newsgator.com

********Stumble Beginnings********

I, like you, am signed up to a few different web sites which reflect my broad horizons on life, in order to keep fully abreast of the latest developments around the world in topics of international importance and to expand my awareness of issues which are currently under debate in literary and intellectual circles, ahem. I'm not sure which sites you're with, but I'm with www.mybulgaria.info and www.tefl.com, ...
...Whilst perusing the latest news in the world of Bulgarian tefl recently, I noticed that these first two sites had a curious little link called "RSS Feed". When I clicked on the hyperlink, I ended up at a page which looked like gobbledygook intermingled with bits of news, code and other junk. I thought nothing of it until the other day, when I stumbled across an intriguing clue in the mysterious case of the RSS Feed- I discovered a definition ... more

********Stumble Beginnings********

I, like you, am signed up to a few different web sites which reflect my broad horizons on life, in order to keep fully abreast of the latest developments around the world in topics of international importance and to expand my awareness of issues which are currently under debate in literary and intellectual circles, ahem. I'm not sure which sites you're with, but I'm with www.mybulgaria.info and www.tefl.com, since I'm a tefl teacher in Bulgaria. Oh, and Ciao. Whilst perusing the latest news in the world of Bulgarian tefl recently, I noticed that these first two sites had a curious little link called "RSS Feed". When I clicked on the hyperlink, I ended up at a page which looked like gobbledygook intermingled with bits of news, code and other junk. I thought nothing of it until the other day, when I stumbled across an intriguing clue in the mysterious case of the RSS Feed- I discovered a definition as to what on virtual-earth it is:

"[RSS] allows you to seek out the content you want and have it delivered directly to you. It enables you to receive the latest information without having to visit all your favourite sites"! (Source: http://www.tefl.com/home/rss.html). The bumf went on to name a few sites where you could sign up to access your own tailor made RSS Feeds- i.e. websites that would translate that page of meaningless drivel into a user-friendly list of everything you could possibly want or need to know, day by day. What a marvellous tool, thought I, and popped over to Ciao to see if anyone else had found a good'un, since several sites were mentioned, but Ciao's cupboards were bare. So in true consumer style, armed with no facts at all, I chose the one with the best name- newsgator.com

********Thirst Steps********

At this point I was rather excited at the prospect of having so much knowledge literally at my fingertips. However, being a Leo, I'm somewhat distrustful of the unknown, and I still had rather less than a gnat's brain's idea of what the whole malarkey was about. I was as much in the dark as you probably are now, (unless you know about this already), and the mist of disjointed half-baked hopes and ideas had coagulated in my mind into this:

I was expecting to download some software which would create a CNN style moving ticker tape across the bottom of my pc screen, showing the headlines of snippets of news on all my favourite subjects. I would be able to tell the software my interests and favourite web-sites, and the ticker would tell me what's new. I would be able to click on the ticker to get the full story, or a re-direction to the website concerned. How right was I? About 75% as it happens. Read on!

Anyway, so, to ease my suspicion, I clicked on "Learn More". The information on offer was not particularly descriptive, and was a tad too technical for my wee brain, but I did discover that it was Free, whatever it was. That was me sold, and thirsty to discover the new and enticing world of RSS!

Signing up was simplicity itself- choose a username and password and that's it. It's very fast, and free unless you opt for a more sophisticated package. As a consumer, (rather than a business), you still get a few different packages to choose from, but I went for standard as I like free stuff. See below for more on prices and what your money buys you. After you've signed up, you need to sign in.

********Fainthearted Getting Started in the Uncharted********

At this point I was rather at a loss what to do next. I clicked about randomly hoping for an insight, but the site seems to assume that you know what it does and how it does it. Not unreasonable I suppose, but there must be lots of RSS virgins out there wondering which buttons to press. I persevered for the benefit of Ciaosters and my own curiosity, and I sincerely hope my review will help you to navigate and understand this site better than I did at first!

********Vic's Basics ********

There are 3 main areas on newsgator.com, accessed by 3 tabs near the top of the page. They are:

• HOME
• NEWSGATOR ONLINE
• NEWSGATOR MANAGER

There doesn't appear to be anything resembling a ticker tape or CNN correspondent. I'm mildly disappointed, but hey.

*HOME
This is the same information I got when I clicked on "Learn More". You don't need to look at this one again.

*NEWSGATOR ONLINE
This is a largely blank page, with some bits on the left called "My Feeds" and "My Clippings", and some other tabs across the top, more of which later.

*NEWSGATOR MANAGER
This is again largely blank, with a box called "My Feeds", (which is empty), and a Help box.

I clearly need to tell newsgator to go get me some news! But how?!

From either "Online" or "Manager" you can click on "Add Feeds". Here you are asked to type the RSS Feed URL of the website you want to add. I know the website address, but not the RSS Feed bit, so I pop over to www.tefl.com to find it.

I can't find it.
I go back to newsgator, which helpfully tells me that if I try typing the URL of the website, it will find the RSS Feed for me. I try this, but newsgator can't find the address. This doesn't surprise me, as by now I'm feeling rather jaded and disillusioned with the whole thing. I go back to tefl.com and click on RSS again, then I copy the URL from the address bar at the top of my browser (by right clicking the mouse and selecting "copy", for those not in the know!). Back over to newsgator again, paste the address and hey presto! Newsgator has found my feed! Hoorah!!! Now what? Nobody knows- certainly not me!

I take pot luck, and click on the "Online" section. On the left hand side, where once there was naught, there are now two items- my two chosen websites, and the number of new posts so far today in brackets next to each! You can click on "My Feeds" or an individual website name, and the new postings will be displayed in the main body of your screen. You don't get the whole post- just the title and one or two lines of description. Underneath each one there is the date and time the post was released, a "mark-as-read" option, add to clippings or forward via email. You can also rate each individual post on a scale of one to five, by clicking on stars. If the title of the post interests you, just click on it, and a new window will open taking you to the full post within whichever website it is. Just ignore the more boring posts, and when you've got to the bottom page select "Mark All Posts on This Page as Read" and they will disappear into the sunset. The big BIG advantage to this, is that you can read ALL the new postings from ALL your favourite sites, (well, the ones with RSS, not Ciao for instance), on ONE page, which remains open as you read through, saving you endless clicks (are you reading this Ciao?!) and therefore TIME, which we all know is MONEY.

********Endeavour to Get Clever********

I like this site. It appeals to my perhaps anal sense of orderliness and efficiency. I resolve to find out more. The "Manager" tab offers a wealth of possibilities, the most exciting of which is undoubtedly "Add New Feeds". Apart from adding your own, as described above, you can get recommendations of websites. These are either "Editor's Picks"- but nothing tickles my fancy here, "For Me",- based on your selections so far, "Highly Rated"- using the 5 -star system and "Popular" based on number of hits. Or you can choose "Smart Feeds"; a keyword search which is saved and monitored 24/7 for new posts, (you're only allowed one of these with the free version), or "Premium Feeds", which require a subscription. You can also browse by subject, which I have found gets the best results. From my humble beginnings with two feeds, I have graduated to an awesome 14, all found through browsing the categories.

There are various settings which you can alter, like whether or not to open a new window for each post, or whether to show all posts as read or unread when you start (useful if you tend to delete most of them!). Despite the early disorientation, it is quite a simple site and doesn't take long to get the hang of.

********Location Location Location********

"Edit Locations" is part of the "Manager" tab. This one had me stumped for a while, but basically, you can choose from where you want to view your feeds. The Web is the most obvious one, but you can also choose posts to be sent to your mobile or email (subscription required) or media centre (TV?). Personally I just use the web.

********Oh Blog Off********

If you run a website or blog yourself, you can create a link so that your readers automatically get notified of new postings. There are detailed instructions on this, but as I don't blog I don't know much about this one. Sorry. There's also "Tools for Bloggers" and "Tools for Developers", if that means anything to anyone?

********What You Can Do Too********

You can download Outlook Edition 2.5 and Feedstation for Ipod here.

********Concise Price Advice********

There are three types of subscription-

• CONSUMER Standard is free then $3.95-$5.95 a month
• BUSINESS $1.95-$11.95 a month
• BUSINESS IQ For Enterprises- prices available on request (from them, not me!)

The difference in price reflects the locations you can choose, and the number of smart or premium feeds you can have. Business accounts also include something mysterious called "synchronization". All the paid packages have a 14-day free trial.

********In My Own Nerdy Words********

Newsgator is quite addictive, but it's tempting to add lots and lots of feeds and then you never get time to read all the posts anyway. It's better to start small and add little by little until you get used to how much data you'll be wading through. I do find it time saving as I don't have to visit my favourite sites directly anymore, but there is perhaps a possible disadvantage that if you visit your preferred sites less regularly you'll miss other stuff going on there. I'm still enjoying the novelty of newsgator at the moment, and am quite chuffed with myself for tackling what seemed to be something a bit too techie and off-putting at first. Another big plus is that you don't need to provide your email address to dubious smelling websites- if you want to get the news, it goes to your newsgator account not your email address, so there's no chance of spam- keep that inbox sparkly! (Irony here, as those who know me know that I subscribe to any and every website if there's a chance of something free- I'm thinking about your own lovely clean inbox, dear reader, not my sullied one.) Also, there is no software to download, so no risk of picking up something unpleasant.

RSS stands for "Rich Site Summary" or "Real Simple Syndication", depending on whom you believe. It is what is known in the world of Techiness as a "News Aggregator", hence the name, newsgator. It has nothing to do with alligators. Sorry to disappoint if you've got this far looking for green reptiles.

TFR and ACGR x

http://www.newsgator.com
http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan04/richardson.shtml - some info on RSS and blogs.

 

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