It Won't Be Long Now

This popped up on my Google Reader page earlier today:

I knew it was going to happen but I had put it out of my mind.  I've migrated my feeds to other platforms, but stubbornly kept using Google Reader.  I'm used to it, it's user friendly and I like the features, esp. using it to share articles here or on Facebook.  I had suspicions that the end might be near when I noticed the Official Google Reader Blog hadn't been updated in a year.

It seems like Google rolls out a new feature only to stop two others. (and they more-or-less admit to that on the official blog linked to above) Most of the things went by the wayside without much protest, but I've been reading all sorts of groans and moans over this decision.  Some people have a bi-polar view (at least confusing) towards the end of Google Reader while others say it will be a good thing for RSS.  I'm not particularly angry over their decision, just mostly disappointed.

I guess Google's reasoning behind it is to force more people to use their Google+ but I'm not a big fan of that.   I don't want to get my news via social-type media.  I don't think Twitter lends itself well to news, but it can be used for that, I suppose. I follow some local media's Facebook pages for area news, but I do more with my reader than just news.  I follow a few political sites (many fewer than I did a year or longer ago) and like to keep up with some sites that offer some interesting and informative content, but mainly I liked my reader because of the recipe site feeds.

Reader made it much easier for me in regards to the latter.  I could quickly scroll down the titles, clicking on those I thought I might find interesting and/or want to save.  I'll eat most anything, but if the recipe is "Stuffed Mussels", I am apt to pass them up.  I don't dislike mussels, it's just that I am far away from the ocean and would never buy the days old seafood even if it WAS at my local grocery store. Anyway....

I really haven't decided which service I want to use to replace Google Reader; none of them really float my boat.  I'm still looking at other alternatives, but I had better hurry and decide.  I'll write another post when I do.

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UPDATE: As I said, I had tried out a few other readers, but hadn't liked them nearly as much as I did Google Reader, but I believe I'll settle with Feedly for now until I find something better.  It's available as an add-on with different browsers (I prefer Firefox) and the integration of my Google Reader feeds went seamlessly .  I don't like that I had to allow it access to my Google account, but so did others in order to get my reading list and there's really nothing in my email account that I wouldn't mind someone reading.  I do a lot of online business and I guess the worst that could happen would be someone reading my credit card balance statements. (I wish I didn't have to read them) The passwords for those sites are different than that of my Gmail account, so I'm not worried about that.

The rest of the feeds I had tried were too "busy" looking and hard to navigate.  I still haven't completely sussed out Feedly, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.  The best thing about it is that it's FREE, a prerequisite for using a reader.  Some of the highly recommended applications cost quite a bit for their services and personally, a dollar a month would be more than I'd want to pay, much less than the $5-10 wanted from some of the others.

I'll keep everyone informed.  Well, all four/five of my regular readers, that is.

Google Alerts

A few years ago, I discovered a very useful feature of Google, the Google Alerts. With it, I can keep up with the topics that interest me, such as specific news items, articles about Hank Skinner or anytime this blog is mentioned or linked to. (very rare).

Some webmasters also use the service to check for plagiarism or backlinks to articles they've written.  Companies can use it to see what others are saying about their products, especially useful when someone is unjustly smearing their reputation.

You can configure the results to show up in your reader feed or delivered to your email inbox.

From the site:

Monitor the Web for interesting new content

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your queries.

Enter a search query you wish to monitor. You will see a preview of the type of results you'll receive. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

    *monitoring a developing news story
    *keeping current on a competitor or industry
    *getting the latest on a celebrity or event
    *keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams



Google Alerts

Culling the Reader Feeds

Whew, I feel like a huge weight has just lifted off my shoulders. 

I just now un-subscribed from my TasteSpotting feed. It's a great recipe site, gathering recipes from all sorts of websites, but it just got to be too much for me to deal with.  The latest stats say it has 690 posts/week and believe me when I say, an extra hundred posts per day to wade through was just too much.

It was twice as worrisome when I also had the foodgawker feed.  According to their latest statistics, they posted 1,563 recipes this last week.  

Both sites were good at finding other recipes sites I subscribed to in my reader, but the problem with the feeds were that most recipes were uninteresting or nothing I cared to save or try (like eel, etc.) Quite a large number were also in other languages and most of the time it wasn't worth the effort to translate them.

I probably have 30-40 recipe site feeds in my reader now; some post every day or multiple times a day,but others publish less frequently. I think I've got plenty for now. I also frequent other sites that have recipes and get several newsletters every day in my email inbox.

Yep, I feel better already.  This will let me devote more time to the dozen Dallas Cowboy website feeds I have.

The U.S. of A shreds 7,000 tons of used currency each year.

This was from a "Facts" RSS feed that suddenly appeared in my Google Reader. I don't recall subscribing to it, but maybe I did a few weeks ago, then...as sometimes happens after adding a new feed...all the posts show up at once.

Anyway...the facts are cool, but the link is to some affiliate site, like this:

Europe is the only continent without a desert.:

"Get Facts To Your Cell Phone. Sign Up Now"

The link is invalid, because I cut a bit of the URL out of it. It goes to www.b4u.com and it doesn't look like a site I'd want to hang around.

I may keep using the facts, but cut out the URL to the website, screw 'em.