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Thursday, March 22, 2007

Updated moldybluefeatures!

Update 5:00pm: I've also added a "label cloud" to the sidebar, so you can see what topics I post on most often and quickly read more of them. As if you'd want to...

I tweaked the sidebar on the blog today, adding a list of "shared items" which come from my Google Reader RSS list. The list of three basically represents the three most share-worthy stories I've read recently and may include things I actually write about.

What is RSS?
For those of you who read multiple blogs or news sites and are thinking "Reader? RSS?" here's a quick tutorial on something you should definitely check out:

To get a grasp of RSS (Really Simple Syndication), think about syndicated newspaper columnists (like Thomas Friedman). He writes for one paper, the New York Times, but is picked up in dozens of papers around the country. RSS is similar. You find a syndicated feed (RSS) and you subscribe to it, basically having the article or story sent to you.

To read these story feeds, you just need to use a "feed aggregator" or "news reader," and there are plenty of free ones to download, add on to your browser, or use on the web. The reader collects all the stories as they are published and posts them (usually in chronological order) for your reading pleasure.

So, on a typical morning you could fire up your RSS reader and read new blog entries from your friends, stories from the NY Times Sports section, and the latest report on crop rotation from Iowa State. Whatever you're reading, it's a great way to have the stuff you really care to read all in one place.

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