Stay on top of the internet with RSS readers
- Luke Telford
- 23 September 2009
Photo credit: svilen001 @ sxc.hu
An RSS feed will reduce all content in any section of your favourite site into easy to read text.
You enter any and all interesting RSS URLs into your reader of choice, which then automatically alerts you when a new article is posted. If the summary seems worthy of your attention, you click on it and read the entire article. It kind of works like an inbox for information online, saving you the hassle (or the pleasure, as the case may be) of wasting time actually visiting sites.
Whilst this is all very well and good, there's no avoiding the enormity of the information on all of the sites that you visit, and the impossibility of reading it all.
If used correctly, an RSS reader should help you manage the influx of information.
As you might have guessed, there are hundreds and hundreds of RSS readers out there, so we've put together a list detailing the four most efficient, stress-less ones.
1. Bloglines
Originating as a blogging site, Bloglines
also offers social
bookmarking or ‘clippings' and even music playlist services as well as an efficient ‘in-browser' RSS service. It allows you to view complete entries, summaries, or just titles of articles, and gives the option of displaying subscriptions publicly or
privately. The site also offers a notifying program, as well as mobile-specific capabilities for those who are so inclined.
2. Sharpreader
SharpReader is an desktop based RSS application, for
those of us who don't see the point in having to have a browser open to keep track of articles. The appeal is in its simplicity: it's very quick to use and notifies you of updates with unobtrusive task-bar pop-ups. Unfortunately it's not available
on Mac.
3. Net News Wire
NNW is a nifty, email style
program for Mac that is fully syncable with Google Reader. Usefully, it archives news items as HTML files on your hard drive, which you can then view in any browser whilst offline. Unlike many of the other readers available, NNR goes for the ‘more
is more' approach. For this reason, it takes a while to get your head around all the features; the idea being that once you do, RSS management/consumption will be much quicker.
4. Google Reader
Yes, we can't get away without mentioning Google and
their aggregator. Along with the functional RSS stuff, it offers a service that lets you analyse your web browsing habits, make notes on pertinent articles, and share them with friends who also have Google accounts (which is everyone by now,
surely?)
Like most of their current products, you have to establish and sign into a Google account to use this one. It's simple enough to use, but you do have to contend with the usual ‘sponsored recommendations', specifically tailored to your feed keywords. Hey, taking over the world is expensive.
And remember, sometimes you just can't read everything you want to. Even the editor in chief here at NETT# admits that occasionally he has to declare ‘RSS bankruptcy', and just
choose to neglect the 1001 unread items in his feed inbox.
