Helvetireader is a userscript that pares down Google Reader to what I consider to be the essentials. In particular, it's made for looking at just unread feeds in the expanded view, using Keyboard Shortcuts instead of on-screen buttons. It’s not going to suit how everyone uses Google Reader, so you can take the CSS and personalise to your hearts content!

All you need is a browser that supports userscripts (see below) and, of course, Helvetica.

Twitter success is based on the simplicity of the service. However, the website, as well as various standalone Twitter clients are becoming more and more cluttered with useless features and other junk. Therefore, I stripped it to the basics and now it's the first twitter client I am happy with.