I know that RSS is a way to stay current with information that interests you, without having to constantly visit websites which may or may not have been updated. There are a couple ways to locate an RSS feed. What I found was the simplest for me was to copy the RSS link location by right-clicking on the button within the (Firefox) toolbar, and then pasting it into the “Add Subscription” box on the Google Reader page. I subscribed to the Google “News” feed bundle.
I didn’t really like the Google Reader or its interface. Even though I regularly use gmail, I didn’t like the big boxes that were on the screen (especially the ones that had a headline, small text and a huge add within the box.) I would have liked it better if it had been more like the Google News page, where it just lists the headline and a the first few sentences of the article in a small amount of space. Maybe I would like it if I used it more often, but right now the few RSS feeds I subscribe to go into my Microsoft Outlook and that system works for me.
I selected the Traffic/Transportation feed on the Mercury News site. And I was able to successfully locate all of the RSS buttons and add them to my reader. The only one that gave me trouble was the National Weather Service website, because I didn’t realize you had to choose a link within the site and then subscribe to that particular link.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Flickr and Me
Flickr is something that is also new to me. Even though I was peripherally aware of it, it was something I hadn't explored in the past because all I knew of it was that it was posting pictures on the Internet. Since I don't really take that many photos and I consider the ones I do take to be private, it didn't seem like it was something I would enjoy.
I still can't say that I enjoy it, or that I would use it in the future, but I get why people like to use it. It has some cool features, like the cloud tags, that let you quickly see things of interest. And it's cool that it allows you to publish (some) other people's photos on your blog, so that you can share the things that interest you with others. I'm glad for the exposure to it, but like I said, I probably won't be using it outside this class.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50022405@N02/
I still can't say that I enjoy it, or that I would use it in the future, but I get why people like to use it. It has some cool features, like the cloud tags, that let you quickly see things of interest. And it's cool that it allows you to publish (some) other people's photos on your blog, so that you can share the things that interest you with others. I'm glad for the exposure to it, but like I said, I probably won't be using it outside this class.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50022405@N02/
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