Google Reader

Adding Feeds

1. I added feeds to my reader directly from the website by clicking on the RSS button. This is the easiest way I find to add them.

2. The "Add a subscription" button on Google Reader is another easy way to add a feed. Click the button and type the URL of the website (not even the feed usually) and it will add that sites feed to the reader. This is a good way when you cant find the RSS button on a website.

3. Recommended Feeds. Google Reader will examine the feeds you currently subscribe to and recommended to you new feeds based on what you already follow. This is a great way to discover new sources.

I prefer using an RSS reader to visit my favorite sites. All of them are all in one place and I can see if they have been updated or not since I last looked without clicking. However sometimes the author does not post full articles to their feed, in which you will just click through to their website anyway to continue reading.

I find this technology useful because it centralizes my news reading life into one place; not into 20 clicks through my bookmarks.

A web based RSS Reader is better because I can access it from any browser. So if I'm at school or traveling, I can always access my reader. If I was using desktop software, I could only use it from the computer I have it installed on.

Twitter

Twitter is an interesting social network. Its genius is in its restrictions it places on its users. They can only post short messages and that is all.

I think it is a great tool as it allows you to make quick observations about what you experience in the your day to day life. It also allows you to get a message out to a group of people quickly.

Twitter is different from blogging because of frequency. Some people might 'tweet' 50 times a day, however someone would not post on their blog 50 times a day. They both are opinionated outlets for their authors, which makes them similar.

My First Post!

Blogger Evaluation:

Blogger is a really easy to use platform for blogging. The customization capabilities are actually not bad for such a basic system. I enjoy the template editor. The Post editor is also easy to use.

Blogs I Found:

Coding Horror http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/

This is the blog of software developer and co-founder of StackOverflow Jeff Atwood. He gives his own personal feelings and opinions of technology and programming topics which are intriguing. The fun thing about him, is that he is also willing to admit he is wrong. He will often edit posts with new information if he is challenged by his readers. This is a really great blog for me as I am growing software developer and its great to hear what more experienced developers are thinking about.

Volpin Props http://volpinprops.blogspot.com/

I found this blog through another blog actually. This is the blog of a professional prop maker. He specializes in movie, TV and video game replica props. In his blog he gives a build log of the props he is working on. It is very fun to watch how props are designed and made.

Case Mod Blog http://www.mnpctech.com/casemodblog/

This is the blog of Bill Owen, the owner of a company that makes super professional computer case mods. He uses his background in making custom cars in order to make these great cases. I am PC enthusiast and have done my own case mods, so it is always great to see what the pros are doing.

Blogging in Society

This is a long debated subject, but I believe that blogging is finally finding its niche in our media world. Blogging is not journalism and journalism is not blogging. Blogging is the subjective personal opinion of its owner. If this idea is respected, blogs have a place when it comes to the media we consume. It allows for its author to express their opinions with the readers understanding that it is just the authors opinion. A few years ago this was heavily debated because many bloggers wanted the respect of journalists. Journalists do a lot more research and fact checking for the most part and that is what sets them apart from bloggers.