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.

Another AT&T Rant

Went to my AT&T page to check the status of a recent order. They were supposed to be sending me another modem, but I got an email announcing they were sending out a repairman. I want the modem but don't want the repair call. They've been out here before, no need to come back and pretend there's something wrong w/ my connection when all the problems stem from their DNS servers.

After waiting ten minutes for the page to load, I finally get this error message:

'Bout time they owned up to their problems.  After their outage back in Jan/Feb, they finally admitted the problem. The outage started a couple days after I signed up for the service and the online help techs were swamped and when I finally got through I was instructed to power the modem on/off, reset it to the original settings, yada yada yada.  I had already tried all those things or I wouldn't have put myself through the frustration of calling technical support. I estimate that, with wait time and listening to instructions that I had already done, they wasted five/six hours of my time.  If they had only admitted the problem was on their end, I wouldn't have become so angry. 

Guess I'll call them tomorrow to cancel the repair visit.  I've had pretty good luck all weekend w/ my connection;  it was only down for a few times late last night and has been up all day today, but it's getting close to time for it to go out again, regular as clockwork.   The last tech I spoke to told me that was prob. because of interference from street lights.  Good grief, the lights have been on for hours before I start having problems.  I'm really tired of their runarounds.

Feet Trivia

I was reading an email trivia newsletter and this was one of the questions:

Name the things that you can wear on your feet that begin with the letter 'S.'

The answer was:

Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, snowshoes, stockings.

I'd say smell, too.

For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield

I'm A Flake

Since oatmeal wasn't a choice.

You Are Easygoing

You live a life of contentment, relaxation, and smiles. You refuse to let the world get you down. You have as many worries and problems as most people, but no one could ever tell. You don't get buried in negativity. In general, you are sweet and optimistic. You expect the best out of life, and you are easily pleased. The smallest things can light up your day. It doesn't take much to make you happy, and you love surprises. You are youthful because you have held on to your innocence. You refuse to let yourself get cynical. When life hands you lemons, you don't just make lemonade. You open up a lemonade stand.

The Cereal Test

Right-Winger

I am NOW since my divorce.