Wealth and Wisdom

This morning my wife and I were talking about RSS. This is definitely a “told you so” moment. Several months back my wife told me “we need to look into this RSS thing.” I downplayed it, and didn’t see how it would improve my life. Why figure out a RSS reader when I only check a couple sites daily?

If the self proclaimed compute geek doesn’t understand it…
The funny thing is that I’m a computer geek. I always have been. Heck, I started programming back in 1982 on a TSR80. Nothing has changed since, and I still love playing with C# or Visual Basic.

Fast forward to today
I don’t know how I would get by without RSS. Once I started reading blogs it became invaluable. I can now keep up with the score of blogs I read daily in a quick and efficient manner. And now that I am a blogger, it makes it easier to reach my readers.

How RSS can save you time and make your life easier

1. It saves you time: It is much quicker to have all your blogs and news sites sent the info to you. No more surfing from site to site. And if you use a reader like Google Reader (my personal favorite) you can skim through the feeds quickly. Not interested in the topic? Skip it!
2. You are in control: You don’t have to give out your email address. No personal information. You simply subscribe and start receiving information. When you want to stop receiving the info, a few clicks and you are unsubscribed.
3. Simple: All you have to do is click on the RSS icon .
4. Privacy: Since you don’t give out your email address, you don’t receive spam. No more emails about increasing your libido. No more emails about fake Rolex’s. No more worrying about the loopholes in a site’s privacy statement.
5. You already use it: It may surprise you but you are already using RSS feeds. Do you have a Yahoo / MSN / Google homepage? Did you ever wonder at the modular design, and at how you could add other news sources, sports scores, stock info, and the weather? These are all RSS feeds.

• You can use a service like MSN, Yahoo, or Google and set up your homepage.
• You can use an aggregator like Bloglines.
• Use a stand alone reader like Google Reader (my favorite), NewsGator, or Feed Demon.
• Use Foxfire or the latest version of Internet Explorer. Both have RSS capabilities.
• Integrate into your email program. The latest version of Outlook comes with a built in RSS reader. If you use an older version, programs like NewsGator will work inside Outlook.

How do I sign up?
The easiest way is to click on the RSS icon . Most blogs use a service like Feedburner to make their feeds more accessible. Follow the direction and in a few simple steps the blog is delivered to your reader.

Tags: Life balance

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