPI setting on Vegan Tab. In order to correct an issue with the market not displaying correctly the DPI has to be set to 161, but that throws off other apps. Mainly Google Reader it seams.
@thomashfoster
Sent from my HTC EVO using XDA App
I have used a lot of the readers out there. My current favorite is GoodNews. I use a lot of feeds (200+) and it seems to be the only one that can handle this load. The dev is doing a lot of new stuff and improvements.
I just recently found D7 and I'm a pretty big fan. Pretty fully featured with a nice interface. Fast too!
Hi, I have rooted nook touch and now want to find a handy google reader app.
I have tried the following apps:
newsrob: This is the app that is closest to what I want except that the cons is unacceptable.
pros: font is large and clear. plenty of configurable functions (sync, display, etc.)
cons: no on screen pagedown/up button and the page scroll is very unresponsive. Often need
4 - 5 times try for a scroll.
greader pro:
pros: plenty of configurable functions (sync, display, etc.), screen zoom in/out
cons: font is dim. no on screen pagedown/up button and the page scroll is unresponsive, a bit better than newsrob?
easyrss:
could not remember clearly the pros and cons. Still not handy though.
google reader website:
tried several browser but the font is small. page scroll is hard though.
I found that the biggest problem for google reader apps on nook touch is that
the page down/up is difficult.
I want an app or web browser solution that satisfies:
large/clear font
on screen pagedown/up button.
Thanks.
I went with newsrob because of the font size changes. I only tried a few others including google reader. I found the site http://fulltextrssfeed.com/ useful for getting the full article rss feed address instead of just the summary. It is nice way of gaining the full article to read when you are away from wifi.
I will stick with newsrob until I find something better.
do you have the problem of unresponsive page scroll?
I've been working with the dev to use the NST page up/down, so here it is. Note it does not sync with Google Reader, but it's easy enough to grab the OMPL file from the site and download it via dropbox/etc.
Enjoy
It's my favorite by far so far (for the NST). Note scrolling with the finger still has issues...seems to be a screen issue with our device. Hard keys are better anyways
ace7196 said:
I've been working with the dev to use the NST page up/down, so here it is. Note it does not sync with Google Reader, but it's easy enough to grab the OMPL file from the site and download it via dropbox/etc.
Enjoy
It's my favorite by far so far (for the NST). Note scrolling with the finger still has issues...seems to be a screen issue with our device. Hard keys are better anyways
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a bit confused. Is the apk you are offering modified to allow use of the hard-keys? Or are you just saying that you like this app even though it does not currently have hard-key compatibility but that you hope that hard-key use is forthcoming by this dev?
[update]
I downloaded the apk. Hard keys do not seem to be working.
[update 2]
I spoke too soon. Since I'm right handed I tend to only use the right side hard keys.
The left side hard keys work but, the right side hardkeys do not work. Left side's better than nothing!
I've been testing several google reader apps, and here is a quick comparison of the best ones I've found for the NST:
NewsRob
Pros:
- Works with side buttons (for both article and page switch).
Cons:
- Annoying article list bug: when you go back from article view, the article list is not at the same scrolling position it was before.
- Free version forces to sync all your google reader feeds.
- Font sizes are less than ideal.
SparseRSS
Pros:
- Simple and lightweight.
- ace7196's build have support for left side buttons.
- Free and open source.
Cons:
- Also have the article list bug.
- Doesn't sync with google reader and doesn't support folders.
GoodNews
Pros:
- Works with side buttons (sometimes needs pressing twice).
- Only app I've found that doesn't have the article list bug.
Cons:
- Offline sync doesn't download images and is quite slow.
- Interface is not very e-ink friendly (you can tweak the apk files, though. I removed most ugly color gradients)
For now, I am sticking with GoodNews and only missing offline images feature, but it is very nice anyway.
I use gReader, its contrast is not great, but can sync with google reader and can adjust font size
marspeople said:
GoodNews
Pros:
- Works with side buttons (sometimes needs pressing twice).
- Only app I've found that doesn't have the article list bug.
Cons:
- Offline sync doesn't download images and is quite slow.
- Interface is not very e-ink friendly (you can tweak the apk files, though. I removed most ugly color gradients)
For now, I am sticking with GoodNews and only missing offline images feature, but it is very nice anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you post the modified apk? I would like to try GoodNews. Thanks
sugarwaterdown said:
Could you post the modified apk? I would like to try GoodNews. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go. It seems the developer will soon launch a 4.0 beta version, which I am eager to try.
official google reader app?
I just got a nook touch and used official google reader app last night, that seems to be pretty good. Has font size settings and the text is very readable, not grayed out like some websites in the browser.
Page-like reading?
Hi, I've been following this post for a while. I love my NST but I would really like to have a RSS reader that allows me to read in a page-like format, scrolling with the e-ink screen sucks and google currents and feedly do offer a page-like reading experience (much closer to an e-book) but both require newer version of Android. I've tried every other application out there without much luck so if anyone has some suggestion I'd really appreciate it.
Daniel
Hi,
I really would love to have Pulse News on the Nook and you can even install it. But probably due to the fact that it uses Flash for its animations, the app crashes right after the splash screen where I presume the Flash starts.
I noticed on my HTC that you can disable Flash in the Pulse-settings. Is it somehow possible to modify the settings without starting the app? Or maybe make an APK where Flash is disabled by default or something like that.
I have Pulse installed on mine, only that it's an older version of it that I download somewhere. Try some apk's, one for sure will work but the market version won't.
I still like SparseRSS the best, simple and fast.
Two issues:
-Frequently get "error: broken pipe" or "error: line 2.."
This probably happens to 1 out of every 10-20 feeds, so after the refresh is done, I have to individually refresh each one that returned an error.. a hassle.
-No folders - any plans for folders in the future? Hard to use when you follow 50 rss feeds
philofellow said:
Hi, I have rooted nook touch and now want to find a handy google reader app.
I have tried the following apps:
newsrob: This is the app that is closest to what I want except that the cons is unacceptable.
pros: font is large and clear. plenty of configurable functions (sync, display, etc.)
cons: no on screen pagedown/up button and the page scroll is very unresponsive. Often need
4 - 5 times try for a scroll.
greader pro:
pros: plenty of configurable functions (sync, display, etc.), screen zoom in/out
cons: font is dim. no on screen pagedown/up button and the page scroll is unresponsive, a bit better than newsrob?
easyrss:
could not remember clearly the pros and cons. Still not handy though.
google reader website:
tried several browser but the font is small. page scroll is hard though.
I found that the biggest problem for google reader apps on nook touch is that
the page down/up is difficult.
I want an app or web browser solution that satisfies:
large/clear font
on screen pagedown/up button.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi philofellow
i dont know have anybody told you that
NewsRob.4.8.7.Pro
can download full article
and the font is big enagh
and you can use the physical button to scroll pagedown/up
is that you need?
my english is poor
thank you
desc4d said:
Hi, I've been following this post for a while. I love my NST but I would really like to have a RSS reader that allows me to read in a page-like format, scrolling with the e-ink screen sucks and google currents and feedly do offer a page-like reading experience (much closer to an e-book) but both require newer version of Android. I've tried every other application out there without much luck so if anyone has some suggestion I'd really appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly an RSS aggregator solution for the NST, but you can use Calibre on your desktop to read RSS feeds and create an .epub from them. You can then set Calibre to email it to you, or create a dropbox script, or something similar on your desktop so you can retrieve the files remotely.
I'm doing this for several newspaper "subscriptions".
The big plus is that I can use the native B&N reader with all its associated features.
Newsrob has very small font. Is there a way how to make it larger?
Is it so small that you can't see it? Or is it as small as the smallest font for reader?
how to scroll down a article in sparse rss? I can't swipe and the side buttons neither work. thanks for a hint.
Runs now fine, sorry for spamming.
Has anyone tried rssdemon?
edit2: rssdemon is perfect for the nst!
brendan10211 said:
Is it so small that you can't see it? Or is it as small as the smallest font for reader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the font used in the list of unread items is too small and probably cannot be changed. I can change the font while reading particular item but not the font used in the list.
I posted recently about the weather section of GenieWidget dying. Now it looks like the whole shebang is gone
I even updated mine (which had the dedicated browser) to what appears to be the last version for Eclair (1.3.04) (which opens selected stories in your default internet browser). Still no dice. Google has left this old version on the ash heap of android history.
So...now what? I still have a working BBC News app (though the annoying ticker at the top is stuck on an ancient story...), a copy of the once-free NewsHog that still works, and the NPR app. All three of these have scrolling issues even worse than those of the old GenieWidget (which was actually almost tolerable with the OC kernal).
I've been looking around. Anyone have news apps with some breadth like the old GenieWidget that still work?
And the winner is......
Well, maybe not exactly a "winner", but it's sort of an OK substitute. After much searching and trying out, I've come up with two candidates. One is the old NewsHog (the older free version that will still run on the NST). This is the most similar in coverage and some sources to the Google GenieWidget. No weather, though. It has longer article summaries than GenieWidget did and you have the option of opening the full story in either the built-in reader or your browser. The built-in reader has scrolling issues. You need to keep your gutters really clean and develop a quick thumb flick at the bottom right corner of the screen (similar to the BBC News app)--or open stories in your browser. The issue there, of course, is the slowness of the entire process every time you want to pursue a story.
A second candidate is called News Republic. The market version will not run on the NST but I did find an older one that will. The interface is completely graphic. You choose news categories that you arrange in tiles on the app "homescreen". Each category tile takes you to pages (swipe across to move from page to page) that look like newspaper pages, with varied length columns (some with images) mushed together to make a rectangle. The columns have teasers to the stories. Selecting a column brings you to a nice reader which--TA-DA--actually scrolls beautifully (makes you wonder why these other people could not get it right.....). The downside is that it takes a long time to get it set up the way you want it (you do not need to set up an account). Also, there are a lot of fluff tabloid-like sources and categories, so you end up removing a lot in the initial set-up (the video section wants to work with its own player, but then just gives up and says the video could not be opened). And...there are not as many solid traditional news sources. No custom categories. AdAway works to block ads as I occasionally see a blank rectangle with the words "advertisement" along the bottom.
So, that's what I have found so far. I've attached both older apps in case you want to try them for yourself.
Edit: Some time in July 2016 this version of NewsHog stopped updating custom news categories so you only have the provided categories to choose from
Edit: Some time in February 2017 all versions of News Republic that will run on the NST became unable to log in. Another dead one. App removed from the attachments below
5-31-21 I've ceased development on this app because I think there is a better alternative. See post #7.
*updated to version 1.3, adding error trap for discontinued or blank feeds*
It's been awhile since the demise of the last working version of Genie Widget (aka Google News and Weather) but not so long since the big G retooled news.google.com so that our browsers can no longer deal with it and also put the kibosh on the Google News RSS feeds. Sigh.
I have a work-around
Google News 1.3 for the NST/G exploits the "alerts" that Google offers on news topics. These alerts can be optioned in the form of RSS feeds. My app downloads the HTML source for the feed, picks out all the good stuff and trashes all the rest, then builds up a local HTML document which is easily displayed by our browsers (I highly recommend Opera Mobile for ease of scrolling and general all-around function). You can build up your own topics, change your mind, mix them about, read that one more story you didn't get to the first time around, etc. I'm not saying that your browser will negotiate every target link. Some newspaper sites have just become too much. That was true even when Genie Widget was still working. But updating Opera Mobile for TLS 1.2 solves much of that. See this post for details.. The beauty of this app is in the simplicity. It's entirely browser-based once the feeds are downloaded, so you're not going back and forth between the app and your browser (like the current Google News app.......). Designed for both portrait and landscape.
Requirements
1. Android 2.1 has a security issue with opening local HTML files. In order for Google News to work properly you need to address that. Included in the zip below is a tiny app, android-open-in-browser-0.0.4-4-debug. Install that. It's not my app but I have used it for years and wish I could credit the originator.
2. This is a Tasker-generated app. If you already have one of my other Tasker-generated apps or have previously installed GApps, you don't need the two Google maps library files included in the zip and can delete them. If you do need them, copy the two files into the locations shown below:
/system/etc/permissions/com.google.android.maps.xml
/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar
Set permissions for both files to rw-r--r-- and reboot. Without these files resident, the app will not install.
3. Create a folder in the root directory of your sdcard: Google News (exactly as shown)
4. Install the app itself, Google News.1.apk
How to use
Before you run the app you need to select some news categories, set up the feeds, get the URLs, blah-blah-blah. All of this is covered in the PDF included with the zip. It may seem a little annoying at the start, but it goes quickly once you get started and it's not like you have to do it every time you use the app. You're just setting up your news topics, just as if you were using the current Google News (either the app or the web version). Once you have your topics and URLs and have edited the included text file google_rss_feeds.txt, copy that into the Google News folder of your sdcard.
Note: recently (June 2019) the big G has not been very consistent with the RSS feeds. Some days they are "empty" but come back the next day with lots of stories. Some feed topics simply "die" and a minor change in the topic will resurrect them (change "World" to "World news", as an example). Version 1.3 includes a trap for these eventualities so that the app should not crash, even if your first feed comes up empty. To inspect/edit your feeds, point your browser (on your PC) to your Google Alerts page. If you are signed in this will be found among the options on the Google home page, in the upper right corner where the "apps" grid is shown.
Now you're good to go. Start the app, make sure you're connected to WiFi. There are only three buttons on the app screen. The first one, "Fetch the news" does just that. You will see a little toast that the first news category is being prepared. Once that is done, you will be taken to the browser and that page will open. Meanwhile the remaining pages are being downloaded and reconstructed in the background.
The news page is very simple. I tried to aim for readability over all other considerations (this is the reason the news items are in bold black, even though they are the external links). I have my Opera Mobile set to 100% page zoom. It looks good to me, but you could probably get away with 75%. External websites are another matter. At the title bar left is a drop-down menu button that gives you access to your other news topics. Since no fixed navbar schemes work under Android 2.1, there is a duplicate drop-up menu bar at the end of the page. The use of NoRefresh, or to a lesser extent FastMode, is a plus.
Edit: you cannot use this app with Opera Mini. It lacks the ability to open local HTML files.
The second option on the opening screen, "Read old news" sounds a bit daft, but I just thought maybe someone might have been looking at the topic pages, saw something that interested them and then got interrupted. So this option opens the first local file in the browser again and you can navigate from there. Strictly speaking, WiFi is not needed to browse the local files once they have been created, but it is needed to pursue any stories.
The third option simply dismisses the app screen.
Whew! So this is new...and I think I exterminated all the bugs, but I did not try other browsers. I'm open to suggestions and would appreciate feedback.
Google alert change? No option for RSS alerts anymore...
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
v619284 said:
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm away from home right now but my copy of the app is working so the RSS feeds must still exist. I'll have to sit down with my instructions in front of the computer and see what mischief they've done. Thanks for letting me know.
v619284 said:
If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so I've run through the instructions sitting at my PC. Everything is correct although Firefox no longer wants to open the RSS feed page as anything other than an xml "text" file. That just means the image on page 4 needs updating.
As far as page 3, everything is currently exactly as shown. Just to be sure, you have to be signed in to Google on your browser before you do any of this. Then when you get to the screen depicted on page 3 you need to change the "Deliver to" option to RSS feed. But even before that, it's important not to get sucked into the email alert business back on page 2. Do NOT click on "Create Alert" there, only on "Show options". That's how you get to the screen I show on page 3.
When you finally get to click on the little RSS symbol shown on the lower half of page 3, you (at least on Firefox) may end up at a page of xml code, or perhaps your browser may show a news feed page. Regardless, the URL shown for the page is the same and it's what you need to copy, just as described on page 4.
Let me know if you are still having issues with this.
v619284 said:
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So a few days after I wrote my last post, the app stopped working for me. It just hangs on "Preparing......News"
Google has apparently changed the format of their RSS xml file. Right in the middle of something else at the moment, but I will get it fixed.
Nope, nix that. After fooling around with the app and an xml file from the Big G, I find nothing out of place and it seems the app is now working again
They're just messing with us.
Edit: Indeed they are. Today I caught another malfunction but this time looked at the Tasker routines for an error. Google is sending out (at least today) RSS feeds with empty content fields. That messes up my app. So I wrote an error trap for that. Updated in first post. Have to watch the big G like a hawk....
v619284 said:
If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whilst looking around for a solution to a different issue, I came across this: https://medium.com/@cassandragraft/...tion-not-appearing-heres-the-fix-bf842ca32b88
It appears to address the issue you describe. I never encountered the issue, but obviously some people have.
The Big G is making me very angry lately. Even version 1.2 with a new error trap is crashing. I'm finding that some of my feeds are "empty". The skeleton of the RSS file is there but there is no content populating the file. A category as ordinary as "world" is simply blank. This is new and very annoying. Just a change of topic to "world news" brings up a list of stories longer than your arm. I encountered this before with "science" and fixed it with a slight change in name, so I should have seen this coming. It's a nasty game Google seems to be playing....
Anyway, if the app crashes on the first topic it leaves an overlay artifact behind when you exit. To remove this, go to the App Manager and force stop the app. I will work on a fix which will alert you to the effect that the feed appears dead but allow the app to complete the download of whatever is still working and exit properly.
Grr....
Edit: App updated to v1.3 in first post. I hope that solves the problems. For now.
As I mentioned in my edit of the first post, I think my app is exhibiting creakiness already owing to Opera Mobile's increasing difficulty negotiating many websites.
I have an alternative to suggest, however, that is totally browser based. It seems to work "OK" with Opera Mobile although text display is a bit small with a default zoom of 100%. In Opera Mini, however, it shines, especially with NoRefresh.
Thanks to XDA member @SJT75 , I found out about a list of text-only news sites. One of them is a text version of Google News! The list is at: https://greycoder.com/a-list-of-text-only-new-sites/
While the Google News option does not allow for custom categories (hey, there's an app for that!), it does cover all the usual suspects. Even better, all of the links lead to text-only versions of the sources. Occasionally you go to a page and find it could not be fetched by whatever mechanism the author is using, but pages (even those error ones) include a link to the original source
Also notable on the list are the NPR and CNN sites. Both work well.