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.

One of the best features about this feed reader is that it gives you the original webpage the story came from right there in the NewsBlur interface.  As a webmaster, I really like this because it means a few more eyeballs are going to be seeing the content on my actual website.  You can also view things in a more vanilla way – without seeing the website look and feel that you got the new story from.

As seen in the picture above, you can also train NewsBlur to learn more about what you like and what you dislike about the articles you are reading. Here is a little more about that part of the system from the developer:

When you like or dislike a story, you mark a facet of that story by checking a tag, author, part of the title, or entire publisher. When these facets are found in future stories, the stories are then weighted with your preferences. It is a very simple, explicit process where you tell NewsBlur what you like and don’t like.

If you like NewsBlur, which I am willing to bet you will, you can bump up to the paid version of the feed reading experience.  This will lift the 64 feed restriction and will help to go toward the future development of the script itself. Try the free version first, and see if it meets your feed reading needs. 

Go sign up for it at NewsBlur.com.

The main job of this excellent little program is to monitor any number of Gmail inboxes and labels.  You can customize each account with individual colors and sounds too.  You can also instantly rely to emails, without even having to open your web browser.  It is also fully compatible with Google Apps and the standard free Gmail e-mail accounts too.

The features do not stop there.  You can also use it to monitor multiple Google Talk accounts, receive desktop alerts for calendar events, get the latest Google news feeds or stay up to date with the current weather conditions.  Any RSS feed can also be directly plugged into Scott’s Gmail Alert, for easy access to your favorite website stories.

Your registration (which is only $3) will unlock support for monitoring an unlimited number of Gmail accounts, the Calendar functions and RSS feed monitoring.

Go give it a shot – I can promise you that you will not find another Gmail monitoring program that does so much.

Why duct tape marketing? Well, duct tape is often associated with doing things yourself – and I want to help you learn all there is to know about marketing your website, your business or anything else you are putting out there for the masses to enjoy, with the smallest budget possible. 

So be sure to check out Mitchelaneous.com every single day this month, as I guide you though the best ways to make yourself more successful, without putting too much of a strain on your wallet.

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.

Now, I know that might sound a little strange, so let me explain.  After looking in you get your standard interface that is simple, to the point and does not mess around with too much visual candy.

So where is the excitement? When you click on one of these preview links for the RSS feed you are subscribed to, it will take you directly to the page the post is on.  So how do you get back to the Feedlooks service?  It stays loaded as a web-based toolbar across the top of the page.

Want to get back to your list of feeds you need to read? Just click the “Home” section at the top and it pops back up with more headlines for you to check out.  Once you are done checking your feeds – you don’t have to mark the ones you have not checked out yet as read to get rid of them.   Simply close Feedlooks. New items added since you last checked will show under the default category “New”.

As a website publisher, this is really exciting to me because I like the idea of bringing more people in to see my content on my actual website.

Overall, I have high hopes for this great new service.  You can sign up and check it out at Feedlooks.com.  This is the first RSS reader to give Google Reader a run for its money in a long time.

I really can not wait to play as Pirates, Ninjas and Giants!  Also, looking forward to the new local multiplayer options too.  As you have seen in the past with a few of my Fat Princess guides – I am a big fan of the game.    As for the release date, nothing other than "very soon" or "very very soon" has been said. 

Looks like Atomic Operations hard work after taking over the Fat Princess franchise is about to pay off.  Just wish it would hurry up and get released.

Far from being just another off topic service, in a world filled with them, the new Web Hosting Show Coupons and Deals page will deliver, and impress you.  This was a quick project I cooked up over the weekend, to better serve the public at large by delivering a better way to keep track of the latest coupons, deals and special offers from the entire web hosting world out there.

Point your browser towards: http://www.webhostingshow.com/coupons/

Once you navigate yourself to the web site, you can browse through 15 of the most recent offers that have been featured, as well as get a little description of what the offer is all about.  Then I try to link back to the source, so you can get instant gratification in the quickest way possible.

Want more web hosting coupons and deals? You can follow the Web Hosting Show’s coupons and deals on Twitter @whscoupons too.  The third content delivery method you have is the RSS feed, which you can subscribe to – to have all the deals streamed to you for free, into your favorite news reader of choice.

• Follow @whscoupons on Twitter!
• Subscribe via RSS to our Hosting Coupons!

Are you a web host? Good!  I need your help too.  Just like the Web Hosting Show podcast itself, I am looking to serve both the web hosts and the web hosting clients with this tool. Want to see your own special web hosting coupons and deals listed here? Contact me, with your web hosting special, coupon or offer and I will get it listed with the rest. For more on what went into building this new coupon tool, I would suggest you listen to podcast 198 of the Web Hosting Show where I go into a little more detail.

One thing I was able to get started on this weekend, and finished up just a few minutes ago was the new layout for MitchKeeler.com.  Being the most static of the bunch, MitchKeeler.com doesn’t just serve as my online resume – oh no.  It is the place to go if you want to know more about what it is I do, and how to get in touch with me.  More updates to come to that web site (as soon as I find that mysterious 25th hour in the day) so stay tuned, and let me know what you think of the new re-design thus far!

The first thing you see when you check out the site is this blue monster guy asking you what you would like to do?  You can tell it you want to upload a photo or shorten a URL.  Pretty simple right?

Well that is only half the web site.  The other half gives you the popular posts from a number of different resources, like Digg, Delicious, Reddit, Hulu, Yahoo Buzz and more. 

A virtual mix of both link sharing and shortening – this web site has a lot of potential, however my first suggestion would be to shrink down their monster guy on the top of the page.   Why?  There is no way I would want to scroll that far down every time I check out the page to see some of the popular headlines out there from their various news sources listed on the site.  Go see how viral Virl is for you.

Feed Rinse – The job of Feed Rinse is to filter out syndicated content that you just are not that interested in checking out.  They call it a spam filter for your RSS feed subscriptions.  To use it, all you do is import your feeds, setup your filters and then enjoy your new “cleaner” results.  Also, if you have checked them out before and didn’t want to pay for the service, you no longer have to.  The premium service is now free.

Feedscrub – How does Feedscrub clean help you trim your subscription list down?  Also working on a filter-based system, Feedscrub listens to you when you tell them what posts you do and don’t like, and then learns from your input what to do and how to filter.  This allows you to get right to the good stuff you want to read about.

Of course, if you are looking for a few RSS feeds, I am sure you would be happy with these to start off with or to add to your collection:

• http://feedproxy.google.com/mitchelaneous
• http://feedproxy.google.com/webhostingshow
• http://feedproxy.google.com/firefoxfacts

Both Feedscrub and Feed Rinse offer great ways to filter through the noise when it comes to the feeds you are subscribed to.  I would suggest trying both out and see which one works best for you.

Here are all the issues of Ping! Zine that I have made an appearance in this year:

+ Download Issue 26 of Ping! Zine (.pdf)

+ Download Issue 27 of Ping! Zine (.pdf)

+ Download Issue 28 of Ping! Zine (.pdf)

+ Download Issue 30 of Ping! Zine (.pdf)

Hopefully they’ll have me back next year too.  If you have never heard of Ping! Zine before, it is a web hosting magazine for web hosting professionals and fans.  One of the two biggest out there in the hosting industry to date.