News Readers

We are slowly warming out of the deep freeze (the high temp Wednesday reached 32!). Pretty slippery stuff outside as we get daytime melting and re-freezing of surfaces at night.

No one's asked, but if they had, here's how to subscribe to this (or any other) blog or news feed. For those of you familiar with RSS and news readers, you already know this stuff. For others, here's how it works:

Most of us have favorite web sites which we visit on a regular basis, to see if new content has been added. This can be quite time consuming. Now, using free "news feed readers", this search can be automated, and new content on web sites or blogs can be delivered to the user in a condensed form, either through email services (such as FeedBlitz), or web based services such as Google Reader.

The latest versions of web browsers such as Internet Explorer or Firefox make it easy to add a web site to the list of sites you would like to monitor. If you are using Firefox, look for this icon in the address bar of the site you are on. If it's there, just click on it, choose the reader that you want to use, and you're subscribed.

In Internet Explorer 7, look for the same icon in the toolbars.

Sometimes sites will have the RSS or XML symbol within the web page, and it works the same way.

There are dozens of reader programs; the choices can be confusing. I have tried several and have settled in on the free Google Reader. Your mileage may vary. Check here for a list of other news readers. Choose a reader, spend a little time figuring out how it works, and I think you'll like the result.

And now, back to the weather. It's still winter, and it's still cold.