Google Reader: A strive towards simplicity

When logging onto Google reader for the first time, listening to the introductory video and taking the tour, I was very intrigued about this new innovative technology. For anyone who is not familiar with Google reader, think of it as working in the same fashion as your email account. When you receive an email, it gets stored in whats called an "Inbox" and can be read at any time. With respect to Google reader, when the user adds there favourite websites to their profile and when these web pages are updated, such as a new article, the user is prompted by a small summary of this update. There are three ways to add a site on your Google reader account. You can either add it by typing in the URL of the desired website into the appropriate space, by subscribing to a pre-packaged feed bundle, or by searching for a feed using keywords.

After using Google reader as the default method of viewing the web for a couple of days, I began to take a liking for this technology. The Internet for some can be a very confusing environment and Google reader proves to be an excellent way to organize the information that people view on a given day and make it a much more simplified experience for everyone involved.

The blogging world

Blogging has taken over the conventional way of communicating thoughts and ideas. Blogging is a way for people to express there private thoughts, to pose a question and response forum, and to communicate with other bloggers from anywhere in the world. So if you are in need of advice on how to deal with that resent breakup with your girlfriend/boyfriend, in need of technical inquiries for that electronic appliance of yours, or just simply curious of any topic that comes to mind, its highly likely to be found in the form of a blog.

Setting up an account on Blogger.com is as easy as the home page says it is. It really only takes a few minutes. On the other hand I recommend that you register your Blogger.com account with a gmail account. For some unknown reason hotmail accounts are not cooperating with Blogger. I registered my account with my hotmail email and encountered issues regarding logging in. On the plus side, I'm a big fan of the automatic saving that saves your blog drafts every minute! It actually came into good use when my power did go out while writing this entry. I was thrilled when I found out that my document was still there!

I poked around the blogging world and researched topics that interested me such as hockey, guitars, and computers and found numerous blogs on these topics. Many varied in detail and content, but the majority of the blogs I went to were very well done.

As part of my research, I took a look around Twitter.com and became familiar with what it is all about. Basically Twitter is a place for users to write blogs via a mobile text message. The website claims this service would suit people with a very busy life style who don't not have access to a PC. Personally, for someone to sit there and text the message via their mobile device, they must have a lot of time on there hands! Facebook has just released Facebook mobile which to me seems much more promising than twitter due to the popularity of Facebook. With this said, I believe Blogger.com has the edge on Twitter.com.

Thanks for reading and hope to hear some comments on what you think.