SheGeeks

I’m guilty of cheating on Google Reader with Feedly. I can’t help it. Feedly is practically everything I could want in a feed reader (waiting on Google Chrome support and/or a Feedly Adobe Air app). From the team behind it to the application itself, Feedly is an amazing web-based RSS Reader! What separates it from other RSS readers on the desktop and the web is the peace of mind that Feedly provides when it comes to consuming content from the blogs I subscribe to.

Wait, did she just say peace of mind? Get real, right? I am! First, let me state that I love sharing stuff in Google Reader. Since I can’t blog a response to every article that I enjoyed or leave a comment on all of them, I can press Shift + S and share it. My Google Reader Shared Items is my way of saying thanks.

Lately, Google Reader has become more like a torture device. I’m not alone in this thinking either. It’s a never ending cycle of (1000+) unread items, after only 30 minutes of clicking “mark all as read”. Here’s the real problem: it’s not all about the numbers. While seeing 1000+ unread is a sure way for me to hit “mark all as read”, Google Reader is just plain boring for me to look at period. I don’t blame those who don’t care about RSS if they have to sit in Google Reader all day. Google’s simplicity just doesn’t cut it for me when it comes to constantly sifting through the diverse content that I subscribe to.
 

This view was great when first getting started, but became very boring to see everyday once my subscriptions started to pile up.

As my feed reading habits have evolved, Google Reader has taken away from my feed reading experience more than it serves to enhanced it. When it comes to features, Google Reader is lagging behind the competition tremendously. There’s no way for me to selectively share some of the content I’m reading to Twitter unless I use a greasemonkey script. Even with that script comes another problem: it doesn’t use Bit.ly as a link shortener and I want stats. See where I’m going with this?

Unlike traditional desktop and web-based clients, Feedly is packed with features for the most casual RSS readers to power users such as myself. I can twitter anything I’m reading or watching, share it to my Google Reader shared items, participate in any Friendfeed discussions that might be taking place, and get stats on the links I share. There are tons more features than the aforementioned that has made Feedly a one-stop feed-reader for me.

Now this is more like it! (Feedly Digest View)

Feedly has made me more enthusiastic about going through my feeds, or at least I don’t dread 1000+ unread items. In fact, I never seen anywhere near that number in Feedly. With Google Reader I felt forced to focus on the amount of content I was about to consume. Feedly takes a different approach by fitting the content I’m consuming, instead of forcing that content to fit the application. I’ve learned to use the various layout options that Feedly offers to digest my feeds more quickly and efficiently, while adding to my feed reading experience.  In doing so, I don’t focus on unread counts or even the amount of subscriptions I have. Feedly keeps my focus on what I’m consuming.

It doesn’t hurt to have an awesome team behind you too. The team behind Feedly has represented a team that understands what a user should be able to do in a feed reader. Understand that it’s not just about the features people. It’s about the overall experience that these features create independently and when combined. Quite frankly, Feedly is just a lot better than what I’m seeing in Google Reader everyday. How has your feed reading experience been lately?

Note: If you’re wondering why I still use Google Reader from time to time, it’s because I’m able to process large unread items quicker with Google Reader since I’m used to its interface. Also, Feedly requires Firefox and I no longer use FF as my default browser.

Popularity: 9% [?]

This is a guest post by Shawn Kirsch, better known as thattalldude on just about every social network. Shawn is an awesomesauce social web lover who gives great tips and suggestions via Twitter. This is his story on Information Overload.

I am an information junkie. It isn’t enough just to get the information; I have to get it FIRST! I don’t want to be on Twitter 3 days from now and find out about something that happened this morning. I blame Dave Winer. He made it too easy.

The Initial Innocence of The Web

I used to be a regular guy. I played endless hours of basketball. I frustrated my parents countless days as I refined my drumming skills. I hung out with friends. Sure, I knew computers inside and out, and was skilled at bringing new life to PCs running Windows 95/98, but I was really only a part time geek. Besides, when I graduated High School in 2003, the newest computer in our house was a Performa 575 (which I loved dearly).

I opted to go to college at Mayville State University, which turned out to be my mistake. They provided a [Gateway] laptop for everyone to use, but neglected to teach me anything about a computer that you couldn’t learn by using one for a week. Nevertheless, having a laptop and "high speed" internet (complete with bandwidth caps) opened up a whole new world to me.

I spent massive quantities of time surfing the net. With a natural curiosity, and Firefox at my disposal, I learned new tricks, drooled over gadgets, and gained new perspective from many bloggers’ opinions. StumbleUpon guided me to places I’d have otherwise never discovered. I was becoming a proficient multitasker and a bigger geek with each day, right down to my voracious appetite for Mountain Dew.

Tragedy soon struck though. On Thanksgiving Eve, 2003, I was officially informed my National Guard unit was going to Iraq. Within 6 weeks, I was in Colorado training for our mission. Iraq had long lines and time limits for the computers, which left me with barely enough time to check my email, much less scour the net like I had but 3 months earlier.

It would be Sept. 2004 before I finally bought a laptop (HP), after we obtained satellite internet service for our living area. Once again, I spent my free time devouring all I could on the net and quickly become addicted to iCrack as the iTunes Music Store made it way too easy to spend way too much money on all the new music I had been missing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 11% [?]

There’s been news spreading about Google forcing Feedburner members to migrate their Feedburner account to their Google Account. Google completed their acquisition of Feedburner back in June, which makes us wonder what took the migration so long in the first place. More sign-ups for Google though, right?
      

Level Of Difficulty

If you’re wondering the level of difficulty for migrating your account, I’ll let it be known that level is 0 (extremely easy). However, if you’re migrating a ton of feeds (over 5), this could take a while. Whether you’d like to do it or not, Google is forcing you to do so and you have until February 28th to make it happen captain. So here’s a quick run-through of what you’ll need to do.
     

Important New Features

*If you are using AdSense, you’ll now be able to opt-in for AdSense for Feeds via your AdSense account.

*Several enhancements have been made to the feed delivery for email. You must check out these settings!

*Visitor tracking has been retired from Feedburner. Now you’ll have to use Google Analytics, which doesn’t offer real-time tracking.

*Feedburner networks are no longer supported.
               

Steps: Migrating Feedburner Account to Your Google Accounts

1. If you know which Google Account you’d like to migrate your feed(s) to, go ahead and log into that account first. It’ll make your options for the migration more convenient for you.
   
2. Head to the old Feedburner link (http://feedburner.com).
3. Sign into your Feedburner account.
4. On your homepage, you’ll see a yellow bar at the top that asks if you’d like to migrate your account (see image below).
   
5. Click where it states “Move your account now.”
6. The next window allows you to choose which Google Account you’d like to move your feed to. Since you’re already signed into the one you want, select the option that states “Stay signed in as [your email address]”. Click ‘Next"’.
7. After clicking ‘Next’, you’ll see all of the feeds assigned to the Feedburner account that you’ve signed into. You can now move those feeds.
8. The rest is now up to Google. Since you will religiously check back to see if the process is done, Google promises to save you the trouble of doing so by sending you an email when the migration is complete.

That wasn’t so bad now was it?

Popularity: 10% [?]