Archive for: reader
I though I’d share with you guys an RSS reader that I started using recently called Feedly. Basically it’s and add-on for most browsers including Chrome and Firefox which combines all your RSS feeds into one incredible place that by far surpasses generic readers such as Google.
Here is a screenshot:
What I like most about is that it also combines other services such as GMail and Twitter into the same package so you’re getting all of your information in the one place instead of having several tabs open.
It’s free and its easy to set up once you have installed it as an add-on. Click here to download Feedly.
eBooks are becoming more and more popular these days and Crenk just wanted to let you know the best places on the web to find eBooks.
eBook Search Engines
www.pdfgeni.com
www.pdf-search-engine.com
www.data-sheet.net
Scribd.com
Scribd is basically the YouTube of documents. They have a great library of free ebooks to choose from.
Free Ebooks For Your iPod, PDA, Smartphone, Blackberry etc.
www.gutenberg.org
www.manybooks.net
www.feedbooks.com
www.booksinmyphone.com
Free Tech eBooks
www.freecomputerbooks.com
www.freetechbooks.com
Amazon’s Kindle e-reader has been getting a lot of great reviews ever since its launch in the USA in 2007 and now it is set to make its way to the UK. It has been reported by the The Bookseller that claims Amazon is preparing to announce the device as early as next week. This announcement is of course timed nicely so that the Kindle will have a nice run up to Christmas.
The delay in launching internationally has been down to the internet connection used on the Kindle. The connection works over mobile phone networks and allows users to browse and buy book wherever they can get a phone signal. Qualcomm has reportedly been working on a version of the Kindle compatible with UK mobile frequencies.
Moving the Kindle into the UK market will really help move the e-reader market, in which is still yet to take off here in the UK.
Currently for Crenk we have been noticing that more and more people are following our feed on Twitter. It has got to a stage now where there are more people adding us on Twitter everyday than subscribing to our RSS feed. Is this saying something? Is Twitter becoming more of an RSS reader for people or are they just following our feed in Twitter because we are fairly active and give actual responses to direct questions?
There has been a lot of talk recently about companies still not adopting new media as much as they should and especially Twitter, but I really cant understand why! Twitter is an amazing network tool for all types of companies and it can actually provide big organisation with an easy way to directly communicate with users. Branding on Twitter is easy to control and even easier to see who has been discussing your brand.
From my point of view I couldn’t live without my RSS reader, simply because I have so many sources of information and I can easily and effectively control and read them. Twitter could never be my RSS reader, but is it some kind of substitute?
I have also noticed today that Techcrunch has changed their theme again. It hasn’t really been too long since they last changed their theme, probably about a quarter off the top of my head. Last time the Techcrunch theme was changed they seems to have nothing in their sidebar except advertising (i know Crenk also has a little bit of advertising), however that being said this new theme really addresses the key issues of the older theme.
The site itself is a lot more compact in the header and key change is that the 728×90 advertisement is no longer above the site, but fitting in with the header itself. The key green is not really as predominant, but it makes it easy to distinguish between Techcrunch and the other network sites. In the old theme they just had excepts on the home page, but now they have an additional three slots in which they can feature certain articles. Navigation has really improved within this new theme and now it is a lot easier to find new content. As well as feature articles in the header on the home page they have also added eleven featured articles in the sidebar sitewide. If I didnt have an RSS reader or use it everyday, with the previous theme it would have been impossible to keep up with the new content, however with this new theme it provides me with a better idea on what is happening in the tech space.
This new theme is far from perfect but it is a huge improvement from all the previous themes they had on the site. I would really still like to see a lot more integration between the Techcrunch home page and the other network sites, but im sure that will come within the year.
Google Reader has for a long time been my RSS reader of choice. The design has been simple, easy to use, lots of customisation options, ability to group and more.
Last week Google released a new version of Google Reader and I thought I would take a little time and review it for everyone.
(old)
(new)
Key changes include collapsible navigation, updated look and feel, friends get promoted and more bundle feeds.
Friends get promoted
Shared items have grown up and gotten their own section in the navigation pane. You can collapse this entire section and use the title to see everything your friends have shared, or leave it open to track friends with shared items. (Don’t forget that you can add new friends in “Sharing settings“.)
More bundled feeds!
Previously Google has some default bundles that you could subscribe too, in a variety of areas. Previously this was very limited and there were only about 10 areas. Now they have added huge amounts of bundle feeds for pretty much every major niche. If you go to “Browse for stuff” then you can see bundles.
Collapsible Navigation
Each section of the navigation pane now has its own options menu and minimize/maximize controls. You can collapse each major section of navigation down to one line and focus on only the things you choose to use.
Updated look and feel
The look and feel has changed a lot in this new version of Google Reader. I personally would have liked it if there was an option to return to the old version or at least have a variety of versions. The new version is very neutral, with white and a very light blue being the main colours. However, I find post a lot harder to read in this new version. Recently Gmail received a variety of themes in which users could choose from, I really hope this isn’t too long in coming to Google Reader.
Overall
Overall the changes to Google Reader were needed, except in the case of changing the colour scheme. I think the colour scheme changes are definitely a step backwards, but this can be changed when hopefully they release a themes range to choose from.
Here at Crenk we really like talking about Firefox and extensions, as you can see from previous posts, but this time I wanted combined Firefox with the feed reader I use Google Reader. There are so many Google Reader Firefox extensions out there, but here are the top five I think are worth using.
As with any list of Firefox tools, please do not install all of these at once unless you’d like to slow down your browser. And, honestly, how many notifications do you need to show you that you have unread items in Reader?
AideRSS – Brings AideRSS to your Google Reader, allowing you to see ranks directly in your reader, as well as letting you group feeds by rank. Also allows you to add your own thoughts on each feed.
Better GReader – Combines several Greasemonkey scripts in one extension. Includes things such as skipping the iGoogle choice page, the ability to preview the item as it appears on the actual Web page, shows the favicon for each feed, and several other choices.
Google Reader Notifier – Shows you how many unread items there are, provides an itemized list, lets you customize where the information appears in your browser, different icon sets, and more.
Google Reader Watcher – Based on a Greasemonkey script by the same author, Google Reader Watcher will check your account at an interval you set and will show you how many unread items you have. It can show this broken down by feed and more.
IntenseDebate in Google Reader – This plugin will add a link to each item in your Google Reader to allow you to post comments directly to IntenseDebate.
NewsGator Technologies, the company behind some of the biggest name RSS feeder applications out today has taken a big step by releasing all of its consumer products for free. The applications include NewsGator Inbox, FeedDemon, and NetNewsWire. Mobile software that is now free includes NewsGator Go for Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, iPhone, and others. NewsGator also frees NewsGator Online, the Web-based RSS feed.
Since NewsGator did go free they have seen some steady improvements in their traffic and users. That being the case im not too sure where their business model stands, if they are offering some services at a price or if they take a percentage of advertising revenues within certain products.
However, if you are looking for some world class products for free, then head over to NewsGator.
ReadBurner is a unique service that shows and analyses what stories people are sharing. The stories currently seem to really be focused on Technology, but the service seems be growing and now integrates nicely with Google Reader, Netvibes and Newsgator. Thus, im guessing the service will increase to include more services, but then also move into different categories.
Readburner is getting used more and more because news consumption is still increading and RSS readers and start pages have made it easier to consume even more information. Readburner aggregated the most frequently shared content from these services to provide an overall feel of what everyone is talking about.
Readburner is a unique way to view the most popular stories from around the net and im looking forward to seeing how it improves.
I tried to embed the show from Kyte.tv, but when this happened it would only show the most recent video on the Scoble Channel. How annoying! Anyways, here is the link to Arrington on the Kindle and it is weird to see Arrington with a sense of humour! haha.
