Mindful Ink

Before I proceed onward to my post on self-education, I thought it best to discuss the technology involved in one of those methods.

Many readers of this blog will, no doubt, be very familiar with RSS feeds and the like. But some probably are not, and this is largely for you (though I learned a lot writing this - so don’t leave!)

What is RSS? Well, essentially, it’s a way to syndicate the news or posts, etc. from a site in such a way that you can consolidate this information in one place instead of going to multiple websites. So, for instance, if I wanted to follow all the other student productivity blogs but didn’t want to go or have to remember to go to their sites every day, I could subscribe to their feeds and just read them all in one place (via a web-based or software RSS reader.)

How is this handy academically? Well, I’d generally argue that this is handy for anyone. Even if all you are following are news feeds, getting them from various locations and having them consolidated in one is very nice.

Now, for an academic or student one of the best things they can do (I feel) is keep up on their subject (and ideally many others) by following the major news sites and blogs specializing in it. Most any site worth its salt these days will have an RSS feed. Usually, it is indicated by an icon like the one to the left, but sometimes a bit more hidden. Look for something that says RSS or XML or Atom feed.

However, if you’ve got a good reader it’ll find the feed for you - you simply point it to the website. So let’s discuss some readers.

For Macs

There are a number of good RSS readers for Mac. I’ll go through a few of them. Feedreaders are a pretty personal thing however, as we all want information displayed to us in different ways and will find certain ways of processing or going through feeds either easy or counterintuitive. I suggest you play with a few and find what you like.

• NetNewsWire - This is the RSS reader I use. It works with the NewsGator service and I can use it with multiple computers and it keeps what I’ve read and not read synced. This is a very big deal for me, as I follow many feeds and hate going through them twice. You can also sync it through .mac (though it comes with a free year of NewsGator.) Another advantage is that since it does sync with NewsGator I can access my feeds from the web as well; if I’m at another computer or on my phone my feeds stay synced (and on a windows machine with FeedDemon, I’d see the same feeds!) It also features integration with blogging clients as well as del.icio.us integration. I find the del.icio.us integration VERY convenient because I have a personal del.icio.us account I use in my browser and the things I grab from my feeds are usually for the site. $29.95
• Shrook - Well, these guys have changed a lot since I saw them last year. I’m happy to report that this free newsreader now has syncing options as well, which are also free (both with other computers and a website). When my NewsGator account goes I may have to look into this.
• NewsFire - Another very popular reader, it may be the most popular Mac RSS application. Very nice interface, but last time I checked it doesn’t support syncing. This is a deal-killer for me, but for those of you who don’t use multiple computers it’s a good option. $25.00
• Vienna - Probably the most popular free RSS reader for Mac. Very nice app, but doesn’t sync with anything.
• Safari - The Mac (and now Windows) web browser also has built in RSS reading. Personally, I never liked it, but it’s there and free.

For Windows

I don’t have much personal experience with Windows feedreaders, though I’ve used FeedDemon occasionally with a lot of success. I’m going to go over a few I know of, if I’ve forgotten your favorite let me know!

• FeedDemon - It’s a bit different than NetNewsWire, but in general seems to be about the same thing. $29.95
• Microsoft Outlook/Thunderbird - As much as I love the idea of everything in one place, I never found Outlook or Thunderbird’s RSS integration to be that solid - it seemed rather clumsy compared to a dedicated client.
• RSSBandit - I used this client a bit, but it has been so long ago that I don’t quite remember my opinion of it. It’s donation-ware, and pretty solid in general. It allows syncing across multiple computers as well.
• Snarfer - Another free client, this one syncs with Bloglines.

Web-Based

Very popular and getting more popular all the time, web based RSS readers are pretty efficient in that you’re already in your browser and wherever you reach the info from, it’ll be up to date. Generally speaking, I hear the best things (and occasionally use myself) GoogleReader. In all honesty, it’d probably be the most efficient service for me to use but I just like the client based setup and how NetNewsWire presents info better.

• GoogleReader - The popular service of the moment, GoogleReader is a very robust and solid service. It’s very.. Google-y. It works on all platforms and has a nice mobile interface (and a nicer one for the iPhone.) This is the reader of choice for many of the more savvy tech community.
• iGoogle - As we mentioned in our “personalized home page” feature a few weeks back, iGoogle allows you to include feeds into the page. So if you don’t have too many feeds, this is a really good option.
• NetVibes - a nice service, much like the iGoogle option.
• Bloglines - I’d generally consider it the#2 guy in the room, but an excellent service all around.

Conclusions

As you can see, you have numerous options and this is only scratching the service. Look around, try some things out, see what works for you. RSS can be an amazing productivity tool but, like most everything, can be a massive time waster if you let it. But if you keep your feeds pruned, try to limit checking them to a few times a day, you should be just fine - and better off for it.

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