GeekSugar

Geek Tip: Get Weather Updates on Your RSS Reader

GeekSugar — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:02:43 -0800

Is there no end to the genius of RSS? Not only do all my fabulous blogs wait patiently for me, and matching ads for the piece of furniture I am currently hunting for on Craigslist are delivered right to me, but now I can check the weather in the same place!

Websites like the WeatherBug and The Weather Channel supply RSS Feeds; you supply your location, and then add it to your RSS Reader of choice (I like both Google Reader and Bloglines). Oh and San Francisco? It's rain, rain, and more rain. And then it might rain.

Geek Tip: Summarize Your Blog Feeds With RSS Brief

GeekSugar — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:00:41 -0700

With so many blogs to read each day in my RSS reader, something like the following service may save me alot of time. Featured on mashable, RSS Brief is a new tool that will automatically attempt to summarize the high points of blog entries. Once you choose which feed you want summarized, each entry will include a caption for the posting as well as a word count and direct link to the entry. RSS Brief is still in Alpha so there may be a few glitches while the service improves.

Geek Tip: Add Craigslist To Your RSS Reader

GeekSugar — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:00:45 -0700

If you ever use Craigslist, you'll have to give this useful geek tip a try. Whether you are looking for an apartment, a job, or an item for sale, you can now add Craiglist to your RSS feed list and have all the search results sent directly to your reader. Here's how:

Once you type in what you are looking for in the Craigslist search box, try narrowing down your search by adding specific search criteria. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see a highlighted RSS link. Click on the link and you'll be able to add the search results to your RSS feed. And each time a new classified matches your search query, it will miraculously be sent directly to your reader!

Mytv Helps You Create Your Own Personalized TV RSS Feed

GeekSugar — Sun, 11 May 2008 10:11:10 -0700

Do you ever miss one of your favorite shows, or worse yet (this happens to me quite often), forget to set your DVR for a series recording of certain shows? Thankfully there's this new tool called mytvrss that will create a personalized RSS feed of all your fave shows that you can't bear to miss! Just go to the site, click on the shows you want in the feed and mytvrss will alert you through the feed the day an episode is aired! Kimora Lee, I promise to be watching this week girlfriend!

TiVo Launches Custom RSS Feeds to Watch New Content

GeekSugar — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:38:11 -0700

Owners of TiVos know that the devices do so much more than just record shows. Now, they do even more: today, TiVo launched custom RSS feeds so you can get a ton more content on your TiVo.

If you have a TiVo Series 3, a TiVo HD, or HD XL, you'll be able to add feeds or season passes for hundreds of new web videos, shows, and podcasts.

The custom feeds are especially helpful since TiVo's search listings don't always pull up what you're looking for. Having it directly fed in and downloaded makes things way easier.

Want to see it in action? Check out TiVo's website.

Geek Tip: Follow Flickr Streams Via RSS or Delicious

GeekSugar — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:20:41 -0700

Sure, following Tweets secretly through your RSS allows a special, stalkerish pleasure, but watching your friend's Internet activity doesn't have to be all about surreptitiousness. When a pal shares a link to her Flickr account or I run across a photographer whose work I find inspiring I stick it in my RSS reader so I can keep up with their activity.

Flickr offers an RSS feed for photostream pages, which you select and add to your reader. You'll find it in the toolbar of your browser if you use Firefox (see previous link for other browser tips). Flickr also offers a convenient "bookmark on delicious" link at the bottom of each photostream page, so you can save a friend's stream in your bookmarks and have access to it from any computer.

Geek Tip: Follow Someone on Twitter Without Them Knowing

GeekSugar — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 06:00:34 -0700

Do you want to follow someone's updates on Twitter, but don't necessarily want them to see that you're following them? Or maybe you're reluctant to join Twitter, but still would like to see what someone is tweeting. You can actually add someone's Twitter feed to your RSS reader.

Just go to the page of the person you want to invisibly follow, and you'll see the RSS feed symbol underneath the people they're following (alternatively, if you're using Firefox, you can just click the blue RSS symbol in the nav bar). Just click that and you'll add their updates to your reader, just like any other blog's posts!

Invisibility cloak achieved.

10 Good Reasons to Use an RSS Reader

GeekSugar — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:05:27 -0700

The web moves fast. In fact, they say one day, it might even move faster than the speed of light. There are millions of articles being published, photos being uploaded, status updates being posted and tweets being tweeted every single day. An RSS reader can help you stay afloat and consume the Internet from one hub - whether you are a casual surfer who uses the web to catch up on email, news and celebrity gossip, or a full fledged Internet junky who spends all day on Flickr, Facebook and reddit.
For those of you who are confused, an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Reader is a web feed aggregator, also known as a feed reader that grabs syndicated web content such as news headlines, blogs, podcasts, and vlogs in a single location for easy viewing.
Most geeksugar readers say they're already using a reader, but I know there are a few of you who are still unconvinced. And so, I dedicated this post to you uninitiated and unconvinced. Find out why you should hop on the train.

View Slideshow ›

Times: The Latest, Greatest (and Prettiest) RSS Reader

GeekSugar — Mon, 05 May 2008 10:00:54 -0700

I'm sure you're probably like me when it comes to RSS readers - as long as it does what it's supposed to do, who cares what it looks like, right?! Well at least that's what I thought until I came across Times by Acrylic, a chic new newsreader for Mac OS X Leopard users.

I know, we all get stuck in our RSS reader ways, but think about how cool it would be to make your entire reader look like a newspaper, with various sections and categories so you can easily read your feeds. With Times you can do exactly this, providing you with an entirely new RSS reading experience. There is also a neat feature called Shelf, which allows you to save and sort articles for your next coffee break, so you won't have to open 500 tabs like I usually do. You can currently download a trial version of Times at Acrylic, or purchase it for $30. For some reason, I think this is just the beginning of "beautified" RSS readers!

Geek Tip: Export Your Feeds From One RSS Reader to Another

GeekSugar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:00:59 -0700

Change can be hard. Maybe, for instance, you committed to an RSS Reader early on and then decided to switch to a different RSS Reader later on. I'm not here to judge - just to guide.

If you happen to be dying to make the switch to Google Reader from another RSS (maybe you heard how fan-freaking-tastic Better GReader makes it), then I bet you're also saying, "yes, I would love to switch, but what about all my feeds?!" That's a valid complaint, especially if you have upwards of 100 feeds, as so many of you do.

To see the tip, just read more.

Thankfully, Google Reader allows you to import all of your feeds from other readers, including Bloglines, NetVibes, and even Safari or Firefox bookmarks. All you need to do is export your subscriptions as an OPML file; refer to Google's handy list of links to learn how to do it from each reader.

Once you have the OPML file, you can upload it to Google Reader from the Settings page and the Import/Export tab. I would love to tell you how to do this from Bloglines site, but it's down right now.

Jinkies, another reason to switch?