After reading some stats that over 90% of web users don’t know about RSS or what it is, I believe a little education is in order. If you are one of those people who happen to read online news/blogs regularly but don’t use an RSS “news-reader,” trust me when I say that it would make reading online a whole lot easier. This is especially true for a site like mine that updates sporadically and regularly. A news-reader will tell you when your favorite sites update and allow you to keep track of articles that you intend to read when time permits.
First, you’ll need a news-reader…
The first one that comes to mind is Bloglines, so that’s what I’ll recommend. You’ll need to register with Bloglines first. Once you do, click “my feeds” and then “Add.” Then, enter the URL of a blog or news site you’d like to keep tabs on. [continued below]
http://bloglines.com/
For only a few examples of what i read, see below
[shameless plugs…..with exceptional sites marked with ‘***’]:
***Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics – http://www.cognitiveliberty.org
***Drug Policy Alliance – http://www.drugpolicy.org
***CAROLINA JOURNAL ONLINE – http://www.carolinajournal.com/
***AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION – http://www.aclu.org
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS – http://www.americanprogress.org
CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY http://www.prwatch.org
***CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE – http://www.cagw.org
***ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION – http://www.eff.org
CITIZENS FOR A SOUND ECONOMY – http://www.cse.org
MEDIA ACCESS PROJECT – http://www.mediaaccess.org
NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION http://www.nra.org
***Will your vote count in the next election? – http://www.verifiedvoting.org
***Electronic Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century – http://www.blackboxvoting.com
***CASPIAN – Consumers Against Privacy Invasion – http://www.nocards.org
***Electronic Privacy Information Center – http://www.epic.org
***Center for Democracy and Technology – http://www.cdt.org
PROTECTING CONSUMERS – http://www.consumeralert.org
***NEWS YOU WON’T FIND ON CNN – http://www.informationclearinghouse.info
Alternative News Source – http://www.alternet.org
***ANTI-STATE = ANTI-WAR = PRO-MARKET – http://www.lewrockwell.com
BROOKINGS INSTITUTION – http://www.brook.edu/
BUREAUCRASH NEWS – http://bureaucrash.com/modules/news/
BUZZFLASH – http://www.buzzflash.com
CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE – http://www.ceip.org
***CATO INSTITUTE – http://www.cato.org
CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY – http://www.publicintegrity.org
***CITIZENS FOR LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT – http://www.legitgov.org
COMMON DREAMS – http://www.commondreams.org
COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE – http://www.cei.org
CONSORTIUM NEWS – http://www.consortiumnews.com
***COUNTERPUNCH – http://www.counterpunch.org
CRYPTOME – http://cryptome.org
DEMOCRACY NOW NEWS – http://www.democracynow.org
DRUDGE REPORT – http://www.drudgereport.com
FAIRNESS AND ACCURACY IN REPORTING – http://www.fair.org
FOREIGN POLICY IN FOCUS – http://www.fpif.org
***FREEDOM & LIBERTARIAN NETWORK – http://www.free-market.net
FROM THE WILDERNESS – http://www.copvcia.com
***FUTURE OF FREEDOM FOUNDATION – http://www.fff.org
GREG PALAST – http://www.gregpalast.com
GUERRILLA NEWS NETWORK – http://www.guerrillanews.com
HEARTLAND INSTITUTE – http://www.heartland.org
HERITAGE FOUNDATION FOR POLICY RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS – http://www.heritage.org/
HOOVER INSTITUTION – http://www-hoover.stanford.edu
***INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE – http://www.independent.org
INDY MEDIA CENTER – http://www.indymedia.org
INSTITUTE FOR FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS – http://www.ifpa.org
INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES – http://www.ips-dc.org
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES – http://www.iiss.org
JEFF RENSE PROGRAM – http://www.rense.com
JUDICIAL WATCH – http://www.judicialwatch.org
***LIBERTY FOR ALL – http://www.libertyforall.net
***LUDWIG VON MISES INSTITUTE – http://www.mises.org
***MEMORY HOLE – THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION – http://memoryhole.org
MOTHER JONES – http://motherjones.com
***C-SPAN NEWS – THE BEST NEWS SOURCE IN THE WORLD – http://www.c-span.org/
INTERNET PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR NEWS SITES – http://www.ipl.org/div/news/
WORLD NET DAILY – http://www.worldnetdaily.com
NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS – http://www.ncpa.org
NEWS MAX NEWS – http://www.newsmax.com
***ONLINE WIRED MAGAZINE FOR TECHIES AND DIGITAL JUNKIES – http://www.wired.com
***OPEN SECRETS IN GOVERNMENT – http://www.opensecrets.org
***RATIONAL REVIEW – *NEW POLITICS FOR A NEW CENTURY* – http://rationalreview.com/
***REASON MAGAZINE – http://www.reason.com
SALON ONLINE – http://www.salon.com
***STRIKE THE ROOT OP-EDS – http://www.strike-the-root.com
THE NATION – http://www.thenation.com
TOM PAINE = COMMON SENSE – http://www.tompaine.com
TOWNHALL – http://www.townhall.com
***U.S. TERM LIMITS – http://www.termlimits.org
Alternative online news site – http://www.truthout.org
VILLAGE VOICE – http://www.villagevoice.com
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED – http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
***YELLOW TIMES NEWS – http://www.yellowtimes.org/
Z MAGAZINE – http://www.zmag.org/
***FREEDOM AGAINST THE GRAIN – http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AGAINSTDAGRAIN/
Click SUBSCRIBE, check one of the “Subscribe to this feed” options, then hit SUBSCRIBE again. My blog lists 8 different feeds but they are in fact all the same, so don’t worry too much about which feed to subscribe to. Larger new sites, however, often give you options to subscribe to, say, sports or international news….so you should select those more carefully.
If, upon entering a URL, you get a message saying that no feed was found, visit the webite in question and look for an XML or RSS link (some websites don’t have RSS). But, usually, if such a link appears on a web page you can just enter the URL of that web page and Bloglines will recognize the feed.
And you’re done. Then, when you want to check what’s going on, go to http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs and the updates you haven’t read yet will be indicated in bold the left column.
http://www.bloglines.com/blog/AUDIOMIND
A look at what it will ‘sort of’ look like:
http://stayfree.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/bloglines.jpg
However, if you’re a Firefox user, there exist a newsreader extension called Sage: http://sage.mozdev.org/
Really easy to use…
Install the extension, restart Firefox……browse the web, when you find a site with a feed that you want to subscribe to bookmark the feed link and now when you open Sage (loads in your sidebar) you’ll see your subscribed feeds.
Btw, if EVERYONE hasn’t migrated over yet, I would suggest getting rid of old cranky, problem-ridden Internet Explorer and moving over to the Firefox browser……you’ll thank me l8r:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
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