geeky tutorials, tips, guides and reviews
NewsBlur is a fantastic new RSS feed reader that I feel will give any other feed reader out there on the market a run for it’s money. It brings the ease of entry you get with Google Reader, but also has a few of it’s own unique features that make it stand out from the rest of the RSS feed reader crowd.
Feedlooks is a very interest new way to subscribe to your favorite website RSS feeds, and keep track of when they have new posts to check out. Rather than serving as a separate webpage you visit to keep up with RSS subscriptions, Feedlooks comes with you to each website you want to visit.
Looking for an easy way to get through your Monday morning feeds? Use these add-ons for Firefox, mix them up with Google Reader and then recover the rest of your morning.
Know of anymore good ones? How have you super-charged Google Reader? Be sure to share!
I got an e-mail the other day from somebody wanting to know if I knew of any programs for Windows that would allow a user to get popup notifications when Google Reader was updated.
Want to keep up to date whenever your Google Reader has fresh new content to read through? There are several browser plugins that will do this, but not many for the operating system itself. I have three solutions though to cover all of the operating system bases:
Now you should have no problems at all keeping up with my RSS feed. Feel free to subscribe and pass it around to others.
I used to do the shared links here on my site, but decided to take them down due to some layout problems and I really wasn’t a big fan of all the javascript action that was going on. I till like sharing my shared links from Google Reader though.
So what is a link loving geek to do?
Well I decided to figure out a way to post my shared posts form Google Reader into my Twitter posts.
1. Grab your Google Reader shared items RSS feed. This can be done by clicking on the “Shared Items” link in the Google Reader sidebar and then grab the RSS feed it gives you at the top of the next page.
2. Login to TwitterFeed.com (with an OpenID) and setup the feed to Twitter settings. Make sure the checkmark for Include item link (if unchecked, sends tweet without the tinyurl link) is selected.
Now Google Reader’s shared items should be showing up on your Twitter profile. My Twitter is now a little better.
I use Google Reader’s shared items to bookmark links I like or would like to share.
It makes it a quick an easy process to output this to something the public (yes, that would be you) can enjoy. I want an easier way to view my shared items though without having to visit my web site. I’d like to put my shared items on my iGoogle web page actually.
How can I do that?
1. Login to Google Reader and click on the “Shared Items” link.
2. Grab the RSS output link that it gives you from the web page. It should be close to the top as long as you have “shared” a few things.
3. Visit the “Add Stuff” page on iGoogle and click on the link to “add by URL”
4. Paste the RSS feed you grabbed earlier into this box. Click the “Add” button.
Your done! Now it should be on your iGoogle web page and you can customize how it is displayed from there.
When in Google Reader you can choose to create a widget where you can display the stories or links you have wanted to share with others. That is how I created the Mitchelaneous Links Web page I told you about yesterday. I have been getting a few E-mails though from folks wanting to know how I got it to display more than ten items at a time.
Take a look at the javascript code Google gives you to post on your own Web site. The specific part you want to look for is broadcast?n=5. Change the number five to any number you wish, and that is how many shared stories that you will display.
I have always been fixated with the idea of having an easy to manage link blog but have never found an easy way to make it happen. Since I am using del.icio.us for my bookmarking, I don’t want to use that for my link blogging too.
So what is a geek to do? I decided to use my “shared” items list from Google Reader – do a little tweaking here and there and get it up and online that way.
The good news for you is you can now see the neat links I find via my favorite feed reader. (insert excitement here)
The good news for me is this is almost brain dead simple to do, so I shouldn’t lose interest in it because it seems to be too much work.
Everybody wins! Go check out the new Mitchelaneous Links section to see some of the links I have suggested that you check out. If there is anything else you’d like to see there – let me know.
There have not been that many scripts out there for changing Google Reader’s look and feeling. The only real good one that I have found to do so is this Greasemonkey script. As far as style goes, it turns your sister’s ugly friend into a super model.
You’ll need Firefox and an install of the Greasemonkey extension to get it going, but for all the Mac OS X Fans out there – this is for you.
My Google Reader Tools and Guide has been updated again. I am going to try my best to keep it as updated as I can – or for as long as people are interested in it.
If you have any other suggestions for it, please let me know.
I have had fun collecting all these links, tips and tweaks from all around the Web – and I hope you have been enjoying checking them all out as well.
This might be the most popular topic I have covered via this Web site in a very long time. You know me though – always happy to help!
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Mitch Keeler is nothing more than your average Joe trying to leave his mark on the world though both his professional work and his online projects, articles, podcasts and more.
