Bloglines

What Exactly is Bloglines?
Bloglines is a news reader and aggregator. So what is a news reader or aggregator? In today's tech heavy world in which we all like to have our information just a click or two away, if you are not careful you can easily and quickly end up with a bad case of [|information overload.] We have all probably experienced a feeling of not having enough of the correct information we need to make an important decision. Feed readers or aggregators are one class of tools that can help you get the information you need. So how do these tools work? They generally work by having a website author maintain a list of persons who will be notified of changes on their (the author's ) website. These lists of persons who will be notified of changes are known as [|RSS feeds.]

An aggregator such as bloglines automatically access the RSS feeds of websites you care about on your behalf and organize the results for you. (RSS feeds and aggregators are also sometimes called "RSS Channels" and "RSS Readers".) It is not unusual today to see a button such as such as that allows you to subscribe to an RSS feed or discover teh address of the RSS feed which you can then supply to your aggreator program.

Aggretators generally come in two varieties; web-based and desktop-based. Of the two most users prefer the web-based varieties since you can access them from any computer at any time. Shown below is a screen shot of Blogline indicating the feeds in the left panel:



Cost of Bloglines
Bloglines comes in several versions which begin as free with the proce increasing as yout increase the amount of storage and features you use. Most users can probably get by using the free version. The free version also displays advertisements.

How Cool is Bloglines?
Bloglines is rated in the [|top ten] of the 100 best tools for teaching and learning by the Center for Learning and Performaqnce Technologies.

Criticisms of Bloglines
The help system is perhaps the weakest link in the Bloglines system. It consists of several frequently asked questions (FAQ). An extensive search using Google failed to locate any recurrent criticisms.

What Are The Features of Bloglines (from Bloglines site)

 * All-in-one Blog and news feed search, online subscriptions, news reader, blog publishing and social sharing tools
 * Available in 10 languages
 * Mobile version optimized for handheld computers and cell phones
 * Email subscriptions help manage your e-newsletter traffic
 * Package Tracking (UPS, USPS & FedEx)
 * Custom weather forecasts
 * Quick Pick Subscriptions get new users started quickly and easily
 * Personalized recommendations to find new subscriptions
 * Bookmarklet for single-click subscriptions to any source
 * Notifiers for all browser types to remind you when new articles have arrived
 * Bloglines Saved Searches deliver future articles matching your key words and phrases
 * Most Popular lists show the days hot topics and which blogs are getting the most noticed
 * Handy add-on tools for bloggers such as automated blogrolls, subscription buttons

Where Do I Subscribe to Bloglines
Link to [|Bloglines site]

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