News Readers
All Narfed Up photography and words by Bryan Villarin
Happy RSS Awareness Day!
RSS helps me keep track of so many websites, it’s not funny. I’ve saved time and learned so much more than if I browsed from website to website.
What is RSS?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a format used to deliver information from websites and pages that get updated regularly. An RSS document (which is called feed) contains either a summary or the full content from a website.
The main benefit of RSS is that it enables people to stay connected with their favorite websites without having to visit them. Once you subscribe to a particular RSS feed, you will automatically receive updates from the website that publishes the feed, whenever they release new content.
Loving Instapaper
I started using Instapaper the first day it was released. It does a much better job by helping me better maintain the stuff I want to read later. (No, I don’t think browser bookmarks are good for this because they’ll get out of control.)
I was using del.icio.us to tag items I want to look at later, but those haven’t gotten touched for a long time.
How do you organize your news reader?
In Bloglines, I currently have the following folders:
- Comics
- Hot Deals
- Miscellaneous
- Music - mainly CD releases
- Personal - friends, blogs that cover scattered topics
- Productivity
- Scrutinizing - feeds I’ve recently subscribed to; in a few weeks, I’ll either move them to another folder or unsubscribe entirely
- Software
- Tech
Questions
- How do you organize your feeds?
- How do you read them efficiently?
- How can you improve this system?
- Are there any articles you’ve read that offer insight?
More subscription options for more subscribers
Thanks to the suggestion by James, I’m using iFeedReaders to make subscribing to All Narfed Up easier. There’s so many online feed readers that it’s hard to have a link for each one.
Add to Any was okay, but I think iFeedReaders simply looks and feels more comfortable. I also implemented the iFeedReaders social bookmark link creator, using the WordPress plugin, for each individual post. I figure that if you like one of these posts, I should take the small extra step to make it easier for you to bookmark or Digg it. *cough*
Lastly, since iFeedReaders links to FeedBlitz for people who still prefer email newsletters, it’s only logical since every little bit helps. I’ve signed up with them and setup the code here as well.
If you’ve got a blog, you need to look into these two services to help expand your audience that much more.
iFeedReaders is in beta mode, but is totally free (and looks really good). FeedBlitz is free, but there’s premium services, too.
Can I customize the look and feel of the emails? I want my logo in the mail and not FeedBlitz orange. - Yes. The “Pro” premium service lets you customize the look of your emails and the subscriber sign up landing page. It costs USD $4.95 per feed per month. Publishers with multiple feeds can sign up for the flat-fee “Pro Plus” service which lets you customize as many feeds as you like for USD $24.95 per month.
Export NewsGator to OPML
I just exported my OPML file from NewsGator Online, and imported it into Bloglines. Hurray!
NewsGator Manager > Edit Locations > OPML (under NewsGator Web Edition)
Click the link, save the file to your desktop, change the file extension to .OPML, reimport into Bloglines.
My Feeds > Edit > Import Subscriptions (under Extras)
RSS Bandit to NewsGator sync slowness
Why does RSS Bandit take forever to download the feedlist from NewsGator Online?
Newsgator vs Bloglines vs Google Reader
I’ve been using Newsgator for a few days now. It’s not bad, and it syncs with RSS Bandit. Anybody have any opinions between one and the other? (This one was written a month ago.)
USB stick for news aggregator only
I think I’m convinced that I’m going to get a USB flash drive dedicated for a news reader. I’ve been using RSS Bandit, but at work, it’s still a bit slow because of the connection speed. Do any of you do something similar, or just use an online service? I’ve been trying Gregarius 0.5.2, but it just doesn’t do it for me. When I use my laptop, and I don’t have internet access, I’d like to be able to go thru my feeds offline easily.
Oh yeah, I know about the list of news aggregators at the Wikipedia, but that list is huge! 
RSS Bandit still quirky
I’ve updated to RSS Bandit v1.3.0.29. Hopefully the search folders scope is remembered for each folder. However, I’m still definitely seeing feeds marked as unread that I know I read just 2-3 hours ago. I’m too scared or unsure to post in the RSS Bandit forums at the moment, because I hate sounding like a doofus, but I suppose I will in a bit.
Converted to RSS Bandit
After some final testing today at work, RSS Bandit will be my news aggregator of choice. Sync to FTP is clutch, especially since I have a laptop and desktop. It’ll definitely take some getting used to, but I think I’ll be here for awhile. I think efficiency is my next goal in using RSS Bandit. I’m sure with some keyboard shortcuts, I’ll be using it like a pro. If you can find any good RSS Bandit reviews or tips, other than from the online documentation, I need them!
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