Having re-discovered just how valuable Google Reader is, the application has once again become an essential part of my Internet weaponry. If you are a recovering bookmark addict like me, you will undoubtedly appreciate this post.
The Problem
Before time began I bookmarked everything I found somewhat interesting. This habit over time became so unmanageable, that I often found myself scrolling endlessly to find the site that sold the toy with the Kung Fu grip.
Enter Google Toolbar
I needed a solution fast so I researched bookmarking applications and settled upon Google Toolbar. What a lifesaver, now I could simply search my bookmarks and synchronize them across all my computers, voilà.
Google Toolbar is great, those little search boxes you can download are awesome too. I would say 50% of the sites I visit are searched for using this application.
Enter RSS & Google Reader
As time progressed my browsing habits had changed, I started moving away from bookmarking to RSS. You see I didn’t want to jump around from site to site anymore, I wanted one place to go where I could view everything all at once. I dabbled around with iGoogle but found it annoyingly slow, my Fiancee loves it though.
Finally I settled on Google Reader, I must sound like a Google fan-boy. But seriously now I subscribe to almost everything, previously I would only bookmark sites I found interesting or worthy of my attention.
With RSS, it doesn’t really matter; I have literally tons of content to browse through in the morning. If a headline captures my attention I visit that site, if it doesn’t, I move on to the next one.
What tools do you use to manage the web?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The Fiancé 08.26.08 at 5:31 pm
The toy with the Kung Fu Grip! Haha…you’re so cute, baby!
Yes, as aforementioned, I very much like iGoogle because I find it to be a very efficient way to manage the web. You can tailor it to your personal tastes and preferences (Games: Ms. PacMan, Politics: All things Republican, and Cooking: Down South Comfort Food recipes like Country Mac-N-Cheese, White Bean Gravy and Fried Okra), as well as YouTube videos that you might be interested in, along with the local news and weather.
But the BEST thing about about iGoogle is the FROG and the LADYBUG. I LOVE logging on in the early morning to see them drinking coffee and eating doughnuts. In the afternoon, sometimes they play on their slip-n-slide or a game of croquet. Afterwards, they laughingly enjoy a picnic basket lunch on a red and white checkered blanket in a green wildflowered meadow complete with sodapop and turkey potpies. In the evening, they have a campfire complete with hotdogs and marshmallows. After eating, they tell ghost stories and the ladybug always looks very frightened! Then they finally settle down, put out the fire and snuggle into their sleeping bags and go to sleep until morning doughnuts again in the morning!!!
I LOVE THEM! They make my day and make me laugh. I’ve been told there is also a spunky tiger who grows and then harvest his watermelons and has his neighbors over for lunch, who later steal the watermelons from his garden in the tiger’s sleep, but there’s no pair better for me than my FROG and my LADYBUG… because I happen to l0ve frogs and ladybugs in real life and this is how I imagine they really are… except for the fact that frogs probably eat ladybugs in real life and they aren’t friends at all.
Oh well.
And even though I know you LOVE LOVE LOVE Google, honey… and no doubt some of your blog readers do as well…but speaking of RSS, what does everyone think about Diffbot? It regularly monitors a list of your favorite websites for new content, and then notifies you in the way you prefer. It is applicable with any browser and is also Firefox friendly. I, personally, check some of my favorite websites, particularly political (www.politicalbase.com) and philanthropical (www.idealist.org) sometimes three and four times a day, so Diffbot can definitely come in handy when I need more time to do more important things like clean out my Outlook inbox or play my Age of Mythology game….. or marvel at the cutesiness of my iGoogle FROG And LADYBUG…. or even better, think about my handsome fiancé on the other side of the pond.
Love you baby! Sorry if this long post embarrasses you!
xox
S. Jonathan 09.16.08 at 1:24 am
No you don’t embarrass me.
Thank you for sharing the Frog & Lady Bug story. I’m sure many people like the interesting characters too.
Also thanks for suggesting Diffbot, I have never tried it myself but it looks pretty good and I shall give it a try.