Jason has alluded to this topic previously. I would link to his blog on the subject but it’s fallen over and can’t seem to be able to stagger back onto its feet so maybe at a later date…
I want to talk to you about the wonder that is an RSS Reader. Now, unfortunately, I don’t really understand how it works myself, so I’m not sure if I can explain it, but it seems to be an application that allows to you to link to sites that put up regular content, like a news paper or a blog, and pull them into a single application page so you only have to go to one place to read all your favourite websites rather than many. If it does more than that, I haven’t discovered the fact yet, but it’s brilliance is in its simplicity anyway.
I use google reader 'cause that's were my email is, and it’s just easier to zip between the two when I’m already logged into one, but there are loads of RSS reader applications out there now. You can go through Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves or AOL. One site I visited lately gave me a choice of 10 different readers to add the feed to.
I have been using mine to read all my favourite author blogs and get my daily dose of news from the science, IT and writing industries. And it is absolutely wonderful to be able to get the latest from all my favourite sites, in one place, without the adds and without the amazingly long loading times that some pages take. Of course, you don’t usually get additional images but if I really want to see the image, I can go to the original site.
All this has increased my reading scope, knowledge base and news input at least 10 fold. I have never really read newspapers, I don’t like getting ink on my hands and trying to manage the huge pages irks me, and going to twenty different sites just to check to see if an author I like has put up a new blog or a news site put up a new article on a subject that interests me has hairs on it; I’m essentially too lazy to do so. But the reader alerts you to any new additions to the pages you’ve linked to by highlighting the thread, so I can go strait to any site that has been updated, and don’t have to check every few days to find out if there is anything new.
I can now read around 20 articles in my lunch time (most blog posts are not long) and I get exactly the types of news I want from the people and places I’m interested in without having to search far and wide for them. It is a really good idea for someone as lazy as I am and means I actually do keep up with all the current events now whereas before I was quite the ignoramus.
Wohoo for Internet reader things!
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