newspaper-154444_640With Google Reader closing their doors and a blizzard of headlines to sift through every day, you might be feeling a bit overwhelmed. If you are, no worries, help is on the way. Here are five great ways to help make sense of the world’s events, and have them served up to you in manageable bits and bites.

Feedly

If you consume your news on a handheld device, then Feedly is probably what you’re looking for. It’s a cleaner, crisper, prettier version of Google Reader whose interface is similar enough that immigrants from Google will feel right at home. All the same customization options, better looking interface. What more could you ask for? It’s free on Google Play and in the Apple App Store.

NewsBlur

Also free on both of the popular app stores, NewsBlur hearkens back to desktop readers, allowing you to see the original news story on the original site. It comes with many of the same options that Feedly does, but this one also lets you create custom tags and categories to better organize your content. It all comes down to how you like your news, as to whether Feedly or Newsblur will wind up being your favorite.

Digg Reader

As one of the pivotal opinion sites on the web, Digg’s readers are up to the minute on literally everything. Like the other readers, Digg’ss offering comes with a wide range of filtering options so you can tune out the noise, and tune into exactly the information you’re looking for. Consider this to be a mix between a flash mob and an eReader. Some really amazing content here.

NewsVibe

If you’re looking for a minimalist approach, then NewsVibe is probably going to hit your sweet spot. Most of the great features for filtering and customization, with none of the fluff. It’s just a reader. A minimalist, bare bones reader that gives you the one thing you’re after. News. I love simplified apps. They cut to the very core of what you want, then they give it to you. If every app was like NewsVibe, the world would be a happier, less cluttered and confusing place.

Something A Little Different

And finally, my personal favorite, Circa.

Cira isn’t like the others listed above. Rather, what Circa does is brings in news stories from all over the web, distills them down to their bare facts, and from those facts, they write an unbiased, balanced news summary. Wildly popular, and enabling you to get your news in bite sized chunks without someone else’s agenda bolted on, Circa is ideal for the busy professional who doesn’t have time to wade through six or eight competing sources all reporting the same story with a different slant to try and get to the truth. This is a highly recommended app.

And there you have it. Five new ways to feed your daily news habit, now that we’re saying goodby to an old friend. We’ll miss you, Google Reader. Gone but not forgotten.