NorthStarNerd.Org

GreatNews RSS Feed Reader

Back in 2006, I reviewed and posted a tutorial I had created about the GreatNews RSS Feed Reader. Well, after a three year hiatus Curio Studio has released a new version of GreatNews which is available without charge. While the user interface, hasn't changed much, it now officially supports Windows 7 and includes other internal improvements. As far as I'm concerned, GreatNews is still one of the best feed readers around, and you can't beat the price! My tutorial is still a great way to learn RSS and start having the filtered web come to you. If you've never utilized RSS (Really Simple Syndication) on your computer, read some of my posts from the RSS Category of this blog.

Research ... Not Just Another Twitter List!

Although I've been a HUGE advocate of RSS technology over the years via this blog (still am), I realize that Twitter is here to stay. Like many of you, I've experimented with Twitter and am still learning the value proposition. I have found that one Twitter List which I have created, my Research List, has been a great way for me to stay informed about new reports in the knowledge domain of collaboration, systems and technology. I've restricted the membership to high quality research groups. I've included the initial list below along with their Twitter account links. Any like groups I should add, and why?  Thanks. 

NorthstarNerd Twitter Research Group:

• APQC (American Productivity & Quality Center)
• Burton Group I.T.
• EcolLab
• Forrester Research
• Gartner Research
• IBM Alpha Works
• MIT Sloan Management Review
• Microsoft Office Labs
• Pew Research

Tracks Web Site Changes

Every wish you could easily track changes on a web site that does NOT have RSS? How often do you bookmark web sites which you like, but then rarely revisit? What if you could be automatically informed when new content appeared? The option to track changes now exists via Google Reader. Thus, using the same tool where one tracks RSS feeds, you may now track web page changes. The process is simple ... just copy the url of the page you wish to track, and then click "add a subscription". (read the official Google Reader service announcement). (see my screenshot examples)

I did find it difficult to track individual pages on sites where a RSS feed already exists. After posting a question of the Google Forum, I was referred to the Change Detection Service.

I'm already using the new capability to track changes on the following web sites ... none of which have RSS:

• Academic Earth (engineering courses)
• Berkeley Wireless Research
• SkinnySki.Com (Nordic Skiing!)
• Stanford Seminars
• Siemens Control Products
• UC San Diego Wireless
• Virginia Tech Wireless

Here is an example from my Google Reader account. Click to view full sized.

Expanding Across the Web via Twitter and RSS

If one creates good content ... it moves! Here is an example from my new Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine which I created last night (and Tweeted).

From bit.ly I can tell that my original Twitter link has been clicked upon 99 times in the last 24 hours. Add yesterday's 623 Feedburner subscribers, and over 700 people have already reviewed this content, and this does not include all the folks who came to NorthstarNerd.Org directly.

From Twitter Search ...

Realtime results for search engine "nobel prize"

0 more results since you started searching. Refresh to see them.

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  raysadad: This looks useful. Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/X3rSt (expand) (via @zaidlearn)
  about 6 hours ago
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  zaidlearn: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/X3rSt (expand)
  about 6 hours ago
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  blablatj: RT @ShellTerrell: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/13RsHG (expand)
  about 7 hours ago
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  av2learner: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://ff.im/-94CxP
  about 11 hours ago
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  pgsimoes: RT @ShellTerrell: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/13RsHG (expand)
  about 15 hours ago
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  web20classroom: RT @ShellTerrell: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/13RsHG (expand)
  about 15 hours
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  ShellTerrell: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/13RsHG (expand)
  about 15 hours ago from
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  elearningPosts: Nobel Prize Winners Video Lecture Search Engine http://bit.ly/YAeA3 (expand)
  1 day ago from
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And Finally ... me!

• 
  NorthstarNerd: Just created a new custom Google Search Engine which indexes Nobel Prize Winner Lecture Videos. Access via my blog at http://bit.ly/21uzau (expand)
  1 day ago from 

Twitter Search ... a Yammer for some Reggae!

Welcome to another Northstar Nerd Tutorial. Today we look at Twitter Search. You may have heard about this Web 2.0 service, and discounted it as just a lot of noise, but what if you had the ability to eliminate the static and focus in upon useful content? You need not Tweet yourself. Enter the Northstar Nerd and my short tutorial (under four minutes) which will demonstrate how even without a Twitter account you can data mine this service for useful content.

• Twitter Search Tutorial
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Here is a screenshot from the tutorial ... click to view full sized.

Blog, Wiki, Tweet ... The Real You??

"It all began in realspace, on a subway train in South Korea. A young woman’s small dog pooped in the train. Other passengers asked her to clean it up, but she told them to mind their own business. That’s when it moved over to cyberspace and became even uglier."

These are the opening lines from the book, The Future of Reputation, written by George Washington University Law School Professor Daniel Solove. The book may be downloaded without charge. He also edits one of the top legal blogs on the web, Concurring Opinions. (listen to a Yale University Press podcast interview with the author)

If you ever doubted the need before, after reading parts of Solove's book you will understand that you need to learn how to manage your online reputation (personal or business). Do you have Google RSS feeds which monitor your name? (the same in the blogosphere or Twitter?). An intelligent company uses the web to learn when customers are angry (or happy). A few additional RSS feeds which use the words <insert your company name + sucks> or similar phrases could save your firm big problems.

While, I can't teach you how to monitor these key areas, here at least is a start (prior blog posts involving both search and RSS):

• Google Alerts
• Google Blog Search
• Keeping Current via RSS
• RSS Software

Keeping Current ... the Table of Contents Way

Earlier today I created about twelve "table of contents" RSS feeds for different technical journals and magazines. Via RSS I will now receive notification of each new issue with links to abstracts describing each article. Some of the content to which I subscribed includes the IEEE Spectrum, PC World, Wireless Today, MIT Technology Review, KM World and LINUX Today. One of the services I used is a great (and did I mention free?) service from a United Kingdom based academic consortium. This new service is named ticTOCS, and contains a huge amount of academic and research journals. I have included two screenshots with this post to give one an idea of how ticTOCS works. Create a personal account; it allows you to save your searches (i.e. desired journals) and RSS feed data.

The other big source I used was an online service which I access through my work named EBSCO. This online magazine service allows me access to more commerical kinds of magazines (PC World, Wireless Today, Business Week, etc.) Even in you don't have a similar service where you work, check with your local public library. In the United States it is now rare for public libraries not to given online access to magazine and journals ... the price of admission is your free library card. The two big services are ProQuest and EBSCO. Given how fast technology changes, and how hard it is to keep current, you owe it to yourself to create similar alerts. Here are two links which will help you find your local public library .... anywhere in the world:

• via LibWeb
• via LibDex

Here are the two ticTOCS screenshots. Click upon either image to view full sized.
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Oxford Podcasts: The Engineering of Tolkien's Ring!

I've known about various Oxford podcasts for some time, but via Open Culture I learned last night of Oxford's new central podcast portal ... and it's cool ! Whether you want to learn about the relationship between J.R.R. Tolkien and the University of Oxford, or you want to focus upon engineering ... you'll find 470 podcasts available for download, and that number is growing. Better yet, you can easily subscribe via RSS to the different divisions and sub groups. I wish all schools constructed their podcast sites in this manner. It may have taken the venerable old Oxford longer to join the web 2.0 revolution, but now that they've done so ... wow! My congrats to the dons! Obviously this podcast portal gets added the my engineering learning wiki podcast section.

I've attached a screenshot below from the Oxford podcast portal. It shows how to easily filter the content for your desired interests.

Discoveries and Breakthroughs Inside Science

I've known about DBIS science news / video reports for a while, but it really bothered me that although a superior service, it did not have a RSS feed for updated content. Using the free RSS generation service from FeedFire, I was able to just drop in my desired url, and have a feed scraped from the html page. Try FeedFire some time; it's dirt easy to use.

Thus, now that I've built my feed, here is Discoveries and Breakthroughs Inside Science.

Supported by a coalition of scientific and engineering professional societies and a generous contribution from the National Science Foundation, DBIS promotes awareness of and appreciation for the role science, technology, engineering and mathematics professionals play in our daily lives by providing short, accurate, and scientifically reviewed scince news videos to local TV stations throughout the United States.

Here is a screen shot of a recent science news story ... Measuring Lightning. I will add DBIS to the Engineering Learning Wiki section ... Engineering for Children.

Click upon the image for a full sized view.

Tracking Google Results via Google Alert

Do you Google? Would you like to be automatically informed of relevant Google results that match a query you pre-define? Does tracking those Google results via RSS appeal to you?

Assuming the answers to these questions are "yes", then you need to use Google Alert. This service allows you to create RSS feeds and/or email notifications against your Google query results. Over time, you may also track new content which satisfies your query options. A basic account to use Google Alert is free.

I've created an updated Google Alert tutorial / screencast which reviews the basic features and demonstrates how to create an effective alert. I use this service to track competitors, vendors, technologies, etc.

• Northstar Nerd Google Alert Tutorial
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