[bdowney]

There is no successor to Reader, it's gone. Forever. Babel (Hangouts) is not theoretical, is very real and has been leaked already. It's just a walled garden (they threw XMPP away and went with their own proprietary protocol) so I personally would steer clear from it.

[eco]

Nothing you're saying is based on anything but speculation. Babel (most likely called Hangouts) is real, yes, but that's about all we know about it.