@kottke I don't want to be a buzzkill, I feel like Terry Godier put some thought into this. I agree RSS reader ought to adapt to user's actual usage of their sources to try and highlight stuff they really want. And to whatever degree his features are novel, doing anything different is worth trying.
But I think his premise that unread count causes anxiety is absurd, and between this product page and his initial essay I feel like I've been slapped in the face with a TEDx talk.