RSS Readers

While I'm discussing RSS Readers, I highly suggest you get one. Now.

Basically, an RSS reader lets you subscribe to certain websites, or portions of websites, and whenever a new item is added, it shows up in your RSS reader. You see the headlines, and decide if you want to read the whole thing or not.

Yahoo News, Onexposure.net, even specific searches on Craigslist. Now I don't have to scour Craigslist to see if anyone's selling Nikon equipment -- I'm notified automatically. You can even subscribe to the Adverse Possessor via RSS, and get notified everytime I post a new article. If you have a blog, I can add you to my RSS reader, and get notified instantly.

It's changed the way I surf the internet more than any other development. It makes keeping up with dozens of sites trivial. I can scan 1000 headlines a day, in a matter of minutes. I can easily keep track of all kinds of information right from my phone. And you don't even need a phone like mine to do it.

I use Google Reader, but used to use NetNewsWire, which syncs with their online NewsGator service. I like both of these options because I can keep up with them on my computers at home, my laptop at work, and my phone, and don't have to read the same articles twice. It's also easy to "share" stories I find interesting. You see those to the right on this blog.

Now that I've become accustomed to it, the old way of clicking through a dozen bookmarks a few times a day seems absolutely ludicrous.