You Need a Feed Reader

It's time you started using a feed reader. You'll save time and still know all the answers to NPR's news quiz, Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!.

By now, you've seen these little icons all over the web.
(And you can get your very own at FeedIcons.com!)


These icons are an announcement that a website is publishing a feed of its news stories. Imagine a newsfeed as the web equivalent of a news ticker running along the bottom of a TV screen; feeds are continuously updated broadcasts of the news stories that a website is publishing. (Wikipedia overview)

But you can't read these broadcasts without using a feedreader. Put simply, a feedreader downloads a website's news feed for you to peruse. The beauty of a feedreader is that it can download many newsfeeds: you can read all your favorite websites from one place, without all the thrashing about on the web, annoying online ads, browser crashes, etc.

There are scads of free feedreaders online. (About.com's review of the top 10. An old TechCrunch post comparing several top readers. Google search for "best feedreaders".)

There are two kinds of feedreader, those that run in a web browser and those that run in software on your computer. Most feedreaders run in a browser, but I don't like them because you have to open a browser and log in to them. I prefer a software-based reader that stays on my computer. I use FeedReader because it's very simple, very easy to use, and very quick to open. There are few bells and whistles, which lets me focus on reading news instead of organizing it or "interacting" with it. Screenshot below.

My newsfeeds are on the left pane. I'm looking at Wired.com's feed right now. Wired's story headlines are on the top right pane. I'm on the "How the Personal Genome Project..." story. This story's headline, text, and, for some feeds, images or video, appear on the bottom right pane.

So, with FeedReader and the current setup shown here, I can browse through 1700 news stories in just a few minutes. Realistically, I spend a few minutes each evening skimming headlines of the top 20 stories from each news source.

As a marketer, reading feeds helps me stay on top of the news at work, too. At work, I track industry news, sports federation news, author blogs, and generally related news all from FeedReader.

Getting Started in 5 Steps

1. Pick a feedreader from the above ratings or download the free and lightweight FeedReader. I strongly recommend FeedReader because it's so simple to use. You'll really get a feel for the basics.
2. Browse to http://mediocrepolymath.blogspot.com/
3. See that orange icon I mentioned? It's on the right side of your browser's navigation bar. Click it!
4. It will drop down two options: "Subscribe to mediocre polymath - Atom" and "Subscribe to mediocre polymath - RSS". Though everyone refers to feeds as RSS, Atom is actually a vastly superior standard. Choose the Atom feed.
5. You're set! Now you'll start getting notifications from FeedReader when a new post hits this blog. Other good feeds include those at NYTimes.com, Lifehacker.com, or your own favorite websites.

Tech news: Cool software, Apple not that great, Comcast also not that great

Lifehacker.com: "The Lifehacker Editors' Favorite Software and Hardware"

My favorite part: It's amazing, they all love Gmail, Google Reader, and Pidgin.

PCRetailMag.com: "Mac market share on the rise globally"

My favorite part: Wow, this article says that Macs now account for 20% of PC market share in the US and 10% worldwide. Just a few years ago, Mac market share was down around 5% in the US. I want to know if the "market share" this article cites is on new computers sold or the inventory of total computers. It seems impossible that 1 in 5 computers is a Mac.

Wired.com: "Has Apple Bitten Off More Than it Can Chew?"

My favorite part: "As Apple has grown to absorb as much as 20 percent of the U.S. computer market, its customers are getting more diverse and harder to satisfy. "Apple, it seems, now has to deal with the average Joe and the average Joe is considerably more cranky than some turtle-necked fanboys in their loft in SoHo," Biggs wrote."

AP/Wired.com: "FCC poised to punish Comcast over web blocking"

My favorite part: "I continue to believe that is imperative that all consumers have unfettered access to the Internet", said Martin" [one of three of the FCC's five commission members who voted to punish Comcast]

California Bans Trans Fats

California Bans Restaurant Use of Trans Fats

from this New York Times article: "The requirement imposed on the most populous state's 88,000 restaurants, as well as its bakeries and other food purveyors, is a major gain for the movement against trans fats. That movement has been led by scientists, doctors and consumer advocates who trace the largely synthetic fat to a variety of ailments, principally heart disease."

the next bisphenol-A

Prominent Cancer Doctor Warns About Cellphones

July 24, 2008, 11:20 am

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/prominent-cancer-doctor-warns-about-cellphones/

The head of a prominent cancer research institute has warned his faculty and staff to limit cellphone use because of a possible cancer risk, The Associated Press reports.

Is 10 p.m. too late to email?

My friend Jon has Verizon's best voice and data plan, and he's always available. In theory, anyway. His phone can receive voice calls, email, text messages, SMS, Jotts, etc.

Yet he's earned the dubious distinction of The Friend Most Difficult to Reach. My calls always go to voicemail. My emails sometimes get answered, though very briefly (because he's typing on a three-inch wide keyboard). For those of us over 30, text messaging is the last ditch attempt at communication, more like semaphore or morse code than a way to exchange information.

We are too connected. Today's world is so connected that we've stopped communicating. Replying to an email or text message is an unloved chore to get out of the way. Dashing off a quick email is a desperate, breathless gasp to keep our noses above waterline, a chest-tightening attempt to keep our various inboxes under control. I count that I have 13 inboxes, four of which funnel to one place, three to another, and the rest to individual locations. How many inboxes have you?

Voicemail is worse. It takes many times longer to listen to a voicemail than to read an email. And because of the speaker's worried performance distraction (Does my voice sound pleasant? Am I enunciating clearly? Am I coherent?), it often takes longer to get to the point and longer still for the listener to catch the speaker's intent.

Sometimes late at night, as I'm viciously, ruthlessly slashing off curt and poorly thought-out replies from my inbox, I find myself wondering, "Gee, is 10 p.m. too late to email? What if Jon has forgotten to turn off his phone and it wakes him?". Sadly, one of the most useful features of email is that you don't have to actively receive it - it waits for you, for the time that's best for you to read it (late at night, perhaps). So I hesitate to send that midnight email, for fear that email's most useful features, instant delivery anywhere in the world at any time of day or night, might actually irritate my friend.

And then I remember he deserves it. How dare he fill my inbox.