David Herrold

RSS bloat with Google Reader

Posted by Dave | Filed under Google, Technology, Usability

Nearly 4 months ago I trimmed the RSS feeds I read on a regular basis from 192 to 132. That reduction was fairly easy and painless. I looked at my reading trends and the frequency with which many of the feeds update and cut anything I hadn’t read within the last 30 days.

I checked my subscriptions tonight in my Google Reader account and was shocked to find that I have climbed back up to 162 subscriptions.

How did this happen?!

Click here to read more…

Tags: feeds, Google Reader, RSS, subscriptions

Alerts with Yahoo pipes

Posted by Dave | Filed under Mobile, Software, Usability

I’m not sure if I simply missed this when I originally set up my Yahoo Pipes page or if it is a recent addition. I was a little shocked to see the Google RSS chicklette in the header of my pipe output page. There are several other options (Bloglines, Netvibes, Newsgator, etc) in the “more options” link. All I have to say is, kudos to you, Yahoo, for recognizing the usefulness of having your competitors’ feed links in your product.

The other thing I noticed recently is the mobile alert system Yahoo offers for Pipes. This seems very useful. Imagine you are searching for a Ford F-150 in Houston. You could build a pipe combining search result feeds for F-150 on Craig’s list or Yahoo autos. (You can use other search engines like cars.com or auto trader, but results without RSS feeds are a bit trickier…but still possible).

Click here to read more…

Tags: alerts, Mobile, RSS, search engines, yahoo pipes

Google Reader goodies

Posted by Dave | Filed under Blogging, Software

Google added a nifty new feature to their reader recently that allows people to share the feeds they read via a little badge on their blog or website. Here’s how you can do it too…

• Open Google Reader
• Go to your shared items
• Click on the “Put a clip on your site or blog” link at the top of the page.
• Configure the color and number of items you’d like
• Copy and paste the code into your blog
• Now go share those cool posts about LOLcats with all your freinds.

P.S. - I opted for a simple link at the bottom of the site for my Google Reader shared items.

Tags: Blogging, Google, RSS