How did you get to this blog - did you type http://judahgabriel.blogspot.com into your address bar?
If you did, you’re doing it wrong.
I know many of you fine blog readers are not technologically inclined – most religious people are behind the curve – so let me show you a little tech secret that will save you lots of time and energy.
Thanks to a cool technology called real simple syndication (RSS), you don’t have to visit this blog, or any other blog, to read it. That means you don’t have to type in the address of every blog you read.
Isn’t that a nice idea?
Let me show you how to do it. All you have to do is 4 simple steps, and you’re all set for easy blog reading forever:
- Go to Google Reader. Create an account if you don’t have one yet.
- Click the “Add Subscription” button:
- Type in the blog you want to subscribe to:
- Click the Add button.
Congratulations, you’ve subscribed to the RSS feed for this blog! What’s so great about that, you ask?
Behold, the magic:
Notice it shows me I have 1 unread blog post on the Kineti blog. Clicking that shows me the new blog post right there in the reading pane!
The old way of doing it sucked: you had to visit 10 different sites to read the 10 blogs you follow. The new way rocks: from now on, go to google.com/reader, and all the blogs you follow will show up there automatically. Beautiful, easy, fast.
Not only does it save you time, but it also lets you read more blogs – currently I subscribe to over 130 blogs. No way I could do this without the aid of Google Reader; this technique lets you follow more blogs without wasting time.
And it’s not just for blogs: this works for news sites like CNN, retailers like Amazon best-sellers, even your Facebook friends feed. In fact, anywhere you see the RSS feed icon is a sure bet:
See that icon? It means “this site works in RSS readers like Google Reader”.
Enjoy your new and improved blog reading experience, fine blog readers. 
p.s. If you’re really feeling adventurous, try out the free RSS Bandit app. It’s a desktop app, like Outlook or iTunes, that runs on your computer and notifies you when new blog posts show up. With this technique, you don’t even need to open your web browser – just launch RSS Bandit and read blogs from the comfort of your desktop.
I decided to be a rebel and subscribe from My Yahoo. ^_^
ReplyDeleteHey, that works, too! My Yahoo uses RSS to subscribe to feeds, so that works.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you Michelle!
I use rss runner on my iPod touch. Strangely, it's so convinient I find myself actually leaving my computer to catch up on my feeds :)
ReplyDeleteCool, that works too.
ReplyDeleteI still prefer things the old fashioned way. Click down on your address bar and visit recently seen websites!
ReplyDeleteHaha, John, that is so 20th century! ;-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, that model is what we've all done at some point, but it starts to fall apart once you follow more than a handful of blogs.
Following only a handful of websites is how I stay sane. That's why there will never be a replacement for hard copy, printed books!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm with John. I don't think I'd like the RSS-way. I just prefer to click on the links.
ReplyDeleteDon't diss it until you try it! :-) Seriously guys, give a try for 3 days: put your favorite blogs into Google Reader and use it for 3 days.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like it, hey, you can say you've tried RSS, and just go back to your old way of doing it. But I'm betting both of you guys will be hooked after trying it for a few days. It's the way the internet has worked for the last 5 years.
I challenge both you guys to give it a shot. Go to google.com/reader, put in your favorite blogs. Read blogs from there for 3 days.
RE: John, you said,
ReplyDeleteFollowing only a handful of websites is how I stay sane
Hahah. Hey, just as reading lots of books is useful for self-improvement, so is reading lots of blogs. But I know you're a busy guy, so I'll let you off the hook there.
That's why there will never be a replacement for hard copy, printed books!
Amazon Kindle!. :-)
I am a big fan of keeping all my feeds in Netvibes (www.netvibes.com). I have a tab with Messianic blogs like yours and many others and when you post something new I am informed similar to getting notified about a new email. By using feeds you do not have to go to a site, only to find it has not been updated since the last time. The feed reader will inform me that there are new feeds in my MJ tab. I can also have other tabs for other subject matters, like news, sports, tech feeds, etc.
ReplyDeleteNetvibes also has widgets, that allow the Facebook newsfeed or my Twitter feed to also be shown and update.
I am not sure the Messianic community at large is any farther behind the tech curve than any other community out there. We are certainly miles ahead of the Amish community in following the latest tech trends :)
Another thing I like about Netvibes is I can read some of the feeds right in the Netvibes page (like in Google Reader), but for sites that the feed only give a snippet of the post, I can choose to instead open the post in a new tab and therefore I can see the entire post in all its detail.
Either way, a good tip for those who have never tried RSS feeds.
Bryan,
ReplyDeleteYou and I are not behind the techno curve. But I think we're the exception.
Great tip about netvibes! I've never heard of this service, but yeah, RSS is the thing that makes it work. This works. Nifty.
I use G Reader, but I also use RSS Owl (being primarily a Linux user at home).
ReplyDeleteWhat I have noticed is that many blogs and sites use partial feeds. Rather than being able to read the entire article, you get a little teaser.
Personally, I have to *really* want to read someone's content to continue reading it when I have to click through every time.
Also, most browsers now allow feed subscriptions, but I've only seen Opera alert me that there's a new item.
-- W^L+ (lnxwalt on Identica and Twitter)
Yeah, I've seen that too. You'll be happy to know the Kineti blog uses full content for its RSS feed. :-)
ReplyDelete